What does the Half Moon Mean on Facebook

Facebook is the online social networking site that has changed the way we communicate. Once upon a time we communicated with people face to face. Today, we use Facebook to speak to our friends. The world has definitely become a smaller place with the advent of the Internet and social networking sites like Facebook. We get to remain in contact with long-lost friends and people residing in other countries, cities and sometimes even our next door neighbor (No, I am not exaggerating!). Anyways, coming back to the point, we use Facebook chat to have private conversations without friends and family. This chat takes place in real-time and you do not have to wait for the reply. Unless of course, the person refuses to answer you! While you are on chat, you may observe a half moon on Facebook chat. So, what does that mean? Let us find out.

Meaning of Half Moon on Facebook

The chat feature on Facebook allows you to come online and talk with friends who too, are online at the same time. All you need to do is click on the Chat menu on the bottom right of your Facebook page. A small window will pop open on the existing page. This window contains a list of all friends who are online. You will find a small green dot next to the name of the person who is online. Just click on the name of the person in the chat window and a new window will open up next to the existing one. Here, you need to type in your message and hit enter. Your friend will receive the message send by you.

However, after you send over your message you may not receive any reply from the person. You may sit staring at your chat box, waiting for the person to at least say 'Hi'. Slowly, the green dot next to the person's name, turns into a half moon. You begin to wonder what does the half moon mean on Facebook chat? You do not need to refer to the Lunar calendar to decipher the meaning. This is no waning moon image and indicative of a specific status of the person. So, what is the meaning of half moon on Facebook?

Simple! It just means the friend on chat is currently 'AFK'. Now, I am sure you are stumped. What does 'AFK' means? This acronym stands for 'Away from Keyboard'. Either your friend has logged into Facebook and got busy with another window over the Internet or has moved away from computer for some work. It may also mean your friend fell asleep on the desk after partying hard last night! Ok, let's not just move on to foolish assumptions. When a person does not work or carry out any activity on the Facebook chat application for the last 10 minutes, their status is automatically changed to 'idle'. When the person returns to chat, the half moon will get converted back to the green dot.

If you send out a message and do not receive a reply, just check if the half moon is displayed. This will help you know if the person is away, busy or not anywhere near the PC. Do not assume something is wrong with the Facebook chat or the person is trying to avoid you. Half moon just means the person has gone into an idle mode (not in the literal sense, but virtual sense). Hope, the above information has helped you learn the meaning of half moon on Facebook chat.