I’ve noticed something mighty curious on Facebook recently… sounds! After digging into their code, I found that there are three user interface sounds being used on Facebook.

As far as I can tell, these sounds only play when your page is not in the front window, and are thus reserved for when Facebook knows your eyes are not on the page. The sounds aren’t stylized in a particularly unique way like Jambox or Skype, but their musicality and simplicity seem to coincide well enough with Facebook’s relatively clean and straightforward aesthetic.

When you receive a chat message, an E-G-C chord plays, which is the first inversion of a C Major chord.

When Facebook wants to alert you to a new notification, a two note, C to A descending phrase is used.

When one of your friends attempts to initiate a video chat with you, a louder “ringing” arpeggio plays and repeats. What are the notes in this sound, you may wonder? It plays the first 4 notes of the F Major 7 chord, which are – I kid you not – F, A, C and E.

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