Facebook is going to phase out phase out the Other inbox, where members currently receive messages from unknown or the people they are not Facebook friends with yet.
Some members have expressed concern about harassment and spam gaining increased visibility.
Facebook users who run groups are also affected as they often communicate with group members who are not friends.
Once the phasing is complete, all messages from people outside of a member’s friend network will arrive as requests which the recipient can accept or reject.
The messages will however arrive automatically if the sender is not a Facebook friend but stored as a contact in the recipient’s mobile device – as long as the service is synced.
