I used to have a standard set of programs running on my computer: Word, to jot down ideas and write posts; Eudora, for email; a feedreader; and of course, a browser. But lately the advances in browser technology have amazed me. I now live in my browser, and my browser of choice is Flock. Powered by Mozilla (the same company behind Firefox), Flock calls itself the "social web browser" and allows you to work much more efficiently. Here are five ways Flock can enhance your blogging flow.
1. The Blog Editor.
Click the little quill-pen icon to pop open a window and post directly to your blog. At first I thought, "How hard is it to open a new tab in my browser, log in to my dashboard and write a post?" Turns out, it's harder than the one-click option Flock offers. And you can drag and drop content from anywhere to the editor to embed into your post.
2. The Web Clipboard.
Click the clipboard icon to open the clipboard in a sidebar and drag anything over to save it. Copy text, images, web pages… anything. I use this function to save info that I want to flesh out for a future blog post. When I'm looking for an idea to blog about, my clipboard is full of sources and notes.
3. The Photo Uploader.
Talk about easy! Drag any photo from your computer to the uploader and it's loaded to whatever online account you use (Flickr, Photobucket, etc). Or post the photo to your Facebook or other social networking account.
4. The Media Bar.
Quickly access your favorite YouTube channels, Flickr streams and more. The Media Bar opens across the top of your browser and looks like a slideshow. Oooo, pretty.
5. Firefox Add-ons work with Flock.
I'm a huge fan of Firefox's add-ons, so I was hesitant at first to make the switch to Flock and potentially lose my favorite extensions. (Flock says most Firefox add-ons work, but they don't guarantee all.) I'm happy to report that so far all my add-ons work swimmingly with Flock.
With several more useful features you can explore, Flock is a powerful browser that no blogger should be without.
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Shannon, aka PHAT Mommy, is a blogger, web designer, and social media junkie who loves widgets, plugins and add-ons and spends inordinate amounts of time trying out social networks and web applications. Her main site is ShannonEntin.com and her personal blog is PHAT Mommy.
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I used flock for awhile but I couldn't figure it out right away and got frustrated and gave up. I went back to firefox. However, perhaps I should try again.
(In reality, I couldn't figure out how to set up twitter on it… and that was important…
)
great article… definitely seeing the benefits of flock
OK.. downloading it now…
Hi Heather. Try Flock again. When I visit a social networking site (such as Twitter), a bar pops up and all I have to do is log out and log in again for Flock to remember my account. If you're looking to use Flock as a Twitter app (follow ppl and post updates), it's not the best. I'd recommend Tweetdeck or Twhirl. But if you click on the "People" icon in Flock, a sidebar opens and you can follow friends and post any URL to Twitter.
Sounds very cool. But I justgot mt Firefox set up just the way I like it!
Grin, found you in a roundabout way. Flock sounds really fabulous. I am going to have to check it out.
I would love to have the Self-Care cards for the silliest of reasons. A few years ago I got one in a very random way. It has been a mainstay for me. It was on dealing with grief and I had just gone through something very traumatic to me. I've been looking for the cards ever since but didn't know what they were because I only had one. I just saw them in your blog and went to the link. BINGO! These are the cards I've been looking for.
I tried the Flock Browser. It promises a lot, and delivered very little (without bugs).
How long ago did you try it JayMonster? Maybe the latest version is better? I've been using it for two months and have experienced no bugs at all.
I'm such a firefox user that I'm hard pressed to try any new browser. And with the scribefire extenstion I'm finding that grabbing things off the next when I blog is pretty simple. I've wondered for awhile if I'm missing something by not really participating in any of the social networks (facebook, twitter etc).
But I'm already limited on my online time and worry about adding more online clutter to my routine?
Wow – this all sounds great, but I don't even know what add-ons are! Time to find out, I guess.
I started using Firfox a couple of months ago. I like it. I just don't know about all the add ons. I am clueless. I would love an article talking about some of the add on and how to use them for Firefox and or Flock. I due have the Stumble Upon add on. I don't use it like it should. Sorry ladies. I will try to be better about it.
Anyway, I would love some ideas about good add ons. Thanks for this article. I will look up Flock,now.
I;d also love to see a post about Firefox add-ons. I hate to admit it, but I've been using FF for years now and never even realized that there was more it could do. Just d/l Flock, btw. Thanks for the tip!
I love flock! I am slowly but surely phasing out all other browsers. It's so convenient to have all the things that I follow right there on the side bar.
I took the afternoon and fooled around with Flock and after making my brain hurt trying to understand all it's bells and whistles I FELL IN LOVE! Thanks for letting me in on this tid bit!
One question, I love Stumble On, can I get it to work with Flock?
Yes – the Stumble Upon add-on or bookmarklet works in Flock just like it works in Firefox. Try this:
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/138