# Facebook messenger alerts

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/facebook-messenger-alerts/920816>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [September 17, 2020, 6:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/facebook-messenger-alerts/920816 "2020-09-17T06:00:17Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\
**Post date:** [September 17, 2020, 6:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/facebook-messenger-alerts/920816/1 "2020-09-17T06:00:17Z")

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I’ve had a Facebook page for a while but I’m barely aware of how it works.

I’ve noticed that a lot of times when I check my page, there will be a little alert on my messenger icon (the one that looks like a lightning bolt in a speech bubble). But if I click on it, I don’t see any new messages.

Is there something going on here I don’t understand? Are people sending me messages that are going unread because I don’t know how to access them? Are old messages somehow triggering my alert? Are my settings screwed up?

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**Author:** ![TroutMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troutman/32/6721_2.png) [@TroutMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TroutMan)\
**Post date:** [September 17, 2020, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/facebook-messenger-alerts/920816/2 "2020-09-17T14:29:26Z")

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Sometimes (always?) when you add a new friend, you’ll get an alert in Messenger something like “Bob is now your friend, start a conversation with them!”

If it’s not that, I’m outta ideas.

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**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\
**Post date:** [September 17, 2020, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/facebook-messenger-alerts/920816/3 "2020-09-17T14:48:45Z")

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Could be they’re Message Requests, from people you are not friends with. Click on the messenger icon, the three little dots at the top right of the menu that comes up, then “Message Requests.”

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**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\
**Post date:** [September 17, 2020, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/facebook-messenger-alerts/920816/4 "2020-09-17T19:29:34Z")

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> [@TroutMan](#):
>
> Sometimes (always?) when you add a new friend, you’ll get an alert in Messenger something like “Bob is now your friend, start a conversation with them!”
> 
> If it’s not that, I’m outta ideas.

No, part of my inactivity on Facebook is that I hardly ever send out or receive friend requests. I haven’t added any new friends in over a year.

> [@ZipperJJ](#):
>
> Could be they’re Message Requests, from people you are not friends with. Click on the messenger icon, the three little dots at the top right of the menu that comes up, then “Message Requests.”

This may be it. I did what you described and found an unread message from somebody who is not on my friends list. (It was a trivial message; I had responded to a survey and they were thanking me.) That message has apparently been sitting unread in my queue for months.

Now I’ll see if the icon alerts stop.