Facebook reviews and recommendations: how they work and when they matter
In 2018 Facebook swapped star ratings for Recommendations, a yes-or-no answer with text and photos that travels through a person's network. Here is how the system works, why it still matters for a remodeler or home builder, and when it is worth the effort.
Most owners still call them Facebook reviews, but the platform stopped collecting star ratings in 2018. It replaced them with Recommendations: a customer answers yes or no, adds a few words and a photo, and that answer surfaces to the people in their network. The reason to care is reach. Facebook still reports roughly 3.07 billion monthly active users, making it one of the largest places your prospects already spend time (Meta, Q4 2024). BrightLocal puts it among consumers' top three sources for finding local businesses, alongside Google and Yelp (BrightLocal, 2024). When a homeowner posts in their neighborhood group asking who to hire for a kitchen remodel, that is the social-graph moment Facebook captures. This article explains how Recommendations actually work, why that endorsement is different from a Google review, and when Facebook earns the effort versus when your time belongs on Google.
What changed in 2018, and why it matters
In August 2018 Facebook retired the 1-to-5 star rating it had used for years and rolled out Recommendations in its place (Facebook, 2018). The old system asked a customer to pick a number. The new one asks a single question: do you recommend this business, yes or no? A yes or no is faster to give, harder to game with a half-hearted three stars, and reads more like word of mouth than a survey score.
Facebook did not throw the star rating away entirely. It now derives a Page's star score from the underlying recommendations and any legacy ratings, so your Page can still show a number even though no customer types one in. Past reviews were converted to Recommended or Not Recommended during the switch. The practical takeaway is that the rating you see is an aggregate the platform calculates, not something a customer sets directly.
If you have not looked at your Page since before 2018, this is worth knowing. The tab is now labeled Reviews or Recommendations depending on where you are, the input is yes or no, and the score is computed. Managing it well means understanding the mechanics rather than chasing star counts the way you would on Google.
How a Recommendation actually works
When someone opens the Reviews tab on your Page, Facebook prompts them with do you recommend this business. They tap yes or no, then they are asked to explain. Facebook offers suggested tags, and the customer can add their own text and photos. The result is a short, attributed endorsement attached to a real profile, not an anonymous star.
There is a second path that most owners overlook. A person can post in their own feed asking friends for a recommendation, say for a plumber or a roofer in their town. When friends reply with a business name, Facebook automatically links that name to your Page. That turns a casual comment into a discoverable endorsement, and it happens entirely outside your Page in the social graph where you have no direct control.
Both paths share one feature that sets Facebook apart: the endorsement is tied to a named person their friends can see and trust.
The anatomy of a Facebook Recommendation:
- A yes-or-no answer to do you recommend this business, replacing the old 1-to-5 star pick
- Optional suggested tags the customer can select to characterize their experience
- Free text and photos the customer adds to explain the recommendation
- A named profile and photo attached, so friends can see who vouched for you
- A Page-level star score Facebook computes from recommendations plus any legacy ratings
- Feed-based asks where a friend's reply auto-links to your Page in the social graph
Why Facebook still matters for a remodeler
The case for Facebook is reach and trust traveling together. With roughly 3.07 billion monthly active users, the platform reaches an audience few channels match (Meta, Q4 2024), and BrightLocal places it among consumers' top three sources for finding local businesses (BrightLocal, 2024). Homeowners planning a remodel are already there, and many of them will check a Page before they call for an estimate.
What makes a Recommendation distinct is the social graph. A Google review is a stranger's opinion you read in isolation. A Facebook Recommendation is attached to a real person whose friends can see it, and when those friends ask their network for a plumber or an electrician, your name can surface as a recommendation from someone they actually know. That is closer to genuine word of mouth than any other review platform offers, which is why endorsements from people we know remain the most trusted form of marketing.
The endorsement also lives where the decision sometimes starts. Many local searches begin not on Google but in a feed post asking friends who they would use, and Facebook is built to capture exactly that moment.
What Facebook offers that a generic review site does not:
- Scale: roughly 3.07 billion monthly active users to draw from (Meta, Q4 2024)
- A named, visible endorser rather than an anonymous star rating
- Friend-to-friend discovery when people ask their network for a recommendation
- Recommendations and photos that can surface in feeds, not just on your Page
- A Page you likely already maintain for posts, messaging, and ads
- A spot in consumers' top three local-discovery sources (BrightLocal, 2024)
Enabling Recommendations and generating them
Recommendations only work if the tab is turned on, and on many Pages it is not. You enable it from your Page settings: open the Templates and Tabs settings and switch the Reviews tab on, or use the privacy and tagging settings to allow others to view and leave reviews on your Page. Once the tab is live, customers can recommend you and the score begins to build.
Generating recommendations follows the same discipline as any review platform: ask promptly, ask the right people, and make it easy. The best moment is right after a job goes well, when the customer is satisfied and the experience is fresh. Send a direct link to your Page's review prompt so they land on the yes-or-no question without hunting for it. Do not offer incentives, and never post fake recommendations from staff or fabricated profiles; Facebook actively removes content it judges to be dishonest or paid for, and inauthentic praise is easy for prospects to spot.
Volume and recency both matter. A Page with a steady trickle of fresh recommendations reads as a living business, while one with three endorsements from years ago reads as neglected.
A simple system for earning Recommendations:
- Turn on the Reviews tab in your Page's Templates and Tabs or privacy settings
- Ask at the moment of satisfaction, right after a completed job
- Send a direct link to the recommendation prompt, not just your Page URL
- Tell happy customers a yes plus a sentence is all it takes
- Keep a steady cadence so recommendations stay recent, not stale
- Never incentivize or fabricate recommendations, which Facebook removes
A Google review is a stranger's opinion in isolation. A Facebook Recommendation is attached to a named person their friends can see and trust.
