Meet RockMelt
RockMelt is the new web browser everyone is talking about. Founded and financed by a group of Netscape alumni, which includes Marc Andreessen, RockMelt is based on Chromium: the open source project behind Google’s Chrome browser.
RockMelt has been constructed with the understanding that most online activity today revolves around socializing on Facebook, searching on Google, tweeting on Twitter, and monitoring a handful of favorite websites. It is currently available by invitation only while it is in the public beta phase and requires prospective users to have a Facebook account and provide RockMelt with access. The following promotional video serves as a good introduction.
So What?
Based on several online reviews from several experts in technology and tech trends, I suspect RockMelt has what it takes to become the first social browser to establish considerable market share. It will be interesting to see if additional entries to the social browser market appear in 2011 and to see if Flock is able to capitalize on newfound interest in social browsers. With the continued expansion of social media, especially Facebook and Twitter, it seems only logical that people will welcome a browser that integrates social media.
I started using RockMelt today and am leaning toward making it my default browser. What I like best are left and right sidebars, which RockMelt calls “Edges.” Located on the left side, the Friend Edge shows a list of your Facebook friends who are currently online. Located on the right side, the App Edge includes quick launch access to your favorite sites such as Twitter, Facebook, news sites, and blogs. The sidebars are small enough that they do not detract from the browsing experience, but large enough that they are easy to see and use. What I like least about the browser is that full support for twitter is not yet available. Currently users can only view tweets and retweet. I expect that issue will soon be resolved and look forward to other options for more fully customizing my social browsing experience.
I invite you to consider your browsing habits and to consider what browser is the best fit for your needs:
- What browser do you currently use and how long have you relied on it as your default browser? Have you recently tried other browsers to determine if your preferred browser is indeed the best option?
- What percentage of your online time at your primary laptop/netbook/tablet/desktop computer do you spend with one or more social media sites open? At what percentage would you feel a social browser could be a better fit than a traditional browser?