Flock: Struggling with the Firefox factor

Product: Flock

What it is: A social browser that combines various social networking and communication tools with browsing -- a sort of hybrid tool that combines the social Web with surfing.

Failings: Though built on the open-source code utilized by Firefox, Flock focuses too much on a narrow demographic -- those who live, eat and breathe social networking. For the average user, it's overwhelming. Flock has had difficulty gaining traction in the face of the rising popularity of Firefox and Firefox extensions that offer some of the same functionality as Flock.

Turnaround potential: There is clearly a trend toward constant access to social media and communication tools. This could make Flock more attractive to active and casual users alike.

'Net views:

Brendan Cooper: "Is the social media element enough to make people -- ahem -- flock from IE (which most non-Web-savvy use because it's there) or Firefox (because it does a perfectly good job of Web browsing anyway)? Probably not."

Learning Aloud: "For some reason, I decided I should update my Flock Browser. Bad mistake. I like(d) Flock because it allows easy access to my Flickr account and to this blog. I have had some difficulty with Flock and Firefox on my home Mac..."

doug s: "Flock is intended for use more with people who just do social networking as that's where it's strength is. For the rest of us, however, Firefox is a much better all-around browser. It also has plugins that allow it to mimic the functionality of Flock ."

Management: Shawn Hardin, CEO; David Westendorm, VP of Business Development & Partnerships; Clayton Stark, VP of Engineering; Geoffrey Rayner, CFO; Dan Burkhart, VP of Marketing.

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