Responding to recommendations, good and bad
A recommendation is the start of a conversation, not the end of one. Respond to positive recommendations with a brief, specific thank-you that references the actual job, because prospects reading the Page see an owner who is present and engaged. A wall of warm recommendations with no replies looks automated; a few genuine responses signal a real business that cares.
Negative recommendations need a calmer hand. Reply publicly, acknowledge the issue without arguing, and move the detail to a private message or phone call. The audience for that reply is not the unhappy customer; it is the next prospect deciding whether you handle problems like a professional. One measured response to a complaint can reassure more buyers than ten five-star raves.
Resist the urge to delete. You generally cannot remove an individual recommendation, and trying to scrub every imperfect one looks worse than answering it. You can report a recommendation that is fraudulent or violates Facebook's policies, but treat that as a narrow tool, not a way to hide honest criticism.
When Facebook is worth it, and when Google wins
For most service businesses, Google comes first. It is where the highest-intent searches happen, it is the source consumers trust most for local businesses, and a Google rating shows up directly in the search results and the map pack where buyers are actively looking (BrightLocal, 2024). If you only have time to maintain one review presence, make it Google.
Facebook earns its place as the strong second, and sometimes more. If your audience skews toward people who live in their feeds, or your category is one neighbors actively ask each other about, the social-graph discovery is worth real effort. It also compounds work you are already doing: if you run a Facebook Page for posts, messaging, or ads, leaving Recommendations off wastes proof you could be collecting for free.
The honest answer is that Facebook is rarely your top priority and rarely worth ignoring. Treat it as one platform in a wider review program, weighted by where your specific customers actually look.
Quick guide to where Facebook fits:
- Lead with Google for high-intent search and map-pack visibility
- Prioritize Facebook when your audience is highly active in feeds
- Lean in for categories neighbors ask each other about, like home services
- Always enable Recommendations if you already run a Facebook Page
- Keep both current rather than letting either go stale
- Weight your effort by where your customers actually search and ask
How WellBuilt manages Facebook Recommendations
WellBuilt treats Facebook Recommendations as one workstream inside a broader review program, not a standalone task. We start by auditing your Page: whether the Reviews tab is even enabled, what your current recommendations and computed score look like, and how that compares with your Google profile. Many businesses we meet have the tab switched off entirely and are missing endorsements they could be earning at no cost.
From there we build the request system. We set up direct links to your recommendation prompt, time the ask to the moment a job is completed, and make the yes-or-no path effortless for the customer, all without incentives or fabricated profiles, because Facebook removes inauthentic content and prospects see through it. We also handle responses, replying to positive recommendations with specifics and defusing negative ones in public while taking the detail private.
Because Google still carries the most weight for local intent, we keep Facebook in proportion: enabled, fed, and monitored, but never at the expense of the platforms your buyers trust most. If you want to know whether Facebook deserves more of your attention or less, book a free Blueprint and we will map it against where your customers actually look.
Key takeaways
- Remember that Facebook dropped star ratings in 2018; customers now answer yes or no, and the star score you see is computed from those recommendations.
- Turn on the Reviews tab in your Page settings first, because Recommendations cannot accumulate while the tab is switched off.
- Earn recommendations by asking right after a completed job and sending a direct link to the prompt, never with incentives or fake profiles.
- Respond to every recommendation: thank the positive ones with specifics, and answer the negative ones publicly while moving the detail private.
- Lead with Google for high-intent search, then keep Facebook as a strong second, weighted by where your specific customers actually look and ask.
SourcesFacebook, Update introducing Recommendations and retiring star ratings, 2018 · Meta, Q4 2024 Earnings and Facebook monthly active users, 2024 · BrightLocal, Local Consumer Review Survey, 2024 · BrightLocal, Local Business Discovery and Trust Report, 2023
Questions, answered straight.
Why doesn't my Facebook Page have star ratings anymore?
Facebook removed the 1-to-5 star input in 2018 and replaced it with Recommendations, where customers answer yes or no and add text or photos. Your Page can still display a star score, but Facebook now calculates that number from the underlying recommendations and any legacy ratings rather than from numbers customers type. If you have not checked your Page since before 2018, the tab and the mechanics have changed, even though many owners still call them reviews.
How do I turn on Recommendations for my Page?
Open your Page settings and enable the Reviews tab. Depending on your Page layout, you do this in the Templates and Tabs settings by switching the Reviews tab on, or in the privacy and tagging settings by allowing others to view and leave reviews on your Page. Once the tab is live, customers can recommend you and your computed score begins to build. If the tab is off, no recommendations can accumulate, which is a common and costly oversight.
Should I focus on Facebook or Google reviews?
Lead with Google. It hosts the highest-intent local searches, it is the source consumers trust most for local businesses, and the rating appears directly in search and the map pack (BrightLocal, 2024). Facebook is a strong second, especially if your audience is active in feeds or your category is one neighbors ask each other about. If you already run a Facebook Page, enable Recommendations regardless, since leaving them off wastes proof you could collect for free.
Can I delete a bad Facebook recommendation?
Generally no. You cannot remove an individual recommendation simply because it is unflattering, and trying to scrub every imperfect one tends to look worse than answering it. You can report a recommendation that is fraudulent, spam, or violates Facebook's policies, and the platform may remove it. Treat that as a narrow tool. For honest criticism, reply publicly with a calm, professional response, because the next prospect is watching how you handle it.
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