In a Facebook group, users can create posts that other members of the group can comment on. Comments on a post can then be replied to, creating what’s called a comment thread. To cite a specific comment thread on a post in a Facebook group, you should treat the commenters in that thread as you would coauthors.
Include the names of the people who commented in the thread, as well as the name of the original post’s author, in the Author element. In MLA style, when a work has three or more authors, list only the first author plus the abbreviation et al. (“and others”), which stands in for the rest of the authors (5.8). In the Title of Source element, include a description that includes information about the post that the comment thread occurred on, such as the text of the post (or a short excerpt of it, if lengthy), and the name of the Facebook group. Then include Facebook as the Title of Container and in the Publication Date element include the date or dates on which the comments in the thread were posted. In the Location element, include the URL for the specific comment thread—not the URL for the post on which the comment was left. To access the URL of a specific comment thread on Facebook, click on the date and time that the first comment in the thread was posted, which can be seen below the comment, next to the Like and Share buttons. Clicking that information will lead you to a page that displays that particular comment and its replies at the top of the commenting section.
Matejka, Monique, et al. “Going to a friend’s for dinner tonight . . . ” post in the Cheap Meal Ideas group. Facebook, 21 June 2022, www.facebook.com/groups/cheapmealideas/posts/5585793521479770?comment_id=5585828271476295.
If you quote from a single comment made on a post in a Facebook group, you should include the individual commenter’s name in the Author element, and reference the original post creator’s name in the Title of Container element:
Stanford, Mialey Desirae. Comment on Monique Matejka’s “Going to a friend’s for dinner tonight . . . ” post in the Cheap Meal Ideas group. Facebook, 21 June 2022, 1:40 p.m., www.facebook.com/groups/cheapmealideas/posts/5585793521479770?comment_id=5585828271476295.
Work Cited
MLA Handbook. 9th ed., Modern Language Association of America, 2021. MLA Handbook Plus, 2021, mlahandbookplus.org/.