The Flock browser was a small browser built around the same engine as Firefox. What differentiated it was its social support for many social networks great a small, RSS feeds, and blogging. Between 2010 and 2011, it made the jump to the Chromium engine (Google Chrome) and became even more powerful and faster than previous version, though it lacked as vast the social support of the previous version of Flock. Flock was eventually brought up by Zynga, the same company that makes FarmVille, and today they announced the discontinuation of support for the Flock browser in its entirety. Flock may still have community support, but the official team is going to help Zynga in its social game projects.

For all of its innovation, acclaim, and facilities, it apparently hasn’t lasted. Perhaps it could no longer compete with other browsers, such as the new RockMelt. Maybe it couldn’t keep up with other mainstream innovations. Who knows? When searching for alternative browsers, I came upon Flock and used it for a long time. Though it has not been my browser of choice for a good while, due to slow update cycles and other reasons, it has still held a special place in my heart. It served me well as a strong link into social browsing, connection, blogging, and alternative browsers.

More details can be found at flock.com.

R.I.P. Flock: April 11, 2005-April 26, 2011