> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.linkiasoft.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Comments and posts

> Handling comments from Facebook, Instagram and TikTok — replying publicly, privately, or hiding them, and what each platform allows.

Comments on your Facebook, Instagram and TikTok posts and ads arrive in the **Comments** tab
of the inbox, next to your direct messages — so nobody has to keep three apps open.

## The three tabs

| Tab          | Contents                          |
| ------------ | --------------------------------- |
| **Messages** | Direct conversations              |
| **Comments** | Comments on posts and ads         |
| **Posts**    | The posts themselves, for context |

A comment rarely makes sense alone. The Posts tab is why you do not have to open Facebook to
work out what someone is reacting to.

## What you can do with a comment

<Steps>
  <Step title="Reply publicly">
    Everyone sees it. Right for answers other people are also wondering about — one good
    public answer saves ten DMs.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Reply privately">
    Starts a direct message with the commenter. Right for anything involving an order number,
    a price, a complaint, or personal detail.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Hide it">
    Hides the comment on the platform. Reversible.
  </Step>
</Steps>

<Note>
  The pattern worth learning: **a short public reply, then the detail privately.** The public
  reply shows you are responsive to everyone reading; the private one keeps personal
  information off a public post.
</Note>

## What each platform allows

Not every action exists everywhere, and this is platform capability rather than a
Linkiasoft limitation.

|                 | Facebook | Instagram | TikTok |
| --------------- | -------- | --------- | ------ |
| Reply publicly  | Yes      | Yes       | Yes    |
| Reply privately | Yes      | Yes       | **No** |
| Hide            | Yes      | Yes       | Yes    |

**TikTok has no private reply** — TikTok does not offer direct messaging here. Answer
publicly, and put any route onward in that reply.

Telegram and WhatsApp do not have comments at all. Telegram gives you groups and channels
instead.

## Meta's private reply rules

Worth knowing before you rely on private replies, because they are strict:

<Warning>
  **One private reply per comment, ever** — not one per day. Once it is used, it is gone.

  **Within 7 days** of the comment. On **Instagram Live**, only during the broadcast itself.

  **It does not open a conversation.** You get exactly one message. Only if the person replies
  does a normal 24-hour messaging window open.
</Warning>

So that single message has to answer the question *and* give them a reason to write back. A
private reply that just says "thanks for reaching out!" has spent your one opportunity.

## Hiding, carefully

Hiding is reversible, and some comments cannot be hidden at all — the platform refuses,
Instagram especially.

Reserve it for spam and abuse. Hiding a genuine complaint is worse than the complaint: the
customer notices, and says so somewhere you cannot hide.

## Automating it

Everything above can be automated — the classic flow being an ad comment that gets a public
acknowledgment and a private message with the answer, in seconds rather than hours.

If the comment came from a **Click-to-WhatsApp ad**, replying quickly also opens a
[72-hour free messaging window](/help/campaigns/meta-pricing-and-windows#the-72-hour-free-entry-point),
which makes it a billing decision as much as a service one.

See [Comment automations](/help/automation/comment-automations) for the full treatment,
including what happens when a private reply is not permitted.

## Who sees comments

Comment channels are granted to roles like any other — a role without the channel never sees
its comments. See
[Roles and permissions](/help/team/roles-and-permissions#channel-access-and-teams).