Send a Facebook Message Without Becoming Friends February 13, 2012, 6:33 pm Facebook has effectively replaced e-mail for a large portion of its members. But many users still suffer from a basic misconception: They think that in order to converse with another member via Facebook's e-mail-like Messages feature, they first need to send the other person a friend request and wait for it to be accepted before hitting Messages. This isn't true. To send a nonfriend a message, go to that person's Facebook profile page and look for the big Message button in the upper-right corner of the page or, if that person has one of Facebook's panoramic new Timeline photos at the top, look below and to the right of the image. Sometimes, though, you will not see a Message button. That is because Facebook lets users block others from writing to them without first becoming Facebook friends. To block others from messaging you, click the arrow button at the very top and right of Facebook's Web interface. In the menu that pops up, click on Privacy Settings, then How you connect and Who can send me messages. Change the default Everyone setting to either Friends or Friends of Friends, then click the Done button below it. Unless you are being hounded by strangers, though, letting anyone on Facebook send you a message leaves the door open to meeting new people online, and to getting messages from people who would never have been able to Google your e-mail address.