Social networking site now lets you reply to comments via email

Facebook launched a new service on January 12 that lets you keep in touch with your Facebook friends via email.

Facebook users with email notifications turned on will now be able to reply directly via email to comments made on their status, updates, photos, videos and Wall posts without needing to log onto the Facebook homepage.

"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," explained Tohm Whitnah, an engineer on Facebook's News Feed team, on January 12.