Read a msg on Facebook without joining Facebook

January 3, 2020 7:27 AM

My son sent me a link he wanted me to read from a Facebook posting. I do not have (and do not want) a Facebook acct. Is there a way to read it without joining?
posted by JayRwv to Computers & Internet (7 answers total)

Have you tried just following the link? If the post is public, you'll be able to read it without logging in (there will be a big pop-up trying to get you to, and a very small option somewhere to tell it no.)
posted by solotoro at 7:37 AM on January 3, 2020

If you know the content of the link you could likely search for it and find other sources. If it’s a status update or something written for friends with certain privacy settings then you likely can’t see it. Ask him to send you a screenshot?
posted by amanda at 7:38 AM on January 3, 2020 [1 favorite]

I'm assuming that you tried opening it and it's not publicly available without an account. Ask him to save it (PDF is pretty easy to do from most browsers/computers) and send it to you if he wants you to read it.
posted by Candleman at 9:07 AM on January 3, 2020 [1 favorite]

Best answer: Tell your son you don't have facebook and to email it or something instead? If he thinks it's important for you to read, then I'm sure he can figure out how to get it to you some other way.
posted by Aleyn at 10:08 AM on January 3, 2020 [5 favorites]

You could also ask him to screenshot it and email or text it to you - that's probably the easiest to do if he shared it from his phone.
posted by Mchelly at 11:34 AM on January 3, 2020 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: Thanks. I did get it, finally. I appreciate the help.
posted by JayRwv at 12:25 PM on January 3, 2020

I think only FB members can read comments on posts, so if the content in question is a comment then the only way to read it is to either a) join FB or b) get someone else who can read it to send you a copy.
posted by pharm at 3:36 AM on January 4, 2020