Messenger Platform

Private Replies

Private Replies allows a business to send a single message to a person who published a post on your business' Facebook Page or who commented on a post or comment on the business' Facebook Page or Group. The message will contain a link to the post or comment that the person published.

Limitations

  • Only one message can be sent to the person who commented
  • The message must be sent within 7 days from when the post or comment was created
  • Only when a person responds to the private message can you continue the conversation within the 24-hour messaging window.
  • Standard Access apps can only access data for people who have a role on the app
  • Only reels published on a Facebook Page with the New Page Experience (details) is supported

Before You Start

You will need:

  • A Page access token requested by a person who can perform the MESSAGING task on the Page
  • The pages_messaging permission
  • The ID for your business' Facebook Page
  • The ID for the post or comment made by the person to whom you are sending the private reply. The ID can be obtained from the pages_feed webhooks (recommended to avoid rate limiting) or an API call to the /page/feed endpoint

Optional, but recommended:

  • Subscribe to your app to the messaging webhooks fields
  • Subscribe your app to the groups_feed webhooks field, if your business has a Facebook group.

To receive webhooks for private replies, the group settings for private replies must be on. Private replies are On by default. To confirm this setting, the admin of the Facebook Page can go to the Facebok Group, tap Manage in the left panel and scroll down to Settings. Tap Group settings, scroll down to Manage discussion and look for On under Private replies.

Message Types

All messaging types available for using the Send API are available for private replies.

Send a Private Reply

To send a private reply to a post or comment, send a POST request to the /PAGE-ID/messages endpoint with the recipient parameter with post_id or comment_id set to the ID for the post or comment and the message parameter set to the message you wish to send.

Example Request

The following example shows a reply to a post published on your Page by a customer:

Hi, I want to buy a gift for my nephew. Do you have any suggestions?

curl -X POST -H "Content-Type: application/json" -d '{
    "recipient": {
        "post_id": "PAGE-POST-ID"
    },
    
    "message": {
      "attachment":{
        "type":"template",
        "payload":{
          "template_type":"button",
          "text":"Of course, what is your budget for the gift?",
          "buttons":[
              {
                  "type": "postback",
                  "title": "LESS THAN $20",
                  "payload": "GIFT_BUDGET_20_PAYLOAD"
              },
              {
                  "type": "postback",
                  "title": "$20 TO $50",
                  "payload": "GIFT_BUDGET_20_TO_50_PAYLOAD"
              },
              {
                  "type": "postback",
                  "title": "MORE THAN $50",
                  "payload": "GIFT_BUDGET_50_PAYLOAD"
              }
          ]
        }
      }
    }
}' "https://graph.facebook.com/v24.0/PAGE-ID/messages?access_token=<PAGE-ACCESS-TOKEN>"

See also