If you use Facebook casually, as an individual, Facebook’s new “link limits” won’t impact you. This recent change affects Business Pages and Professional Mode accounts. Meta is rolling out a change to Facebook, such that a business may only post (or comment) two URL links per month. More than that requires a paid subscription to a Meta One plan.
This is a big deal for most businesses!, Consider, in a given month: a Realtor might like to post a link for each new property they list, plus a link for any open-house or special event. A church probably posts links for each Sunday service, plus other community events throughout the month. I see police departments and other public services posting almost everyday, with links to safety and reporting websites. And when I judge my own FB Business page, I seem to insert a dozen links each month on my own posts, plus countless others in comments as I dispense with advice and recommendations in my community.
That all comes to a screeching halt, unless a business pays up. The Meta One Plans website doesn’t give detailed info about using weblinks, but a lesser-known support page reveals what we need to know: I would have to pay about $50/month to Meta, just to be able to post eight links each month. $150/mo would allow a business 20 links. $500/mo grants unlimited linking.
How to Avoid Paying
If your business is dependent on sharing links and URLs, you may be forced into a costly Meta One plan. No judgment to you if this is the case, but BlueScreen Computer is not willing to give money to the Meta Machine. In exploring alternatives, this is what I see others trying and suggesting to work around subscribing to Meta:
- Switch to and post on another platform (X/Twitter, NextDoor, BlueSky, etc.)
- Post pictures of URLs or spelled-out web address, e.g.: “www dot bluescreencomputer dot com”
- Post URLs despite the warning and limits. In some cases, the web address is shown in plain-text and is not clickable. Visitors might then highlight, copy and paste that URL into their browser’s address bar
- Post in different ways, so that it doesn’t count towards your limit
- Create an automation, so that when a customer PMs your Business Page, it auto-responds with a message (that can contain a URL!)
- Move to using a Personal Facebook account for the business
- Create a Facebook Group that the Business Page is in control of. Links and URLs posted by a business within a group do not seem to count towards the limit!
There are pros and cons and risks to all of these tactics. And perhaps the biggest hazard of all is that we don’t know what Facebook might change next. You might adopt a new process to sidestep the link-limit, only for Meta to change the rules again in 6 months and defeat your efforts.
As you cope with this link limit, please be on-guard. Remain flexible and perhaps plan for a future where you are less reliant on Facebook. And if this limit hasn’t come to your Business Page yet, please keep an eye out — it may arrive to you in future months, no telling when!