Statistically, Flock is probably not for you. This Web browser, the 2.5 version of which is coming out today for Windows and Mac, is "designed to be the essential browser for the most active 25 percent of users," Flock CEO Shawn Hardin tells me.
You don't generally see browser makers designing their products to not be used by the majority of Web surfers, but this is typical Flock: it's a browser designed for not just Web surfers, but Web crackheads. So far, 7.5 million people have downloaded the browser, and about 1.1 million actively use it.
Flock's differentiator is the way it integrates other services into the main browser frame. While you can layer in some similar features with Firefox plug-in, in Flock, almost everything you'd want to do on the social Web is already built in. And, as Hardin reminds me, all the social features are developed alongside the browser itself, so integration and performance should be more consistent.
The new version adds support for Twitter and provides persistent access to Facebook Chat from any Web page. It even has a Twitter search widget on its home page. It has hooks into other services as well--all told, more than 20, including more social networks (Bebo, MySpace, etc.), media sharing services like Picasa and YouTube, blogging platforms, bookmark organizers, and so on. Some services are better integrated than others. The new Twitter sidebar is very slick, for example, but although the "accounts and services" sidebar has a Gmail option, all it does is log your browser into the e-mail system and load up the Web page.
Flock's social chops, from left to right: The social bar that displays all your social feeds together; the home page with Twitter Search; and the pop-up Facebook Chat menu.
(Credit: Screenshot by Rafe Needleman/CNET)Also, the browser doesn't offer access to other chat apps besides Facebook. Hardin says that will come soon.
On the other hand the browser's capability to display all your social network feeds in one interleaved list together is very handy. You can also have the browser "Flockcast" to Facebook duplicates of the posts you make to Twitter.
Flock runs social network content down the left side of its application workspace, and runs media content (like Facebook galleries) in a slide viewer across the top. I find this display a bit overwhelming, although all the viewer panes can be hidden. When they're all on, Flock can feel like a social network app first, and browser second. But I like how easy it is to post Web URLs to people in your social network: you just drag a link from your browser over the person's name.
At least Flock uses a good rendering engine. While not yet running at Chrome speed nor using the Webkit engine, Flock uses the latest Mozilla engine, Gecko, the same as in Firefox. Hardin says Webkit is "really interesting, but perhaps not yet enough of an ecosystem." He also says, "We are looking at it and will consider any and all possibilities," for future versions of Flock.
Flock's revenue model is working, for the most part. The company gets a cut of search ad revenues for queries kicked off from the search box built into the browser.
The recession has had an impact: search revenues have slowed. But Hardin is eyeing a new revenue stream: bounties for upgrades from free services (like Yahoo Mail) to their paid upgrades (like Yahoo Mail Plus).
Hardin is right to recognize that Flock isn't for everyone. It's a rich and capable product, but it's based on a different philosophy from other browsers. And it's at the other extreme of the spectrum from Google's Chrome, which eschews site- and service-specific features for a stripped-down interface and a fanatical focus on speed. If you like having specialized, best-of-breed apps for accessing your social networks and for browsing, Flock might not be for you. But if you want to use the smallest number of apps the do the most stuff, Flock--and precious little else--belongs on your desktop.
There's a new OpenID extension for "social browser" Flock, and it was created with the help of password management service Vidoop and News Corp.-owned social network MySpace.
It's now available for download for all Flock users who have upgraded to Flock 2.0. For MySpace, which initially announced its support for OpenID back in July, this is also a push for Data Availability, a universal-login project that the social network announced in May but has since only rolled out with a few partners.
Yahoo, one of MySpace's launch partners for Data Availability, has also thrown its weight behind OpenID.
"As three companies dedicated to empowering users to easily share content and experiences, this was a very rewarding--and relatively fast--collaboration," Max Engel, MySpace's Data Availability product manager, said in a release. "Our goal was to eliminate some of the work involved in jumping between social experiences on the Web so that people can focus on their connections and the incredible content that's out there. This Flock extension will give millions of people an easier way to expand their experiences and expression without boundaries."
The OpenID Flock extension allows for easier credential management within the browser and makes it more apparent when a site will accept an OpenID login. A handful of OpenID extensions already exist for the open-source Flock, but this one's got the seal of approval from some big names.
There are deeper reasons for MySpace being so vocal about OpenID support, though. The standard has seen its toughest rival yet in the form of Facebook Connect, a data-portability project which enjoyed a high-profile New York Times writeup this week and will reportedly be ready for a full debut very soon. (It's already been implemented on a number of sites.)
Flock, unfortunately, isn't an enormous player in the browser space. It has tons of bells and whistles, but is still well behind the likes of Internet Explorer and Firefox in terms of downloads, and has newfound competition from Google's Chrome.
Regardless, MySpace has been paying a lot of lip service to open standards recently, and it's always good to see real developments.
Flock is the browser for people who love features but hate plug-ins and extensions. There's very little you can do in the product that you can't also do by layering extensions to your Firefox installation, but in Flock they're all preconfigured and integrated into the browsing experience. With the latest 2.0 release of the product, Flock now gets the current Mozilla engine (the same one in Firefox 3) as well as a few additional media and social net integration features.
