Does Facebook Send Notifications for Likes?

By David Nield

Facebook Likes appear as notifications within the browser and mobile apps.
i Rainier Ehrhardt/Getty Images News/Getty Images

When someone on Facebook "likes" one of your comments or other updates, it's registered as a notification and displayed as an alert on the Facebook website. However, these likes are not pushed to mobile devices or email addresses in the same way as other notifications can be. To control this behavior, manage your Notification preferences from the Account Settings page.

Notifications for Likes

You can view recent notifications by clicking the blue globe icon. Click "See All" to view a full list of notifications, including comments on your updates, updates from your close friends and postings in your groups. Likes are included in these lists of notifications. If you receive a like while logged into Facebook, a notification appears in the corner of the screen and a red flag appears over the notification icon.

Mobile Apps

Facebook offers official mobile apps for iOS and Android devices that can display push notifications on your device. The apps for both platforms enable you to customize which events trigger a push notification (friend requests or wall comments, for example). Likes are not included in the list of notification settings, and so do not generate an alert on mobile devices. However, as on the full Facebook website, they are included when you open up the notifications list from within the iOS or Android app.

Managing Notifications

To manage your notification settings, click on the cog icon by your profile avatar on the Facebook website and choose "Account Settings" from the list. Open the "Notifications" tab to configure how you are alerted about activity on Facebook over email, mobile apps and SMS notifications. Likes are not included on this settings page, but you can configure other aspects of the notification system from here.

Notifications via RSS

Facebook provides an RSS feed of your notifications which can be accessed from the "See All" link at the bottom of the notifications window. These RSS updates include any likes associated with your account, so by plugging the feed into a compatible program (such as Google Reader on the Web) you can receive notifications of likes from outside Facebook. The RSS feed snippet includes a link to the profile of the person who liked your content, and a link to the content itself.

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