How to Automatically Send a Message When Someone Sends You a Friend Request

Never miss a chance to start a conversation: this tutorial walks you through setting up ChatSilo to automatically send a personalized welcome message whenever someone sends you a Facebook friend request.

Step 1: Open the ChatSilo extension

Launch your browser and click the purple ChatSilo extension icon in the top-right corner of your toolbar to open the extension panel.

Tip: If you do not see the ChatSilo icon, click the puzzle-piece Extensions icon in your browser toolbar and pin ChatSilo for quick access.

Step 2: Open the navigation menu

Click the menu icon (the three horizontal lines in the top-right corner of the ChatSilo panel) to expand the navigation menu.

Step 3: Navigate to "Message new friends"

Under the Outreach & Messaging section of the menu, click Message new friends to open the automated welcome outreach settings page.

Step 4: Enable the trigger

On the Send message to new friends settings page:

1. Confirm that you are on the They send me a request tab (to target incoming friend requests).
2. Next to Enable this trigger, toggle the switch ON to activate automated outreach.

Step 5: Write or customize your message

Edit the default message in the Message box to match your voice, or clear it and compose a new greeting from scratch.

Personalize every outreach message using dynamic placeholders (you can type them directly or click the Personalise chips above the text box):

• [first_name] - inserts the recipient's first name
• [last_name] - inserts the recipient's last name

Example: "Hey [first_name], thanks for the friend request! Great to connect with you."

Step 6: Add the message to your variants list

Once your message is ready, click the + Add Variant button below the message editor to save it to your Message Variants list.

Step 7: (Optional) Randomize messages

If you have added more than one message variant and want ChatSilo to rotate through them automatically, toggle on the Randomise messages switch.

Tip: Randomizing message variants keeps your outreach natural and avoids repetitive copy-and-paste patterns when you receive many friend requests.

Step 8: Save your settings

Click the purple Save button in the top-right corner to apply your configuration. You can also adjust your Delivery Timing options (delay before sending, daily send limit, and skipping weekends) below the variants list before saving.

You're All Set!

ChatSilo is now configured to greet every incoming friend request with a personal message automatically. Head over to facebook.com/messages and watch the conversations roll in.