I’m sure you many times have replied to a comment someone has made on a posting on Facebook. But the well formed and well placed comment that you are so satisfied with suddenly becomes a small nightmare. You are constant bothered by notifications when people comment on the original posting.
Well, I got news for you. Because you have most likely done the same thing. And by that I mean you have probably replied to a comment in the wrong way more than once.
This is how you comment on postings on Facebook.
Here we have a posting on Facebook, with comments:
This is the point where a lot of people get this wrong. If you want to comment on the original posting, you do it like this:
Now everybody who has commented on the original posting will get a notification that I’ve posted a new comment. And that’s how Facebook works.
However, very often people are not replying to the original posting. Instead, they are replying to one of the comments. And that’s where things go wrong.
Do not type your reply as a new comment like this:
What will happen? Well, everybody who has commented on the original posting will now get a notification that someone else has commented. And everybody will be confused about who you are replying to.
Some of you try to remedy that by tagging the person who made the comment you’re replying to. Like this:
Do not do this. Everybody who have commented on the original posting will now get a notification that someone else has commented. And that is not what you are doing. You are replying to one specific comment. In addition, the person you tagged will get two notifications. One telling him that he has been tagged, and another telling him that someone has replied to the original posting.
So how do you reply to a comment, instead of the original posting? Simple. You click Reply under the comment:
Now, type your reply in this comment field instead:
Hit Enter, or the Post button your Facebook app, and your reply will now be directly beneath that comment:
Now, only the person who wrote that particular comment will be notified, and not everybody else who have written comments on the original posting. This is also a way to get a discussion thread going.
If someone now wants to reply to your reply, they click on Reply beneath your reply:
Their reply now will be displayed just beneath yours.
What happens when others make a reply to the original comment? It will be listed under the comment, beneath your reply. And here’s the nice part: Only you and any others who have replied to the comment will be notified about it!
This means that those who made their own comments on the original posting will not be notified. This makes Facebook cleaner and much more enjoyable for everyone. Here’s what a nice discussion should look like on Facebook:
As you can see someone commented on my posting, I then replied to that comment, and then 6 other people replied to that reply. Notice the grey line to the left that tells you that all these replies belong to the original comment. And at the bottom of the picture, you have two new comments. But those are comments to the original posting, which is not a part of the discussion thread belonging to the first comment.
So now you now you know how to reply and comment on Facebook!
if i delete my reply…and retype a new reply…will the notified person be able to read the deleted message….through his notification link
No, he won’t.
Have they changed this tree recently
I do press reply to the comment I want, it automatically tags the person I’m replying to but it doesn’t show up under that comment, like a thread. It used to do this but in 2019 2020 definetly not doing it for me now. Instead it shows up as part of a new comment, or even worse I can’t find it. I still get notifications if some one has replied to my comment and I in notification I get a very brief few words of what the comment is. But when I click on it to take me to the reply.. It just goes to the gave book post and then I have to scroll through to try to find it. Mostly very unsuccessfully. So very difficult to keep a discussion on a pages post going as I can’t find see the replies, and does t show on my comment either
Strange. I haven’t seen this behaviour that you describe. I have experienced that I’ve clicked on a notification, and then it only takes me to the posting, and not to the reply to my comment, and then I have to look for it. I still haven’t received the new Facebook design, so I can’t say if that’s the case here. Have you received it?
So my friend can click on the notification of my comment and then it automatically mentions me… Not knowing any better that I’d receive double the notification that I received a reply and a mention.
It’s been going on awhile and it’s rather annoying.
Tracy, I have the same problem. I can’t find the reply to my comment.
That’s why I often don’t comment on posts that have have dozens or hundreds of comments. If I can’t find a reply to my comment why comment?
Mine’s doing the same.
Me too! Totally infuriating! Jb x
Pls i dont know how to mention someone who is not my facebook friend in a reply to a comment.
I need ur helps pls
If you hit Reply directly under their reply to a comment, they should be tagged, unless they have turned off tagging by people not in their friend list. You can also type an @ and then start typing their name to try and tag them.
Why when I reply and type in the recipient’s name, it is sometimes highlighted and sometimes not
It depends on whether the person you are replying to have prevented others from tagging them. It could also be that only friends are allowed to tag them. Or you can simply try and write @ before starting typing their name when replying, to see if they are listed as taggable.
Yes!!! I am having the same problem. It just started this week. I’m not sure about on friends posts because I’m taking a break from commenting on them but I’m doing a lot of public posts. I hit reply and name will not highlight. I’ve tried several devices and restarting them, etc… nothing fixes it. I also get notifications that people like/ react or reply to my comment & it doesn’t take me directly there, it gives me the whole original thread which can have sometimes 4-5K comments & I cant find out which comment or what they said. I can’t even begin to explain how aggravating this is. I want to rip my hair out and am about to quit going on FB all together because of this and other things they’ve changed that make going on there a highly unpleasant experience. I just want to avoid it.
