With all the web browsers that are available for download, you might think that there’s nothing new that can be done with them. But Flock has proven that notion wrong, and gained a loyal following in the process.
Flock is built on the popular Mozilla Firefox’s codebase. It looks strikingly similar to Firefox, and even supports many of Firefox’s add-ons and themes. But it’s not just some cheap Firefox imitation. Flock has a wealth of features that make it easy for users to access all of their favorite social networking and Web 2.0 applications.
Flock users can easily track their friends’ updates on sites such as MySpace, YouTube, Twitter, Blogger and more. This information is displayed in a convenient sidebar, making it a cinch to keep up with everyone. The sidebar works in conjunction with a media bar located at the top of the browser window, which displays such things as a specified user’s YouTube videos and Flickr photos.
Another useful feature of Flock is a built-in feed reader. Updates to your favorite blogs and media sites can be delivered to the reader, and may be viewed online or offline. That means one less application to open and easy access to up-to-the-minute updates.
Flock makes bookmarking your favorite websites easy. You can do it with just one click, and you’re given the option to save your bookmarks to the browser or to an online bookmarking account.
With Flock, you don’t even have to visit your blog’s administration panel to publish a blog post. It has an easy-to-use built-in blog editor. All you have to do is click on the “blogging” tab, input your blog’s URL, and type in your user name and password. Now you can create and publish blog posts right from your browser.
Flock offers several other useful features. You can set it up to notify you of new webmail messages, and you can compose messages right from the browser. You can drag and drop files into your outgoing messages. And you can edit and upload up to 1,000 photos to a number of photo-sharing services.
Who Needs Flock?
Flock has a lot to offer, but it’s not for everyone. Those who are not interested in the social aspects of the Web will probably have little use for it. And with all of the included features, those who are easily distracted might not want to use it at work.
But for those who love Web 2.0, and for businesspeople who use social applications for promotional purposes, Flock is just perfect. It eliminates the need to open multiple websites just to check for updates, and it simplifies many online tasks. If you find yourself spending more time than you’d like blogging, checking emails, and visiting social media sites, Flock is for you.
