Flock browser beefs up Twitter, Facebook support

May 19, 2009 | Paul Boutin | Comments | |

Flock version 2.5, released on Tuesday by Redwood City, Calif.-based Flock, is designed to let social network addicts spend their entire day in a single browser window.

Flock, an enhanced version of the open-source Firefox browser, streams status updates from Twitter and Facebook in a sidebar that can be popped open or shut without shuffling windows around a computer screen.

The most impressive enhancement is drag-and-drop support for posting multimedia content to Facebook. The browser automatically handles posting of links, images, audio or video directly to the user’s Facebook account

Other enhancements to version 2.5 include a Twitter input widget that lets users tweet from the sidebar, separate display of Twitter replies (”@paulboutin …”) and direct messages, and a Facebook chat widget that doesn’t require the user to open an entire Facebook page.

I’ve been posting from Flock this afternoon. My take: If you’ve got a wide enough display, keeping your friends’ tweets and updates live next to your work window will either delight you or drive you crazy, depending on your ability to multi-task. But as more of my work colleagues take to Twitter and Facebook, being able to drag and drop items without losing my place onscreen may prove to be a productivity booster.

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About the Author, Paul Boutin

Paul (paul@venturebeat.com) covers Apple & the iPhone, social networks & social media, digital music & video, and any crazy Internet story. Paul wrote and edited for Valleywag from 2006-2008, after several years with Wired magazine and Slate. He writes regularly for The New York Times' technology section and sometimes for Wired and The Wall Street Journal. He studied computer science at MIT in the early 1980s, and worked as a software developer and network administrator for 15 years before becoming a professional writer. Follow him on Twitter at @paulboutin, and follow VentureBeat on Twitter at @venturebeat.

  • This is a great addition to the flock of browsers we have nowadays to use. And Flock definitely shines in the area of socially adaptable work-environment. I'll have to give this a try. Currently living on Safari 4 public Beta and Firefox 3.