Retroactive DMs (Instagram and Facebook) and FAQ
Yes — Instagram and Facebook can DM earlier comments when scope is Specific posts and Send to earlier comments is on (7-day Meta window, ~100 comments/post, default off).
This page answers whether Pointerly can DM people who already commented before you saved the rule — on Instagram and on Facebook Pages.
What Meta allows
Meta's documentation sets the same rules for both platforms:
| Facebook Page | ||
|---|---|---|
| Private reply to a comment | Within 7 days of the comment | Within 7 days of the post or comment |
| Messages per comment | One | One |
| Follow-up messages | Only after the person answers, within 24 hours | Only after the person answers, within 24 hours |
| Live | Only during the broadcast | — |
Sources: Instagram private replies, Facebook private replies.
A comment older than 7 days cannot be answered by anyone — not by Pointerly, not by hand.
Can I send DMs to earlier comments?
Yes — with conditions. Pointerly runs a one-time previous-comment backfill (internally previous_instagram_comment_backfill; the name predates Facebook support) when all of these are true:
- Platform is Instagram or Facebook.
- Delivery scope is Specific posts (
selected_content) with at least one selected post. - You enable Send to earlier comments (
includePreviousInstagramComments) and save.
Then:
- Pointerly enqueues an async job (
social_dm_previous_comment_backfill). - It reads comments on the selected posts from the last 7 days (Instagram Graph API for Instagram; the Page's post comments for Facebook).
- It reads up to about 100 comments per post by default.
- Each comment goes through the same flow as a live comment and only sends if keywords and safety rules match.
- Activity counts these sends as retroactive.
If the checkbox is off (the default): automations only process new comments and DMs after the rule is active. There is no historical scan for Only next post or All future posts.
How to turn it on
- Create or edit an automation (Instagram or Facebook).
- Set Apply automation to → Specific posts and select the posts.
- Check Send to earlier comments.
- Save. The backfill runs in the background (save returns immediately; a cron drains the job queue).
Keyword suggestions
When many people comment a word your automation doesn't listen for, Pointerly suggests adding it (in-app, email, the link page and the iOS app). Applying a suggestion also sends the DM to the people who already commented that word — on Instagram and Facebook — as long as their comment is within Meta's 7-day window. The suggestion shows how many people can still be reached and how many are past the window before you apply it.
Common questions
Do automations reply to story replies?
Stories are a supported content type for Instagram rules (post, reel, story). Triggers are Comments and/or Inbound DMs, not a separate "story reply" mode. Retroactive backfill reads the comments of the selected posts — it is not a way to DM everyone who replied to a past story.
Can I DM people from old posts?
- Live automations: Specific posts can target older posts for new comments going forward.
- Retroactive backfill: only comments from the last 7 days, because that is Meta's limit.
- Only next post: posts already published won't trigger; the rule locks to the next post after save/start.
Can I use multiple keywords?
Yes. Keywords are a list; matching is case-insensitive contains (any keyword may match). An empty keyword list matches any comment/DM; one-shot rules still limit how often each person is messaged.
Facebook vs Instagram?
| Comment → DM | Yes | Yes (Page comments / Messenger) |
| Inbound DM trigger | Yes (when trigger source includes DM) | Yes |
| Earlier-comment backfill | Yes, opt-in, selected posts | Yes, opt-in, selected posts |
| Content types | post, reel, story | post, reel, story, video |
What if I pause the automation?
Use the table toggle to set is_active false — new matches stop enqueueing. Scheduled rules use paused_reason = scheduled until activate_at. Disconnecting Meta can also auto-pause. Pausing does not unsend DMs already delivered. Re-saving with earlier comments on may enqueue another backfill job; equivalent pending jobs are deduped, and already-processed comments are deduped on ingest.
Are rate limits a thing?
Yes. Each rule stores Hard cap / hour (default 500/hour per account bucket; clamp up to 5000; rules created before Sep 2026 may still carry an older 60 or 200 snapshot). The budget is shared per platform:social_account_id, not per rule. Jitter delays space sends. Meta may still throttle; the queue backs off.
Unique per recipient?
Send once per user maps to uniquePerRecipient. For Instagram and Facebook the evaluator also enforces one-shot behavior even when the toggle is off. Comment triggers dedupe per post, so the same person can still get a DM on a different post.
Does empty keywords spam everyone?
Empty keywords match any comment/DM text, but one-shot rules and hard caps still apply. Prefer explicit keywords for campaigns.
Troubleshooting retroactive
| Symptom | Likely cause | What to try |
|---|---|---|
| No earlier-comments checkbox | Scope isn't Specific posts | Switch to Specific posts |
| Backfill queued but few/no DMs | Keywords didn't match; comments older than 7 days; cap; already messaged | Broaden keywords; pick fresher posts; check Activity / retroactive counts |
| Facebook backfill read nothing | Page token or permission missing | Reconnect the Facebook Page so it grants pages_read_user_content |
| Duplicate worry on re-save | Re-enqueue | Jobs dedupe by signature; ingest dedupes comment ids |