socialbrowse, the Firefox plugin that lets you surf the Web in a link-sharing social manner, has just re-released its service with a couple of major new features. The Y Combinator-backed startup as been in private beta for some time, and will remain in private beta for a little while longer, but those users testing the service will be able to access and utilize its new features (get your invite below).
The new features revolve around the social sharing capabilities that socialbrowse has already laid out. The first new feature supports in-page commenting, which allows you to leave comments on a link you're visiting without having to leave the page. Submitting a comment, just as with a shared link, will broadcast your content across the Web in real time. Comment icons will also appear on pages you visit so you and your friends will immediately be able to see the connection between your own activity and that of your friends.
An interesting visual tool accompanies the socialbrowse sidebar, offering a very direct and internally circular view of the Web as well as your own browsing behavior. This of course can be turned into immediate recommendations as well as useful information regarding a particular site that may be more difficult or time-consuming to find otherwise via standalone bookmarking sites. This capability also ties in closely with socialbrowse's second major new upgrade, the embedded icon expansion option.
While socialbrowse uses these comments on a more internal basis and JS-Kit acts as a centralizing factor for comments you leave across the Web, they both result in a useful capacity for direct and indirect marketing and recommendations. JS-Kit has already begun to expound upon its features for the use of third-party sites like evite, and Socialbrowse being the existing community that it is can begin to leverage its capabilities in different ways, which will be interesting to observe as Socialbrowse continues beta testing and moves into a more public space.