Aug 12, 2010 14:05 GMT  ·  By

Web companies big and small have been trying for more than a decade to come up with an universal commenting system to enable users to leave their remarks on any website out there. None of them have succeeded, but a new startup called Marginize thinks it may have finally cracked it.

Like with its predecessors, users can leave their comments and notes on any web page with Marginize. The idea has always been appealing, but the hard part has been making it work.

Marginize solves two of the biggest problems facing this type of services. First, despite having been launched very recently, Marginize probably has more content on many pages out there than its competitors simply by pulling in content from Twitter.

In a way, it acts like a very specialized Twitter search, surfacing any tweet that contains the URL of the page you’re visiting. You’ll be surprised just how much stuff you’ll find.

Of course you can add your own comments and the interesting part is that your “reactions” will be posted on Twitter, Facebook or Google Buzz, whichever you choose, guaranteeing you an audience.

Marginize comes in the form of a browser extension, available for Firefox, Chrome and soon for Safari, but your friends or followers will be able to see your comments on the page you made them without having to install the add-on.

This has been the second biggest hurdle for this type of services, many users are reluctant to install browser add-ons. When someone follows the link in your comments they’ll land on a version of the page with a Marginize frame inserted.

The frame looks almost identical to the add-on version of Marginize and allows anyone to add their own comments as well as see the existing ones. In fact, it’s better than the add-on in one respect, the HTML version ‘pushes’ the content on the page to left while the add-on just pops up on top of the regular page, blocking the elements underneath.

Marginize also comes with a twist, it enables users to ‘check in’ on any website and get points for any visit. If you visit or comment on a site frequently you can become the “curator” of the site.

The startup just raised $650,000 in its first round of funding from a number of investors so there are clearly people that believe the company can make it. It’s off to a good start and comes with a couple of fresh ideas, but it remains to be seen if any annotations service can become successful. Even if it does, there’s still the question of making all of this pay.