Social Browsing for the Creative Class

Originally posted 2006-06-17 12:48:19

I just came across Flock — The web browser for you and your friends. It’s a web browser based on Firefox for Mac OS X only, and it’s in beta. It differs from other browsers in intent: it aims to integrate with popular web-based social tools. I don’t know its roadmap, but Flock currently integrates with:

• Blogging software (I’m typing this entry on its built-in blog client–right-click in any page and click on the Blog This menu entry to launch the client)
• Photo-sharing software (currently Flickr and Photobucket)
• RSS Feeds
• Bookmarking (currently del.icio.us and Shadows)
• Search (defaults to Yahoo)

How does it work? This is my first attempt with the blogging software, so I don’t know yet how well the publishing works. The client seems workable enough. Here’s a screen shot:

You can save posts to your local drive, and you have a WYSIWYG tab and a source tab. Not all the buttons in the toolbar seem to work–I clicked the Link button a few times, and nothing happened–but it’s a serviceable client that has potential. I like the ability to save to my local drive.

I don’t take enough pictures to have a photo-sharing account, so I can’t tell you how well the Flickr integration works.

I currently use Shrook for RSS feeds, but Flock seems like an able news reader as well. On any site that has the RSS icon in the address field, click the icon to subscribe. Here’s a screen shot:

The del.icio.us bookmarking works great. Clicking the star to the left of the address bar automatically adds the current page to your del.icio.us account. Simple and straightforward.

The search capability is interesting, and reminds you of Spotlight. As you type in the search field, a live search is performed both locally and over the Internet. Results are listed dynamically below the search entry field. Here’s an example:

Is this a browser revolution? I don’t think so. Is it evolution? Absolutely. Should you use Flock? I’d say yes. Is it worth buying a Mac for? I’m convinced that there are Mac users, and those who haven’t used a Mac yet. So, anything that will tip you to trying a Mac will get you hooked.

Give Flock a try. It’s now my default browser, instead of Safari. Now it’s time to click Publish . . . .

Update:
The links I typed in WYSIWYG mode stayed as text–the less-than and greater-than characters were converted into the appropriate codes, so that they weren’t interpreted as HTML tags. I had to go back and fix those.

The Publish functionality worked perfectly. A dialog box popped up with the ablog categories, and I selected what I wanted and published. Simple.