Maggie++

Flock, The Social Web Browser!  is a browser I recently discovered that aggregates social networking features into the browser interface.  So far I like what I see.  It is built on top of FireFox 2 and is super simple to set up and use. The description from the user's guide is:

Flock is built on the Mozilla Firefox open-source browser, so it has all the features you've come to expect in a high-quality web browser, like intuitive buttons and menus, personal customizability, reliable security, enhanced privacy protections, and automated updating. However, Flock is much more than that! The Flock Social Web Browser has been fully integrated with a wide range of social networking websites and popular blogging tools. So with Flock, you can now keep in touch and share text, links, pictures, video and more with friends, family and co-workers across the entire internet with unparalleled speed and seamless ease.

Getting Started Video

Side Bars available in addition to firefox's are:

• People Sidebar allows access to Twitter, Pownce, Facebook, Digg, Flickr and YouTube

• Feeds Sidebar is a built-in feed reader.

• Web Clipboard allows you to drag and drop text, links, and images to save for later use.

• Accounts and Services gives you access to all of the accounts you have configured with Flock and also lists all supported accounts with links so you can explore them.

My World, is a provided page opened through a tool bar button. It contains columns they call Widgets that currently has 4 functions:

• Favorite Sites, lists your most recently viewed favorites.

• Favorite Feeds, displays your feeds with the most recent activity and indicates how many unread items are in the feed.

• Friend Activity, lists friends updates from you social networks.

• Favorite Media shows streams from You Tube and Flickr that you subscribe to.

Flock has a Media mini-bar which is like a sidebar except it runs horizontal under the toolbar. This allows easy access to media streams such as Flickr and You Tube. I have hooked up my gmail into flock and am writing this blog entry with tools from Flock to check it out.

There is a Flock 2 Beta available built on top of Firefox 3 that I am going to try soon. 

If you want to see more start out by visiting the Getting Started page and be sure to watch their introduction video here from You Tube.  The videos on the Flock You Tube stream make it very easy to learn about the features; the short movies show the features so that you "get it" quickly instead of reading the manual.

I think as this browsers evolves it will be very useful and replace the use of many different clients that are now needed to access your information.  If you try it leave a comment and let me know what you think.

maggie++

Tags: social, flock, browser