Facebook @ Mentions now work in comments

Facebook has expanded its @ Mentions feature to include comments. This means that users can now mention/tag Facebook friends, Facebook Pages, Facebook Groups, and Facebook Events in comments to News Feed stories and wall posts, according to Inside Facebook.

Previously, users could only use @ Mentions on content they were creating from scratch, such as wall posts and status updates, and not when they were adding to already existing content. Now users can type the @ symbol when writing a comment to get the drop-down menu for @ Mentions. When a user is tagged, they receive a notification stating that a friend “mentioned you in a comment.”

Facebook first added @ Mentions in September 2009, allowing users to mention Facebook friends, Facebook Pages, Facebook Groups, and Facebook Events by typing an @ symbol followed by the first few letters of whatever they wanted to tag, and then selecting it from the drop-down menu that appeared. The @ does not remain part of your post; it’s merely the syntax that invokes the tagging feature itself. Instead, your post simply gets a link to the relevant page on Facebook.

The ability to use @ Mentions in comments was requested by many users immediately after Facebook added the original feature. Back then, the company said that “it may happen” but did not elaborate as to why it may not want to roll it out. Now it’s finally here.

The update will likely lead to users navigating to more pages and posting more content on the social network. Users are always more likely to be more active if they get a notification about being mentioned. Facebook is once again increasing visits and engagement on its website.