14 DAY TRIAL // Facebook has finally relented and introduced a feature that many of its users have been clamoring for, replying to a comment by email. Now, every time you receive an email notification of a comment on your profile or a photo, you will be able to reply to it from your email account without having to visit the site. As Facebook itself points out, this could prove very useful in several situations, for example at work, or when you're on the move.
"One of the easiest ways to stay updated on relevant conversations happening on Facebook is through email notifications, which inform you about comments made on the posts you've created or commented on," Tom Whitnah, an engineer on Facebook's News Feed team wrote on the Facebook blog.
"Today, we're launching the ability for you to participate in these conversations by replying directly to these email notifications. When you receive an email notification about comments, you can just click "Reply" and start typing a comment at the top of the email. Then hit "Send" from your email and your reply will automatically be added as a comment on Facebook without you having to even log in," Whitnah explained how the feature worked.
Being able to reply to a comment just as easy as replying to an email is a real benefit to users who may be too busy to go the proper site, log in and write the comment there. The entire process now takes significantly less time, which should drive up engagement on the site. Until now, users received a notification of a comment and were given a link leading them to Facebook. When they're on a mobile phone, or under a time constraint, most people would forgo the whole process.
What’s more, many can't access the site at work, either because social networks are blocked by a company firewall or maybe even because they might want to actually get some work done. Now, they shoot of a quick email and get back to their duties in no time. There is one small caveat, though an obvious one, email notifications have to be enabled for this to work.