Get Flock from Download.com: Windows | Mac
I was a big fan of Flock 1 before Firefox 3 and Chrome shipped. I found it more stable than my Firefox 2 installation, probably because I had Firefox loaded down with extensions. And it did more than IE 7. But with the speed and stability of Firefox 3, the decision to use Flock is now about the features.
Flock's social sidebar (left highlight) and media bar (top highlight) let you keep tabs on your social network.
Flock does a lot for a browser. It integrates social media feeds from MySpace (which is new to version 2), Twitter, Facebook, and other sites. You can see everything that is happening with your friends, across all your networks, in the sidebar. You can also view media (photos and videos) from media and social sites like Revver (new), YouTube, Flickr, Facebook, and so on. The media view is entertaining if you set the filter to "my friends."
Like current browsers, Flock recognizes when a page you're on has an RSS feed, and gives you the capability to subscribe to it. New in version 2: It can also subscribe to media streams and display the items in the media bar.
If you close down the media and social sidebars, Flock feels a lot like Firefox 3, down to implementation of the "awesome bar" URL entry field. You can even add most Firefox extensions to Flock.
But the best way to use Flock is to immerse yourself in the river of social updates it will feed your way. New users will likely find it overwhelming at first, but the product really does give you a more comprehensive and real-time view into your social network than you can get otherwise.
See also:
Working Webware: Flock's future
Beta review: Flock 2
New Firefox beta even faster than FF3
Social-networking savant Flock has announced a re-branded version of its browser aimed at fashionistas. At the very least, it's aimed at people who like the color pink and lipstick marks on their advertising. Called Gloss, it's a pink-and-purple themed edition of Flock 1.2 that comes with fashion-related feeds and bookmarks pre-loaded.
The Gloss rebuild of Flock shows the pinker side of browsing.
(Credit: Flock, Inc.)The list of baked-in feeds for the Windows-only Gloss includes Cosmopolitan, TMZ, Glam.com, PopSugar, and These Boots Are Made for Stalking.
Gloss is getting pimped as a "fun" version of Flock, although I could've sworn that Flock received the same PR campaign comparing it to Firefox. Either way, it's hard to argue with a browser that promotes itself as a place where, "Your friends are always there--just like celebrities in rehab." It's hard to argue, of course, because sometimes it's better to just walk away. Slowly. Beyond having the topical feeds included and the new color scheme, there doesn't seem to be much of a reason to get Gloss.
Flock itself has also received a couple of upgrades. The Flock 2 beta (download for Windows and Mac) goes up another point, incorporating the Firefox 3.0.1 security patch along with other bug-fixes. The Flock people are promising a lengthy beta cycle, so expect there to be at least one more update.
The official version of Flock (download for Windows and Mac) also gets a bump up, addressing bugs and security holes fixed in Firefox 2.0.0.16. Again, no major roadwork going on here, but it's definitely a good idea to upgrade to ensure that old exploits don't cause you grief.
Sequels aren't always as good as what comes before them (see Indiana Jones 2) but when it comes to technology and software, newer usually means better.
Flock, the self-proclaimed social browser, is catching up with the times this week with a new version for brave Windows and Mac beta testers that employs technology from the upcoming Firefox 3. Dubbed version 2.0, the new Flock is largely a behind-the-scenes operation, including such FF3 niceties as the controversial "awesome bar", improved render speeds, and the new bookmarking system, along with in-browser security notifications--which should keep the phishing sites at bay.
Flock's new people bar saves space by scaling up the services into scrollable feeds.
(Credit: CNET Networks)That's not to say Flock 2 is without its new polishes. For one, the media bar that sits atop your browser window and lets you browse and snag any media that's on the page has been given a slight visual update. It's still a film roll of sorts with a slew of clickable thumbnails. What's new is that you can now save and bookmark media streams like you would Web pages. These items are saved alongside your bookmarks and can be called up, whether you're on that site or not.
Flock devs have also redesigned the people toolbar to scale for more services. One of my initial criticisms with it, and on other similar services like Yoono, is that it worked fine with five or six sites, but moving up into something like FriendFeed, which pulls in more than 40 services, people would just run out of room. Flock's solution is to compartmentalize each feed into three different sections, which--once you get the hang of it--works like a multi-pane e-mail client.
Another noticeable improvement is the built-in feed reader. If you're using that instead of something like Google Reader or a mail program, you previously had to re-start the browser to get the latest feeds. The new version includes a refresh button and adds time stamps so you can see how old each story is. I hope that in future iterations feeds will automatically refresh like they do on other readers, but the change is a huge step up from the old version.
We'll be updating the Newbie's guide when Flock 2.0 overtakes the current version (1.2), which should happen in the coming weeks.
The latest Flock update for Windows and Mac introduces more services to its ever-growing list of options, as well as a battery of performance and stability enhancements.
Most notably, Pownce and Digg have been integrated as people services. If you're not familiar with the self-styled "social browser," this means that you can perform all Digg- and Pownce-related chores--sorry, that should be "tasks"--from within the browser's social-networking features. Support for AOL Webmail has also been added, letting you check that account as easily as your Gmail account.
