RockMelt Browser Revealed By Netscape Founder

A new web browser dubbed RockMelt has arrived, designed to appeal to social networking users.

RockMelt was first revealed to the world back in August 2009 when a Forrester Research analyst suggested that the new browser could open up new advertising opportunities for Facebook.

The venture is backed by the founder of Netscape, Marc Andreessen. Netscape was the dominant web browser in the 1990s, but it was all but destroyed by Microsoft with Internet Explorer.

Andreessen reportedly invested approximately £6 million in the venture and is a member of RockMelt’s board of directors. Andreessen also has a seat on the boards of HP, eBay and Facebook.

Socially Friendly

The idea behind RockMelt, which is based on Google’s Chromium software, is that social networking and Google searches make up the majority of users’ online activities.

To this end, the RockMelt browser displays a selection of each user’s most-used Facebook Friends and Twitter contacts on the side of the screen. The idea is that it makes it easier for users to share everything they do with their Facebook and Twitter friends.

A video that demonstrates the new web browser can be found here.

“Hello Interwebs! The rumours are true… starting today, we’re offering access to an early version of RockMelt, a new browser designed around you and how you use the web,” said the startup in a blog post to introduce the new browser.

“RockMelt does more than just navigate web pages. It makes it easy for you to do the things you do every single day on the web: share and keep up with your friends, stay up-to-date on news and information, and search,” it said. “And of course, RockMelt is fast, secure, and stable because it’s built on Chromium, the open source project behind Google’s Chrome browser. It’s your browser – re-imagined and built for how you use the web.”

“Behind the scenes, RockMelt is always working on your behalf. Do you visit the same site 10 times a day, checking for new posts or updates? Well, RockMelt keeps track of all your favourite sites for you, alerting you when a new story comes out, a friend posts new pictures, or a new video is available,” it said.

Faster Searches

“And when you open a RockMelt feed, the content is already waiting for you. You can Like, comment, reply, retweet, share – all the actions you’ve come to expect from each service you follow.”

RockMelt also claims that it can offer faster searches.

“RockMelt makes search faster. And better,” it said. “We got tired of clicking back and forth trying to find the right search result. So we made search as simple as leafing through a magazine. With RockMelt, you can use your keyboard to flip through Google search results and pick the one you want.”

However users hoping to try out the new browser could be disappointed, as first they have to sign up for early access, and then wait for an invitation to be sent out. This is apparently designed to prevent RockMelt’s servers from being overloaded by demand.