RockMelt: The Social Browser

By Courtney Carey

RockMelt is the newest technology in the world of internet browsers, and has recently been introduced to the public. This Google Chromium-based browser is backed by Marc Andreessen who is best known as the co-author of Mosaic, the first widely-used internet browser, and the co-founder of Netscape Communications Corporation. RockMelt combines the greatness of Google Chrome, while heavily integrating social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter.

A review by Jim Rapoza of InformationWeek discusses some of the unique features of RockMelt:

“When you launch RockMelt, it asks for your Facebook login. Once it starts, it automatically logs into Facebook and integrates Facebook information directly into the browser interface. This includes a list of Facebook friends (shown with small image thumbnails) that runs down the lefthand side of the browser window. This listing could be customized to show favorites, which are selected by hitting a star next to the person's image. Clicking on a friend's thumbnail displayed that person's most recent status and provided the option to chat with or post on that person's wall.”

Besides the heavy social media integration, this review goes on to talk about the impressive search capabilities of the new browser.

“By far, one of the most powerful features of RockMelt is how it has improved the integrated search in Chromium. When entering a search term within the search field, RockMelt first looked to see if it matched a friend and then performed a full search, with results displayed in a drop-down box. The box made it easy to scan results with lots of information and offered a nice site preview, essentially loading the site into the main RockMelt browser window.”

Time will tell whether or not RockMelt will become the leading internet browser or if it will be used primarily by social media enthusiasts. Since social media is increasingly playing a larger role in business and general culture, I predict great success for RockMelt in the future.

Courtney Carey is Projects Manager. Contact her at courtney@maroonpr.com.