Facebook allows page admins to review and approve comments before they are visible to other users. This can be useful for managing conversations and maintaining a positive environment on your page. Here is an overview of how to enable comment approval on Facebook.
What is comment moderation?
Comment moderation refers to reviewing and approving comments before they are publicly visible. When you enable comment approval on Facebook, comments left by users will be held for review until a page admin or moderator approves them. This allows you to filter out inappropriate, spammy, or irrelevant comments.
With comment approval enabled, the process works like this:
- A user comments on your page post
- The comment is put into a pending queue not visible to the public
- A page admin or moderator reviews the comment
- The admin approves the comment, deletes it, or marks it as spam
- Approved comments become visible publicly
Comment moderation gives you more control over conversations on your page. It can help maintain a constructive community and prevent your page from being overrun by spam.
How to enable comment approval on Facebook
Here are step-by-step instructions for turning on comment approval:
- Go to your Facebook page
- Click Settings at the top
- Select Templates and Tabs from the left menu
- Under Comments, click Edit Settings
- Select Manually approve comments before they’re shown
- Click Confirm to save your settings
Once enabled, all new comments will need approval before going live. You can change this setting at any time to go back to automatic comment posting.
How to review and approve pending comments
When someone comments on a post where approval is turned on, you’ll get a notification that a comment is pending review. Here’s how to moderate them:
- Go to your page and click Visitor Posts at the top
- This will show all pending comments awaiting approval
- Click the comment to expand it and see the full text
- Choose Approve, Delete, or Spam
- Approved comments will now be visible publicly
You can also review pending comments and moderate them directly from a post by clicking View X Pending Comments. This makes it easy to manage comments right as they come in.
Considerations when moderating comments
Here are some tips for effective comment moderation:
- Check pending comments daily. Don’t let them build up.
- Only approve relevant, constructive feedback.
- Delete hostile, inappropriate, or spam comments.
- Consider blocking users who repeatedly leave negative remarks.
- Reply to questions and thank users for engaging.
- Don’t let moderation slow you down. Approve quality comments quickly.
Finding the right balance takes some practice. You want to foster genuine conversations without letting things get out of hand. With time, you’ll get a feel for when a firm hand is needed versus when you can let discussions flow freely.
Using filters to auto-moderate comments
In addition to manual moderation, Facebook offers some automatic comment filtering options. You can set rules to block comments containing specific words, phrases, or links automatically.
To set up filtered words:
- Go to Settings > Templates and Tabs on your page
- Under Filtered Words, click Edit
- Enter words or phrases you want to block comments for
- Click Save to apply filters
When someone attempts to post a comment with these words, it will be automatically marked as spam. Filters provide a basic level of automated moderation, but you’ll still want to manually review comments as well.
Using a Facebook app for comment moderation
Managing a high volume of comments can be time-consuming. Some third-party Facebook apps are designed to help streamline moderation:
- Social Moderation – Auto-scans for spam comments and bulk moderates pending reviews.
- Power Reply – Pre-approves comments from followers and lets you create auto-reply rules.
- Social Report – Filters profanity, keywords, and links for auto-moderation.
These tools help automate part of the process, but most still require manual review before comments appear publicly. They provide helpful assistance for managing larger Facebook pages and audiences.
The pros and cons of pre-approving Facebook comments
There are some clear advantages to enabling comment approval on your Facebook page:
Pros:
- Filter out offensive, inappropriate, or irrelevant remarks
- Reduce spam comments from bots
- Maintain a constructive community and positive environment
- Prevent reputation damage caused by unwanted comments
Cons:
- Requires time and effort to manually review comments
- Conversations become less free-flowing and natural
- Users may be frustrated if their comments don’t appear immediately
- You may occasionally reject valuable feedback or insights
Ultimately it’s about finding the right balance for your page goals and audience. Heavily moderating conversations takes effort but can prevent major headaches down the road. The needs of an entertainment brand differ greatly from a news page, for example. Consider your specific circumstances and what makes the most sense long-term.
Conclusion
Pre-approving comments on Facebook enables you to filter low-quality feedback but can require significant moderation time. Enable the setting carefully only if you’re committed to actively managing conversations. Set clear expectations with your audience, use automated filters judiciously, and maintain an openness to constructive criticism. With extra work, comment approval allows you to cultivate the type of community you want on your page.