I am very happy to inform you that Flock 2.5.6 is now available from our homepage. 2.5.6 addresses the Flickr logout issues and Twitter sidebar issues that some people have been experiencing. 2.5.6 also includes a Firefox security update and various other fixes, all of which you can read about in the release notes.
Please note that 2.5.6 auto-updates are not turned on at this time. The best way to upgrade is to follow these steps:
Back up your profile (this isn't entirely necessary...just a good policy in general)
Run the Flock 2.5.6 installer
Open Flock
Congrats, you've been updated to the last version of Flock!
Some of you may be wondering about the status of the Facebook Chat/Notifications feature in the bottom right of the browser. We would have loved to fix the issues with this feature in 2.5.6. However, Facebook continues to rapidly change the code powering these features, and does not provide an API for connecting to them (like they do with other features). We’re hoping to reach a resolution for this popular feature that will be less sensitive to Facebook code changes going forward.
Thanks for your terrific support and patience, and please continue to provide your feedback via GetSatisfaction, Twitter, Facebook and beyond - it is invaluable towards making this product better.
Flock'n'roll,
Evan Hamilton
Community Ambassador evan at flock dot com
Last Update, I Promise: Flock 2.5.2 is now available from our front door. It contains the latest Firefox security patch, the latest version of Flash, a fix for the Facebook Notifications Menu bug, and a fix for the Flickr/Yahoo! Mail conflict. Download and run the installer to manually upgrade; we'll be working on getting auto-updates out to you soon.
Update: It looks like we'll be able to have the Facebook fix (as well as the Yahoo! Mail/Flickr fix & the latest Firefox security patch) all rolled up and delivered to you as 2.5.2 sometime next week, assuming we don't run into any gnarly bugs. We'll keep you informed.
Update 2: The folks at Tabs Mix Plus have informed us that, regrettably, they do not and will not support Flock, so anyone running this extension will continue to have issues. There is already one alternative extension suggestion posted in the comments...please speak up if you have a recommendation!
Hey Flockstars,
Tabs Mix Plus, an extension for Firefox, issued an automatic update to their extension sometime in the last 24 hours. While it probably works great in Firefox, it appears they didn't test in Flock. Thus, Flock with Tabs Mix Plus v 0.3.8 installed will not load pages or show tabs..
We have and will continue to reach out to the Tabs Mix Plus team. In the meantime, to get Flock working you will need to disable Tabs Mix Plus:
1. Open Flock
2. Go to Tools>Addons
3. Go to the Extensions tab
4. Select Tabs Mix Plus
5. Click "Disable"
6. Restart Flock
We'll let you know as soon as there is an update for the extension that works in Flock.
There is also a bug currently causing the Facebook notifications menu in the lower right of the browser to show up blank. We have created a fix for this but unfortunately it cannot be sent invisibly over the air, it must be bundled in a browser update. We're working to get this fix and several others out to you as soon as possible...more info on this as I have it.
Evan Hamilton
Flock Community Ambassador evan at flock dot com
Flock 2.5.1 is available today from the Flock homepage. This release fixes the Flickr issue I mentioned in my previous post as well as several other issues.
You will have to manually update to 2.5.1 at this time by downloading and running the 2.5.1 installer from our homepage. We'll be pushing out auto-updates as soon as we've had sufficient time to test the auto-update process across all platforms (don't worry: manual updating is quick, safe, and clean). Please make sure you restart your computer after installing 2.5.1.
Thanks to all of you who brought this issue to our attention. As always, if you experience any issues in the future, please don’t hesitate to let us know by posting to our GetSatisfaction page. We’ve always got our ears on.
Our endless appreciation goes out to you for your patience during this period.
Evan Hamilton
Flock Community Ambassador evan at flock dot com
As you may have noticed, the Flock integration with Flickr is not functioning properly. We've communicated with many of you individually, but we want to also provide a broader overview of the questions we’ve been receiving for the benefit of all Flock users.
Why do service outages happen?
Flock integrates with a number of services, and it detects these services when you log in. This makes it easy for you to discover and access Flock's social features.
Unfortunately, this also means that if some part of the login process changes on the service website and Flock can't recognize it, Flock thinks you're not logged in. You will have no trouble using the website, but Flock's features that integrate with that service may not work as expected.
How does Flock normally fix this?
Normally we can update the file that Flock refers to for recognizing service logins. Once we've changed this file, Flock downloads the latest version of this file automatically in the background. This usually happens within 24 hours, and thanks to our vigilant developer team this usually means 48 hours or less of downtime.
What is different this time?
This time the change made on Flickr.com was so dramatic that the changes we have to make go beyond what we can do in the file fix mentioned above. We're going to have to make additional changes to other browser files. This means that we can't fix the Flickr outage automatically over the air - we'll actually have to create a revised version of Flock.
Why do browser updates take so long?
Making an update or applying fixes to the Flock browser is sometimes quick and sometimes not. Regardless of how easy to fix, we still have to take all new versions of Flock through a rigorous testing process to ensure that we deliver stable, reliable code to our loyal community.
