Flock

I first started using Flock when it was in its infancy. Back in 0.3, I saw it as a browser built on Firefox, which allowed me to get through my school’s weak proxies and program limitations. This was back in late 2005/early 2006, way before it really started getting attention. I liked the browser (What’s not to like about an improved Firefox?), I liked the UI, and so long as I stayed away from some of the more temperamental features, it was remarkably stable for such an early release. I posted on my Livejournal, and I used the photobucket upload feature on occasion. When my school locked programs down to the principle of a whitelist rather than a blacklist, it became a lot less useful for obvious reasons. So I left it, coming back at 0.7. Things had changed, although I must’ve not used it for long, because all I remember now is 0.9 onwards.

0.9 felt like the finished product, and I started using it at home as well. I still only used a few select services, but after 1.0 came out, I felt like it had taken a different route compared to the previous release. But, like all good things, it grew on me.

Flock itself introduced me to some of the services I now take for granted on the web. Twitter was the first of these, as it was a site that I had no knowledge of before. It was just a blue ‘t’ that I didn’t bother clicking on. After looking at it, I signed up, and now I use the service regularly. The same goes for del.icio.us, although it was more a problem of the site being too separate from my web experience to use. Flock doesn’t essentially bring anything new to the content; it would be more accurate to say that it introduces a new experience and context, bringing everything together onto one screen, and to bring most features into the ‘three click rule’. It made the supported services a lot easier to interact with, and because of this I now take the services for granted. And yes, I do immediately miss the UI when I’m on someone else’s computer. And have also on more than one occasion typed about:myworld into the address bar only to find nothing.

Flock has redefined browsing, in my opinion. Yes, you can do the same with Firefox, installing add-on after add-on to get the same experience, but why bother when it’s all in another package already? Everything is already set up, and although I would’ve preferred the ‘Add Service’ wizard to have remained, the steps for adding a new service are much more natural (i.e. you log into the service, and click ‘Remember’), and as such much more accessible than the wizard. For me, this is what I think Flock is all about; making services like Twitter, Youtube, Flickr, Wordpress and such a single experience, rather than many separate ones.

After all, what other web browser, by default, allows you to upload a photo from your digital camera, import it into a blog entry, and post said blog entry on a customised privacy level, without visiting a single site?

Flock is not for the standard web user; the one that wants to slip on eBay occasionally, or use Google for a one-click solution. Flock is for content providers and community members, allowing people who do contribute to the internet, to do so as effortlessly as possible, without compromising on standards or presentation. As much as I would like to say that Flock is the beginning of a revolution for so-called ‘Web 2.0’ users, I can’t. It is the revolution, because it blurs the lines between a site interface, and a web experience.

Flock (currently at the 1.1 stage) plugs into all the major networks, minus myspace and digg, but I’m sure the latter will be resolved soon, if not the former. You log in, it offers to latch itself onto your account, and from that, there is no real need to actively visit the site again.

Taking facebook as an example of this, that a friend had uploaded a new picture of you and them, and you wanted to see which mugshot they used. Without Flock, the process would be:

• Go to the facebook site.
• Access the login page.
• Log in.
• Find your friend.
• Click photos.
• Browse to find the new picture.
• Continue to browse, if you couldn’t find it before.

If you do have Flock, and you’ve set up the account to be remembered, the process looks more like this:

• Click the MediaBar button, since its glowing orange at the new content available.
• Scroll through the new content.
• Click the photo.

For blogging, it’s one click away. Out of the box, after logging into your blogging site, if it’s supported, you click the quill once the account is remembered, and blog away. And this is quite literally the tip of the iceberg. There’s a web-content clipboard, webmail, online favourites, photo uploader, and more.

For me, now, Flock is indispensible. I would genuinely feel lost without it, because the connectivity between me and the sites would no longer be there. I would no longer be ‘a Flock user on social networks x, y and z, and on blog x’. I would be a user, using a website, twelve or thirteen times over. I have PocketFlock on my USB thumb drive at all times, so when I go to other people’s houses, I don’t have to settle for something that’s below par.

Some people don’t understand why I prefer Flock to Firefox, and that’s fine. They use Firefox, and that’s great; anything is more stable than the blue ‘e’. Oddly enough, the only ones that do understand, are fellow content providers; those that post videos on Youtube, Photos on Flickr, Blog at Wordpress or Livejournal etc. Why do they understand?

Because they use Flock, too.