There are a few potential reasons why Facebook may have reminded you of a friend request:
You have a pending friend request
The most likely reason Facebook reminded you about a friend request is because you have a pending friend request that you haven’t accepted or declined yet. When someone sends you a friend request on Facebook, you will get a notification about it. If you don’t respond to the request right away, Facebook will periodically send you reminders letting you know you still have a pending request.
So if you recently got a notification from Facebook about a friend request, it’s because there is someone who sent you a request that you need to still respond to. The reminder is Facebook’s way of making sure you don’t forget to check your pending requests page and accept or decline the request.
Your friend’s account was hacked
Another possibility is that your friend’s Facebook account was hacked or cloned, and the hacker sent you a friend request in order to gain access to your profile and information. Hackers will sometimes compromise someone’s account and then use it to send out a wave of fake friend requests hoping some people will accept without realizing it’s not really their friend.
If you think this might be the case, take a close look at the friend request and see if anything seems off. Check if the request is coming from your actual friend’s account or if it’s from an account with a slightly different name that’s impersonating them. And you can always reach out to your friend directly through another channel to ask if they really sent the request.
You deleted the original friend request
Facebook will also sometimes remind you of a friend request that you already responded to if you deleted the original request. For example, if someone sent you a friend request that you accepted a few weeks ago but then later deleted the request from your inbox, Facebook’s system may still think you have a pending request from that person.
So in that case, the reminder is simply because Facebook’s records are out of sync – it thinks you still need to respond to the request when actually you already accepted it and just deleted the notification afterward. The solution is to just ignore the reminder since you already connected with that friend.
You have mutual friends
In some cases, Facebook will send you a reminder about a friend request when neither of the previous situations apply. This can happen when you and the person sending the request have a lot of mutual friends. Facebook’s algorithm sees that you have many connections in common and wants to make sure you don’t miss the request since you are likely to know each other.
So in this scenario, the reminder is simply Facebook’s way of highlighting a request from someone relevant in your network. Even if you didn’t have any pending requests, it’s sending the notification to make sure you consider connecting with this person since you share so many friends.
You recently reconnected with an old friend
Similarly, Facebook may remind you of a friend request after you recently reconnected with an old friend or acquaintance offline. For example, if you ran into an old classmate at a reunion last week and then a few days later they send you a friend request, Facebook’s algorithm may highlight it thinking you’d be likely to accept since you just saw this person.
Again, even if you don’t have any pending requests, Facebook is proactively reminding you about this one since its algorithms decided it was extra relevant to you at the moment based on your recent interactions.
Facebook wants to promote re-engagement
Finally, in some cases Facebook will use reminders about old friend requests or recommendations to add new friends as a way to re-engage users who haven’t been very active lately. By sending you notifications about pending requests or prompting you to connect with more people, it hopes to get you to revisit the site and interact more.
So if it’s been a while since you checked Facebook regularly, a reminder about an old request or prompt to connect with more friends could simply be its way of promoting increased activity and engagement on the platform again.
How to prevent Facebook request reminders
If bothers you to get repeated reminders from Facebook about pending friend requests or recommended friends, there are a few things you can do to cut down on them:
- Respond promptly to all friend requests so you don’t have any lingering pending ones.
- Adjust your notifications settings to disable the specific ones for friend request reminders.
- Turn off Facebook’s ability to recommend friends for you to add.
By accepting or declining requests right away and limiting your notifications, you can avoid getting repetitive reminders about requests you’ve already dealt with or recommendations you’re not interested in.
When to be concerned about a request reminder
In most cases, reminders about Facebook friend requests are harmless and simply meant to highlight pending requests or relevant recommendations. But occasionally a reminder may signal something more suspicious, such as:
- A hacked account sending out fake requests
- Someone impersonating your friend
- A scammer or bot adding people in hopes of spreading spam
So if something seems off about the reminder, like the request coming from someone you don’t know or an account acting abnormally, it may be a red flag of a compromised or fake account. Use caution responding to any questionable requests.
Conclusion
Facebook’s friend request reminders are usually just its way of making sure you see incoming requests or recommendations that its algorithms deem relevant to you. But in some cases, they may indicate a pending request you accidentally ignored, an account that was hacked, or Facebook’s efforts to re-engage inactive users.
To reduce annoying reminders, be responsive to requests, limit your notifications, and be selective about friend recommendations. And always exercise some skepticism before accepting requests that seem suspicious or come from unknown accounts to protect your privacy.