Friday, October 19, 2007

What the Flock? Do We Need a 'Social' Browser?

The social networking hysteria continues to bubble and thrive, and Flock is feeding the frenzy with a new browser aimed at the socially addicted.

Mashable describes the new beta browser as incorporating plug-ins from Meebo, Flickr and a total of 15 social services. Social networking remains the favorite child of Web 2.0 as people are signing up for and using Twitter, Facebook et al until their fingers hurt and their families are wanting of attention.

I get that connecting with friends and finding new ones is made easier through these various tools, but I can't help but see this as a fad that in a few years won't be nearly as life changing as some believe it to be today. Social networking can be professionally advantageous and help to reach out to old friends, but if they were that important, losing contact shouldn't have happened in the first place. I can see young folks needing to coordinate activities, but when talking about your life takes more hours per day than you use to participate in leisure activities, then something is out of whack.

There are too many services that take up too much time, and eventually the need to update one's Flickr page and blog 3x times a day will fade away. Years ago everyone wanted a Geocities page too, but that ship sailed thanks to new technologies and the return of consumers to old one.

Social networking features - sharing photos, text message alerts and blogging - existed before Web 2.0 and will continue to do so afterwards to a greater degree, but I seriously doubt today's pace can be maintained.

If you actively participate in more than 2 social services, it's probably too many to also manage work, sleep and family life. Using a separate browser to accommodate more than a dozen social sites might indicate the need for an intervention.

Posted By John Gartner at 10:14 AM
Permanent Link: What the Flock? Do We Need a 'Social' Browser? | Comments (1)

(1) Comments on What the Flock? Do We Need a 'Social' Browser?

You're pointing out the EXACT reason why the Flock browser is so cool. People don't have time to straddle all of these services, and Flock allows you to do everything from one place.

Download their new beta, and you'll see. It's actually pretty darn col

I was skeptical, until I checked it out, and although I wasn't looking for another browser in my life, it's really a nice solution.

Comments by jeremy : Friday, October 19, 2007 at 01:15 PM

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