If I want to contact Facebook..

January 19, 2014 3:47 PM

..to offer a suggestion about a way they could improve an aspect of their usage (i.e. a certain feature outcome), what would be the best way to do it? (so as to ensure I receive a response I mean) i.e. would it be by email or some other way (i.e. phone number)? Thanks.
posted by Neutron12 to Computers & Internet (8 answers total)

1. Facebook has over 1 billion users. I suspect nearly all communication that doesn't include a check probably goes into a black hole.

2. I suspect that they will not accept or acknowledge any suggestion made by a non-employee, they would fear a future lawsuit if they actually use your idea.

3. Good luck, but don't get your hopes up.
posted by HuronBob at 3:57 PM on January 19, 2014 [4 favorites]

HuronBob is incorrect. Facebook, like most apps, is more than happy to receive user feedback. I can't say what they do with it, but there is most certainly an avenue for submitting it, and I would bet a small amount of money that there's an entire team of employees tasked with sifting through these messages on some level (before they are, perhaps, sent to a black hole).

Under the gear icon that represents settings, there is a link called "Report a Problem". After clicking the link, one of the options that will be presented to you is "Send Feedback - Tell us about your Facebook experience." This is the way to submit feature feedback.
posted by telegraph at 4:05 PM on January 19, 2014 [1 favorite]

To insure you receive a response (that is not automated) you need to either be an advertiser spending big bucks on Facebook, a stockholder with enough shares to negatively impact the wealth of the executives if you get pissed, or law enforcement with a subpoena. If you are not one of those three, your odds of a response to a feature request or anything else are slim to none. It may get noted, and given enough similar requests it may eventually reach a level where your idea gets considered and even implemented. However, they likely wouldn't ever acknowledge that to you due to IP concerns.
posted by COD at 4:24 PM on January 19, 2014

All of the above response are correct. Nonetheless perhaps try reaching them via their Twitter handle. The odds are against your suggestion being implemented or even seen by anyone in a position to do anything about it.
posted by dfriedman at 4:41 PM on January 19, 2014

Just put your idea out there and see if it gains traction. If your proposed redesign (or whatever) gets a zillion upvotes on Reddit, or if a prominent tech writer tweets about it, someone might notice. (Bonus: if your idea is really stupid for some reason, someone will tell you, sparing you the mental anguish about never hearing back from Facebook).
posted by acidic at 4:49 PM on January 19, 2014 [1 favorite]

I would forget about it, unless you want to try to use it as an exercise in self-promotion/social-media.

Facebook may be more than happy to receive feedback, but chances are that even if it got to someone who could do something about it, they probably have their own ideas about things that could be better that they are either actively working on, or actively seeking support for. An idea that flies in through the suggestion box isn't likely to even pierce their awareness.
posted by Good Brain at 6:21 PM on January 19, 2014

Telegraph has the right answer but, as a Product Owner/Manager myself (but not with Facebook), I can tell you that the majority of suggestions we get from people are rubbish.

The few gems that we occasionally get are already in the roadmap and have been for 6 months or more.
posted by mr_silver at 6:42 AM on January 20, 2014

(Do not reach out to Facebook via their Twitter handle!)
posted by RedOrGreen at 12:21 PM on January 20, 2014