There's still a long list of known bugs that Flock has documented as in need of a fix.
Since Flock is a fork of the Firefox code that's been around for about a year, it will be interesting to see if future Flock updates attempt to integrate any Firefox 3 improvements or if they're going to pick their own migration pattern.
The past 24 hours have seen Mozilla Firefox (download from CNET Download.com for Windows and Mac) getting another security hole plugged, while its social-networking derivative Flock (also at CNET Download.com for Windows and Mac) earns a minor behavioral bug fix.
Firefox's most recent safety snafu is another JavaScript engine security problem that was causing the browser to crash during JavaScript garbage collection. Although there was no indication that this error was exploitable, says Mozilla, other similar errors in the past were. Not to mention the benefit of not having your browser randomly going kablooey.
Flock's fix involves repairing the People sidebar. For many users, Facebook friends weren't populating in the sidebar and now they should be. Of course, if you're like me and you lack not only Facebook friends but a Facebook account, too, then this was never an issue.
All these media-hosting and social-networking services are great, but there's been a relatively untapped resource in tracking what you're sharing: your e-mail in-box. Today a new service called Xoopit is opening up in private beta to Gmail users who are looking to not only sort through the deluge of photos, videos, and other files that make their way into your in-box, but add ways to share that media with social networks you're already using.
Xoopit's answer is to have you install a small browser plug-in and give it the credentials to your Gmail account. It will crawl over all the data, and within 24 hours the entirety of your in-box, sent mail, and mailbox archive will be able to be browsed and sorted through in a whole new (and I think far simpler) manner. While Gmail has its own search function, it's not so good when it comes time to browse and interact with media from those search results like Google does with Web queries.
With Xoopit installed you can view photos sent to you like a photo slide show. It does the same for videos and files too.
(Credit: CNET Networks)I've only had it indexing my in-box for the past hour or so, but it's already made my in-box a lot more useful. The latest media can be browsed in a little thumbnail stream on the top of the page, which reminds me a lot of a similar feature in Flock. Additionally, photos, videos, and files can be viewed off-site at Xoopit.com. It takes a similar approach to DropBox (review) in giving you a reverse chronological stream of your media that can be viewed, downloaded, and managed while away from Gmail. The same interface is actually a part of Gmail once you install the plug-in, so users will feel right at home in either location.
I must say Xoopit is off to a really great start. For a new app, I found very little to gripe about. It succeeds in two major areas: one in speed, since it doesn't slow down your in-box whatsoever, and the other in ease of use. The user interface is incredibly intuitive and provides a far better media viewing experience than Gmail does on its own.
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AUSTIN, Texas--The South by Southwest Interactive Festival's 11th Annual Web Awards, which honors online innovations that saw their official launches in the previous year, kind of flew under the radar. Sure, an awards ceremony was held on Sunday night, but it unfortunately had to compete with a number of parties, dinner get-togethers among old friends, and a Twitter-organized bowling outing. And when it came to press, the Web Awards were largely eclipsed by reports surrounding the Mark Zuckerberg interview earlier that day.
But the Web Awards did indeed happen. Accolades were given out in 21 categories, ranging from "games" to "film/TV" to a people's choice winner. Some of the notable sites awarded were "social browser" Flock, which won the "community" category; funky video mixer Animoto in the film/TV category; and the Wired News site in the "classic" category. Wired bloggers Michael Calore and Megan McCarthy (no relation, we think--23andMe, where are you?) were spotted posing for photos with their Web Award at a Gawker Media party later on Sunday night.
The growing popularity of casual gaming was evident with the selection of Launchball as "best of show" as well as winner of the "games" category, and Kongregate as the "people's choice" winner.
But not every Web Awards winner was a piece of technology, per se. The "blog" category, which two-time SXSWi phenomenon Twitter won last year, went this year to Passive-Aggressive Notes. Hey, maybe it'll be the next I Can Has Cheezburger--although one of the lessons I think we've all learned at SXSWi 2008 is that saying "is the next" is so 2007.
Does the world need yet another browser? That's the question Dan Farber and I put to Flock CEO Shawn Hardin in our latest Working Webware video interview.
I'll disclose right now that Flock is my default browser, and I love it. I find it more stable than Firefox, probably because it doesn't need two dozen add-ins to function the way I like--it's all built in.
But does that make a business? Hardin explains the model, which is pretty straightforward: search advertising. The little built-in search box in the upper-right of the browser generates Yahoo affiliate fees for Flock, which add up quickly. Hardin says Firefox, which has the same business model, made more than $65 million in revenues in 2006. Flock doesn't have as many users as Firefox, but its user base is growing 50 percent a month, Hardin says. Of course that expansion rate can't be maintained forever, but it's impressive nonetheless the competition.
Flock is based on the Mozilla open source engine, as is Firefox, and Hardin says the Flock team shares its own improvements back into the codebase, to the benefit of Firefox and other Mozilla browsers.
See also...
Working Webware Episode 1: Can Zoho steal Microsoft's customers?
Working Webware Episode 2: All about Ning.
