Social Networking Browser

A web browser for Facebook addicts

A browser optimized for social networking might seem like a luxury suited for people with too much time on their hands, but it's actually meant to be a timesaver. Millions of people make new friends, and keep track of old ones, through Facebook. They keep their lives updated with Twitter. They share photos on Flickr and keep constant track of the news through RSS feeds. Typically, all this is done while continuously searching the web.

The first socially specialized browser Flock, introduced in 2006, has flown out of cyberspace. Zynga Inc., makers of the popular Facebook app "FarmVille," bought the web browser in January and ended support for it in April.

Flock's successor appears to be RockMelt, which is backed by Marc Andreesen, who created Netscape. The first commercial browser, Netscape Navigator was an early challenger to Internet Explorer. Before being purchased by AOL and then disbanding, Netscape's team developed the Mozilla open-source code project that would later spawn Firefox as well as key browser technologies like Secure Sockets Layer Protocol, used to protect online security and JavaScript.

RockMelt is available for Mac and Windows as well as an iPhone app for mobile browsing. Based on Google's open-source Chromium, RockMelt's most distinguishing feature is its Facebook connection. Open the browser and the user's Facebook account opens with it. The user can connect to Twitter and other RSS feeds as well. Updates to those accounts appear on the right and left side of the screen, allowing users to surf the web while never losing touch with their social networks, eliminating the need to keep separate Facebook and Twitter tabs open.

As reviewers suggest, a user probably needs to be seriously addicted to social networking to want or need a browser like RockMelt. Since RockMelt has been available for less than a year, reviews and opinions are a bit scarce, though promising.