Facebook's review system looks familiar at a glance but works differently under the hood from most other platforms, having shifted years ago from a five-star model to a binary recommendation format. That change has practical implications for how businesses should collect and display feedback there.
What Are Facebook Recommendations, and How Do They Differ From Reviews?
Facebook replaced its star-rating review system with a simple yes/no recommendation plus optional comment, which shifts emphasis from a numeric score to a recommendation percentage and written context.
Instead of an average like "4.6 stars," a Facebook Page shows something closer to "94% recommend this business" based on the ratio of positive to negative responses, alongside the individual comments people left with their answer.
How Do You Enable Recommendations on a Facebook Page?
The feature needs to be turned on in Page settings under templates and tabs, and it's only available for certain Page categories — some business types don't have the option at all.
Local and service businesses are the most common category to have it available, similar to how Yelp and Google skew toward local discovery; see the Yelp reviews guide for how these platforms complement each other for local visibility.
How Do You Get More Facebook Recommendations?
Post a direct link to the recommendation prompt after a purchase or service, mention it in a receipt or follow-up message, and make it easy to find from the Page itself rather than assuming visitors will look.
Because the action is a single tap rather than a written star rating, response rates to a direct ask tend to be higher than on platforms requiring more effort — which makes timing and clarity of the ask especially important, a theme covered further in review generation strategies.
How Should You Respond to Facebook Recommendations?
Reply as you would to a comment — brief, specific, and public — since responses appear in the same feed context as the recommendation itself and are visible to anyone browsing the Page.
Because the format encourages shorter written feedback than a full review platform, responses can also be shorter without seeming dismissive, as long as they reference something specific from the comment.
Can You Hide or Remove a Negative Recommendation?
Only through Facebook's reporting process for content that violates community standards — businesses cannot simply delete a negative recommendation they disagree with.
This mirrors the policy on most major review platforms: the mechanism exists for abuse or fake content, not for legitimate criticism the business would rather not display.
Can You Display Facebook Recommendations on Your Website?
Yes, generally through Facebook's own embed tools or a review aggregation service that supports the platform, though options are more limited than for star-rating-based platforms.
Some businesses fold Facebook feedback into a broader review aggregation setup alongside Google and industry-specific platforms, since a single recommendation percentage alone doesn't carry the same visual weight as a five-star display when shown next to other sources.
Which Businesses Get the Most Value From Facebook Reviews?
Local service businesses, restaurants, and community-facing brands that already maintain an active Facebook Page tend to see the most engagement with recommendations.
B2B software companies and e-commerce brands without an active local presence generally get much lower volume here than on platforms built specifically for their category, such as G2 for software.
What Are the Limits of Relying on Facebook for Reviews?
Recommendations only appear on Facebook Pages with the feature enabled, reach depends on organic algorithm visibility, and the format's simplicity gives less nuance than a written star review.
A single yes/no answer can't capture partial satisfaction the way a three-star review with detailed comments can, which is part of why most businesses treat Facebook as one input in a wider review strategy rather than the primary one.
Summary
Facebook's recommendation format trades nuance for simplicity, which works well for local, community-facing businesses. Enable it deliberately, ask directly and promptly, and treat it as a complement to — not a replacement for — a broader review strategy.