Revealed: The secret 'other' folder in your Facebook account that could be full of important messages you haven't seen



A secret folder marked 'other' could contain old messages that Facebook users were not aware of

American tech expert David Pogue said the secret folder was brought in by the social network as a spam filtering measure

The 'other' folder is subtly located next to the inbox in the messages section of Facebook



A secret Facebook folder marked as 'other' could contain messages that you have never seen

A secret Facebook folder marked as 'other' could contain important messages users have never seen.

This inbox feature, which has the ability to harbour messages that you are not aware of, is part of a measure to protect users against spam, according to the social network.

But as there are no push notifications to alert any of Facebook's 1.1 billion users that messages have been relegated to their 'other' folder, plenty of people will have old messages hidden in it.

In a blog post for The New York Times, tech expert David Pogue said that he had discovered a secret folder full of Facebook messages that he had never seen.

They included important messages and redundant invitations from friends going back years.

He said that Facebook users can check their 'other' folder to discover if they have any old mail, by clicking on 'messages'.

Next to 'inbox' in bold type, there is the word 'other' in light grey, which you have possibly overlooked.

Mr Pogue said that it is this folder that probably contains a hidden stash of messages.

The less than obvious folder is apparently part of Facebook's $1 message programme.

The social network began charging users $1 to send a message to an individual who is not their friend, this year.

If you try to contact a non-friend, a dialogue box pops up and offers the option of paying or sending a message to the 'other' folder.

Facebook reportedly said that the purpose of the 'other' folder is to filter out spam by stopping messages from strangers going into users' main inboxes.