Setup Facebook Messages With Apple Messages App

Facebook is one of the biggest and most popular social media networks in existence. Thousands of messages are sent via it on a daily basis. A Mac user can setup their messages app so that it displays messages sent to them and allows them to reply without having a Facebook window open.
So, how do I setup Messages to work with Facebook?

With the ‘Messages’ app open select ‘Preferences’ from the ‘Messages’ menu

When the ‘Preferences’ windows loads select the ‘Accounts’ tab

This will list all the accounts that are used by messages e.g. iCloud account that is linked with an iPhone.
Click the ‘+’ button in the bottom left corner.

This will open the add account screen, select the option to use a different account type.

From the drop down menu select the Jabber message protocol for the ‘Account Type’.


You need to use your Facebook user name with @chat.facebook.com for the account name.
To find out you Facebook username you need to go to facebook.com/username
Here is the full support article for finding/changing you Facebook username.
Once you have added the details for the account click the ‘Next’ button.
Once the account has been created you will be put back on the main screen of the messages app. From here, click the button to start a new conversation.

This will open the list of your friends allowing you to select whom ever you wish to message.

Once you have selected a friend click in the message bar at the bottom of the window. Type your message and press the ‘return’ key to send the message.

A green message bubble shows that the message has sent to the user. As long as the message app is running in the background when a message is sent to you it will show a badge icon over the messages app icon to indicate a new message.