Facebook can make it very easy, or quite challenging, to see when a friend has come online. This capability depends on your friends’ privacy settings and which devices they use for Facebook. The status icons in Facebook chat are usually the best indicators, since they can notify you the moment friends come online and when they last logged off. If your friend is hiding from chat or has disabled it, you can still often tell when she comes online by sending a message. Whichever method you use, it’s important to understand that sometimes people appear to be online, even when they are not. Writer Bio
