Social Media

Do you know what’s in your ‘Other Facebook folder’

Facebook has become a daily stop for many people.

Many just can’t wait to see what everyone is up to, if their friends posted pictures, or if someone is gossiping about someone else. And while Facebook can serve as a valuable tool to communicate these days, it’s surprising that for a network that is used by 1.5 billion(ish) users, many of them don’t know their way around the website as much as they should.

Don’t be alarmed if you didn’t know about the ‘Other Facebook Folder’, more specifically, the ‘Other’ mailbox folder in Facebook. Now would be a good time to check to see if anyone is desperately trying to reach out (or spam you for that matter).

iPad Users: If you’re saying to yourself, ‘I don’t have that folder’, chances are you’re on the iPad app. It’s not there. Don’t ask us why. Facebook needs to fix that. To check it on your iPad, log into Facebook on Safari and you will spot it there.

Finding the Other Facebook Folder

If you haven’t already done so, log into Facebook.com and click on the speech bubble icons. Being the OCD Facebook user that I am, I always keep my messages folder clean and uncluttered. I hate clutter.

how-to-find-facebooks-other-folder

But did you miss it?

Right from this option, you can find your ‘Other’ folder. It’s right next to the Inbox!

You can also see it in the actual messaging window.

how-to-find-facebooks-other-folder

 

If you haven’t checked it, chances are there is a bubble with a number indicating how many messages are in there. This folder does serve a purpose. People who are trying to send you a message who are NOT your Facebook friends will likely have their messages land in this folder. If you think about it, that could be a lot of people.

Facebook’s failed $1.00 to send a message test

Facebook tried to combat spam (messages you will find in your Other folder) buy asking users if they wanted to pay $1.00 to ensure they message they wrote to a ‘non-friend’ would go to the friends inbox. Well, that campaign quietly disappeared and apparently didn’t work as intended.

facebook-one-dollar-message-failure

Paying for emails? Heh. Maybe someday. But these days, people like what they get for free.

What people found in their Other Facebook Folder

It’s amazing what people found in Facebook’s ‘Other’ folder. Here are some great submissions from David Pogue, a tech reporter for the New York Times:

But many more of you wrote that, sure enough, your Other folder contained important, now outdated messages, some with sad results:

“Notification of the death of a friend was hidden in my Other box. I had been very hurt at not being told, and actually missed her funeral.

“I learned of the death of a former, valued colleague two months ago.”

A number of you discovered, too late, that you’d won prizes or jobs:

“Shoot, I just discovered I had won a contest for Knicks tickets, but the message was in that ‘Other’ folder. It was from 2011. Grrrr!”

“Damn, I discovered that a year ago, I won free tickets to the theater and I never knew.”

Many of you discovered greetings from long-lost friends or students:

“I found one from someone I had worked with in Viet Nam in 1970 — he had sent me a message to reestablish contact over two years ago. Glad I found it. Hope he still reads his messages on Facebook.”

“Whoa! There’s tons of important messages in here. Former students of mine were trying to reach out to me. I can’t believe Facebook doesn’t notify you in any way about these.”

There were missed social opportunities:

“Just discovered my Other folder! Missed an amazing party (damn!) and found a ton of messages dating back several years!! How the hell did that happen?! I am a savvy social media user and I’m astonished at this!”

“Whoa. I had 58 messages there, one being an invitation to a bridal shower.”

And there were Good Samaritans trying to return lost credit cards and wallets:

“Unbelievable! My husband’s wallet was lost and presumed stolen — someone had found it a year ago and sent us a Facebook message, which was hidden until now! Thanks so much.”

“Just checked and found a message from someone telling me that they found my lost wallet…a year ago.
 They really need to redo some thinking on that ‘other’ folder.”

So don’t be like these people and miss opportunities, good news and/or bad news.

Check your ‘Other’ folder in Facebook!

Josh Benson

Josh Benson

Josh is the Editor of GeekLift.com and supreme geek to boot. He spends much of his time learning new software, coding languages, gadgets and more. He loves helping people figure out tech problems - big or small. Josh is a former television news anchor and tech reporter. He spends his days developing websites and producing videos.

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