Facebook is reportedly testing a new twist on real-time comments: letting users know when they're friends are writing comments so they can instantly respond.

Look Who's Talking

At this stage select mobile users are seeing the "A friend is writing a comment" alert when viewing the News Feed on an iOS smartphone or tablet.

Responses can be crafted and posted from Messenger.

Message in a bottle?

This update isn't exactly groundbreaking – other messaging apps have long offered a similar figure. However none of these platforms is Facebook. If it takes off the feature could potentially boost engagement, and by extensiion advertising rates, for Facebook.

The real-time feature could also allow brands to respond to customers in a more timely manner.

If you run a brand Facebook Page, how do you stay up-to-date with customer queries? Let us know in the comments.