I have experienced the same thing, that when someone replies to a comment I’ve made, or they are replying in the same thread, Facebook does NOT jump to that comment when I hit the link from Notifications. It started happening a while back, and it’s very frustrating indeed. It makes long discussions impossible. And this behaviour doesn’t seem consistent either. Seems like Facebook can’t deal with threads that are too long
I have the same problem! When people reply to me my name is highlighted but when I reply to anyone there name doesn’t appear and if I type it, it’s not highlighted. That just started recently. The thing with it not taking you from notifications directly to the reply it’s notifying you of is HORRIBLE! It makes me want to find Mark Zuckerberg and give him a stern talking to!
Yeah, comment threads are just a total mess on Facebook right now. I really should set an “out of date” sign on this posting, as things have changed so much since I wrote it.
As of Jan 3 2021, the things you mentioned are still happening.
I have some of the problems stated. I click reply to a specific comment then the persons name is highlighted and I make my comment but it isn’t posted under the comment I am replying to. Gets confusing. Some people will ask which of their comments am I referring to. Just started a short while ago. Fix please.
I don’t work at Facebook, so there’s nothing I can fix.
I am experiencing all the same problems with replying to a comment. Person replied to not tagged. Notifications don’t take me straight to the reply but to the top of the thread. Comments in threads don’t appear beneath the comment they are replying to but right at the end of the exchange, and because not tagged make no sense to the reader. It’s as if Facebook were deliberately making it difficult to engage in a discussion, which for me is 80% of the appeal of Facebook. Are they nuts? Do they want to monetise me or not?
I am experiencing the exact same issue
That’s not my problem. What I would like to know is: when I reply to a specific person (as you demonstrated above) and they then reply to my specific comment, I click on the notification that arrives on my phone or computer but it takes me to the general post and not to the specific comment. It takes me ages to scroll through hundreds of comments to get to their reply. Why is this? And can I get round it?
I know, I have the exact same problem. It’s incredible that Facebook haven’t fixed this. As far as I know, there’s now way getting around it.
I hope i can get some help with my question. I can’t find anything about this in facebook etiquette.
I post something on my facebook wall. People send a response. Before i get a chance to respond back to them my sister does. However this is on my wall. She says almost exactly what i would have said to that person. Then I don’t respond because she basically did it for me. She said i have to be quicker at responding. I said that it’s my wall so let me respond to messages sent back to me on my wall. I told her to just click the like. She has done this many times. I do not go on anyones wall and comment on their post to her. Does she have the right to comment on something that is being said or asked directly to me on my wall? If so should i quickly have to answer them so she doesnt get their first?
As long as you have posted something, anyone in your friends list can comment on it, and anyone in your friends list can comment on those replies. That’s just how this works. If it’s an open posting (a globe will appear behind the posting time), anyone on Facebook will be able to reply and comment on those replies (unless you have blocked them).
On Facebook…if I reply to one of the comments under the original posting, does the person who posted the original posting also automatically receive notification that I’ve posted a reply to a comment?
If you are friends, yes. If you aren’t friends, you need to tag the original poster.
Thanks!
I try to reply to a person who posted in a thread using @persons name. I get a list of people with the same name but the person I’m looking for doesn’t show up. How do I find that person?
If you’ve typed their full name and they don’t show up, the most likely explanation is that they have either turned off the possibility for others to tag them, or only people in their friends list are allowed to tag them. If you hit Reply under a comment, and their name is not tagged when it’s inserted into the reply-field, they have prevented others from tagging them.
I’m having that problem too
My daughter just made an status and everyone commented on it then I went and replied to someone i know comment and I tag his name and it showed that I had replied to his comment but when I click off her page and go looking at something else a notification came saying that the person reacted to my comment that I replied to on the same post but when I clicked on the notification I did see his reaction but my reply to his comment wasn’t up there anymore do you think he deleted it
But I don’t see how he can delete my reply someone status you can only hide it at least I think so
Anybody know what might done happened
I’m still confused
How come when I reply to someone’s comment (by hitting the reply under their comment) their name comes up right away so I know I’m replying to that one person, but their name isn’t highlighted after I post? It’s just black like the rest of my comment. Are they still being tagged by my reply?
No, they are not tagged. The reason is that those people have set their settings so that they either can’t be tagged by strangers, or not at all. Or they have blocked you.
I have a similar question. If I answer a comment on Facebook as described above, will the author be notified about my reply anyway without the name tag? Sometimes the name tag appears automatically when clicking on “reply” – is the author only then notified about the mentioning / reply? What happens if I delete the automatically appearing name tag and just enter the reply, will the author still be notified about the answer? It is really confusing!
If it is YOUR posting, you will get a notification for all replies. However, if you commented on someone else’s post, or on another person’s comment to a post made by someone else, they will have to tag you.
Thanks for your quick reply! Did I understand this correctly? If I answer a comment on my post I must tag the person I’m replying to so that person will be notified even though I clicked the reply button on their comment?
No, they should receive a notification, since it’s your posting. However, if you comment on the posting of someone else, and someone replies to your comment, they will need to tag you. If not you won’t be notified. Only the person who did the original posting will get notifications.
OK thanks again 🙂
This is aggravating. I didn’t used to have this problem. I thought it was my settings and changed a couple. I never had a problem until this last month. I could respond directly to the poster by typing in a few letters of their name and select it. Now nothing. This is ridiculous.
Yes, something weird is up these days. I no longer receive notifications on all replies to my postings or comments either.