400K publishers rejoice: Facebook’s commenting system now works on mobile

The online comment is a troubled entity, often abused or under-appreciated by the anonymous masses. But Facebook thinks there’s a better way.

The social network pushed out an update today that makes its Comments Box third-party commenting plugin work on mobile devices.

Facebook’s Comments Box has undergone many revisions over time, but its purpose remains the same: “To make commenting more social and authentic.”

The plugin first appeared in 2009, but was dramatically improved in early 2011. It then finally became a viable alternative to Disqus and other commenting platforms for publisher’s looking to stimulate more intellectual conversations on their websites. People who comment from their Facebook profiles are more accountable for what they say, and (in theory) the resulting comments are of a higher caliber than usual.

“More than 400,000 sites have integrated with the Comments plugin,” a Facebook representative told VentureBeat.

Those same 400,000 publishers have been gifted with the Facebook Comments Box on the mobile version of their sites. The mobile version, as expected, automatically appears when accessed by a mobile device visitor.

The mobile comments box replicates the web experience, and allows commenters to post their missives back to the social network or “like” comments others have posted. And for the consumers of the world, the upgrade makes commenting more of any anywhere, anytime social behavior.

The addition of mobile support to the Comments Box is a necessary update should Facebook wish to convince more media sites to switch to its commenting solution — and it desperately does. It’s not all about cleaner, better conversations (as you’ve probably figured out by now). The more publishers that switch to Facebook’s Comments Box, the more Facebook comments and “likes” flood the web and get passed around its social network.

[Mobile phone image via Shutterstock]