Facebook has recently rolled out a small update that lets users see when their chat messages were last read or ‘seen’.

This new ‘seen’ notification is shown at the bottom of a chat window and occasionally on the message page itself.

As useful as this new feature may be for the crazy stalkers among us, some people may not want you to know that you’re being ignored.

When are messages ‘seen’?

I’ve played around with the chat these last few days and I’ve noticed that a ‘seen’ notification is shown in the following cases:

Chat Windows

• When a user opens the chat box when a new message is received.
• When a user still has the chat box open when a new message is received.

Messages Page

• When a new message is opened.
• When the page of a message is refreshed.

How to Hide That You’ve Read a Message

So far, the only way to keep a user from receiving a ‘seen’ message is by either not opening the chat box at all (this isn’t possible for the first message you receive when you’re online) or by reading the excerpt of the message on the messages page without actually opening the message itself.

Note

I have yet to experiment with how this new feature deals with chat messages that are read on phones. Any insight on this is appreciated!

Please share anything you’ve learned about Facebook’s new notifications. :)