There’s a new web browser that has hit the market and has my attention.  Flock 2.0 is a web browser that was developed with the idea of Social Media junkies, like myself, in mind.  Being that I am a blogger and a member of every worthwhile social networking site (and several unworthy sites), this browser is like when Humans first discovered fire - As fire simplified consuming food for survival, Flock has conveniently simplified my online activity.

Let’s start with the normal web browser functionality.  According to Tech Crunch, it was “built on top Mozilla technology.  So comparing it to Firefox, which I have been a loyal user of for years now, it is same speaking in terms of basic browser functionality.  The toolbar is set up the same and the look is very similar (i.e. tab layout, bookmarks, and menu bar).  In fact, the performance of the browser is so similar, I have had to look at the browser title at the top of the page to make sure I was using Flock rather than Firefox.  One of my favorite things about Firefox was it’s pop-up blocker.  I rarely am bothered by annoying ad pop-ups no matter what site I’m on.  Flock seems to have the same quality in their pop-up blocker - Two days of heavy use and I’m still happy.

When Google came out with their web browser, Google Chrome, I downloaded it, but that experience lasted all about 3 days before I uninstalled it from my computer and went back to Firefox.  The performance of the browser was horrible (I had serious problems with video streaming).  I’m sure Google will fix the bugs, but in general, there was nothing special that set the browser apart enough from Firefox to go through the process of learning a whole new application.  But with Flock, the transition has not only been easy, I have barely noticed any difference or function missing that I had with Firefox.  And the bonus functions are amazing…to say the least.

Flock has integrated functionality into the browser that blends all your social media site activity, blogging, photo/video sharing, feed subscriptions, and bookmarking all into a small tool bar on the top left of your browser (see circled area below).

It’s not just the toolbars that make this browser amazing.  You can also drag and drop images, video, and text that you find online over to your browser clipboard or even upload them immediately to the social networking site of your choice (right clicking an item will also bring up a menu to do the same functions as well).  If you bookmark a page, you are prompted if you want to add that page to your digg or delicious site.  If you stumble across a news site, blog site, or any other site that posts articles, you can instantly subscribe to it by clicking feed button (orange button) to the left of the url field.  When you log into any of your social networking sites, you will be automatically prompted for Flock to import your account into the browser so that any updates, messages, etc. you get from your friends will be imported into the browser.  The browser also supports all the major email accounts out there so you can also receive notifications on new email as well.

All of this data is then stored in your “My World” area of the Flock (which you can instantly access with a click of a button as well) where you can read all the updates on your feeds in a multi-columned page with an organized menu with titles of the notifications and hyperlinks allowing you to access any of the notifications with the click of your mouse!

Flock also incorporates what they call “Extensions” into the browser.  These “Extensions” are basically apps like you find in Facebook or on your iPhone.  There are games and applications like a screen grab that they are developing to further customize and improve Flock to your specifications.  Additionally, Flock is an open source application, so, like Facebook, independent companies/developers can build their own apps for Flock.  Which opens up the whole world and it’s creativity to make this browser one of a kind.

This is truly an amazing idea and an excellent technology that will continue to move the trend of interactive applications forward.  So if you have entered the 21st century and embraced technology and what it makes available to us on the internet (a nice way of saying internet junkie - like me), or if you are just someone that likes to read their cnn.com in the morning with their coffee…I urge you to download Flock (it’s free) and try it out.  I think you’ll like it.

As I continue to use Flock more and discover more functions, I will post follow ups to this article.  So stay tuned!!…