I got Flocked

Stolen from Mindy’s stream on Facebook.

“We will meet again my friend,
A hundred years from today
Far away from where we lived
And where we used to play.

We will know each others’ eyes
And wonder where we met
Your laugh will sound familiar
Your heart, I won’t forget.

We will meet, I’m sure of this,
But let’s not wait til then…
Let’s take a walk beneath the stars
And share this world again.”

~ Ron Atchison

And this poem somehow led to me getting Flocked. I honestly don’t remember how I ended up getting Flocked after reading Mindy’s note on FB, but I swear, your honor, that’s what happened!

Shared with Flock – The Social Web Browser
http://flock.com

Flock is a new browser designed by Mozilla. Dubbed “the social web browser” Flock integrates all your news feeds, blogs, photos, videos, social networking sites, and favorites into one very user-friendly browser.

Some of Flock’s features include a Media Bar, where you can search sites like Youtube or Photobucket or Flickr from your browser. You can be researching in one tab, and without even leaving that tab, put a search term into the Media Bar and scan videos or photos related to your topic directly from your browser. If you are using Flock’s blogging tool, like I am now, you can drag and drop images or videos directly into blog posts from the Media Bar. You can also use the Media Bar to drop things into your People sidebar, instantly sending your friends content. The Friends sidebar, like the Feeds sidebar, refers you to new updates by glowing orange.

Flock remembers your accounts at many supported sites and compiles all updated information into a “My World” page that is constantly updating you to new information added by your contact network. All contacts from all walks of life can be rolled into one browsing experience. Any user of Web 2.0 technologies will understand the ramifications of a browser like Flock. So much time is spent moving content from one site to another and compiling it in yet another site that a browser like Flock is right on time.

Flock is the logical next step of web browsing, although “browsing” is hardly what you’d be doing if you were using all of Flock’s powerful tools. “Creating the web” would be more accurate given the publishing possibilities of Flock.  The flow of information could at times become overwhelming, especially with high output sites liike Twitter, but accounts can be turned on and off at will or you can simply ignore a tab unless you are actively watching it.

There are extensions, tools, and themes to play with. One extension, Me.dium, allows you to see where people in your social network are going online. You can create tribes to surf the net together, in real time, and also interact with other tribes you meet along the way via friend connections made in the Me.dium universe. It’s almost like a browser-based Second Life. It’s also a little creepy, but a lot of new technology can be for the power it gives to know about another. Some bloggers say the technology is very intrusive but that the idea itself is not bad.

As we increasingly live our lives online, where does the private inner person start and the public, shared one end? The lure of expression and consumption online is very real. But the internet is not all bad, nor is the urge to share. Although sometimes the internet and its self-publishing abilities can encourage over-shares, mostly we now have more information than we could possibly ever want (or need). But it is there. We just have to become better sifters of the grain. It would seem Flock can help us in either direction: either to get more productive and more easily sift the grains, or get lost in a constantly-flowing stream of them. I prefer the former.

Blogged with the Flock Browser

~ by Lola on May 17, 2009.