When our Flickr integration broke, we were already partway into the process of putting together Flock 2.5.1, which includes some key fixes: some rather troublesome Twitter bug fixes, some broken Facebook Chat functionality, and a bunch of other items that are negatively affecting many Flockstars.
At that point the choice was fairly clear: if we stopped work on 2.5.1 and created a new version of Flock that *only* fixed the Flickr integration, we'd double the amount of testing we had to do...and we would delay the release of the 2.5.1 improvements, hurting the folks who aren't affected by the Flickr issue but are affected by Twitter and Facebook Chat issues. By including the Flickr fix in 2.5.1, we're saving time and getting you a whole bunch of fixes sooner.
Ok, so when do we get the new version?
We're in the midst of testing Flock 2.5.1 now to make sure it’s a stable release, and we're hoping to have it out to you within the next two weeks. Keep your eyes here, on our GetSatisfaction page, on our Twitter account, or on our Facebook page for a notice when it is released. Please note that we will not be sending out an auto-update immediately - you'll initially have to manually upgrade by downloading and running the installer.
I hope this has given you a clear understanding of why there is no Flickr fix yet and what we're doing to ensure you have the best Flock experience possible. We're certainly not ignoring this issue - we're simply making the decisions needed to get you the latest and greatest version of Flock ASAP.
Thanks for your patience throughout this issue, and hang in there just a short time longer.
Evan Hamilton
Community Ambassador evan at flock dot com
Update: One clarification I want to make based on feedback I've seen: 2.5.1 does not include any new features. We're not delaying your Flickr fix in order to get new features out the door. 2.5.1 is entirely bug fixes, which is why we want to get it out at the same time as the Flickr fix rather than delaying it.
I'm super excited to announce a brand new tool for all of you passionate Flockstars out there!
Top Flockstars is a way for you to get recognized and rewarded for your hard work telling the world how much you love Flock.
We thrive on the word-of-mouth evangelism that you all generate. The majority of our 7.5 million downloads have been generated by you telling your friends, family, and colleagues about Flock. You love Flock, you tell your friends, and therefore we are able to keep making Flock better for you. We're immensely grateful for this gift you give us, and we wanted to give something back to you.
It's pretty simple:
1. Log into Top Flockstars using your Facebook account - we'll show you which of your friends are already using Flock
2. Use our form to tell your non-Flocking friends to download Flock
3. For each person who downloads Flock and logs into Facebook, you'll get a token
4. Spend your tokens on nifty rewards!
If you're super-persuasive with your friends, you'll get visibility on the Top Flockstars leaderboard (I'm looking forward to watching the competition). You can also compete on a smaller scale with the friends leaderboard, which shows you how you're doing against your own Facebook friends. And, of course, you get the joy of knowing you've turned your friends on to an awesome browser.
This program is made possible through the power of Facebook Connect. Instead of requiring you to sign up for a new account to participate, all you need are your Facebook credentials. Simple. We're pretty sure that Top Flockstars is the first program to use Facebook Connect in this way, and psyched to break new ground by creating another interesting way to get the most out of Facebook and Flock working together.
Felicia Bradley, photographer of the "floatin'" photo, has won the Flocktography Photo Challenge Grand Prize with 54% of your votes!
Floatin'
All the shots in this challenge evoked powerful emotions, but clearly Felicia's fun, relaxed, and social image clearly resonated with our community of confident, fun, social Flockstars. It's a great shot, and we're very proud to have it on our homepage along with the otherfinalists.
Felicia will be receiving a "Eye-Fi Share" Wireless Memory card, which allows her to upload her photos to Flickr (and elsewhere) directly from her camera. Felicia, we hope that this only further encourages you to keep taking fantastic photos and share them with the world!
Thanks to everyone who submitted photos and voted for the Grand Prize Winner!
Evan Hamilton
Community Ambassador evan at flock dot com
In 2008 we launched the first ever Flocktography Photo Challenge. We asked you, our fantastic community, to share photos of yours that you felt represented the feeling you get when you use Flock...the excitement, the sense of community, the ease of use, etc.
We received over 100 submissions to our Flocktography group on Flickr, and I have to say that I was blown away by the photos. We have some seriously talented Flocktographers here, and choosing finalists was extremely difficult. Kudos and major thanks to everyone who submitted.
All of our finalists will be receiving nifty Flock swag packs and are currently being featured in rotation on the flock.com homepage (and they look fantastic there!).
Choosing a Grand Prize Winner
Now it's your turn to vote and choose the Grand Prize Winner of the Flocktography Photo Challenge! The Grand Prize Winner will receive, in addition to the Flock swag they've already gotten, an "Eye-Fi Share" Wireless Memory Card.
We got to see Eye-Fi in action as a fellow candidate at the Silicon Valley/San Jose Business Journal's "Emerging Tech Awards". Like us, these folks get that sharing is one of the most important interactions on the modern web. With the Eye-Fi Share, you can automatically and wirelessly upload photos taken on your digital camera to your computer or a photo sharing site like Flickr. We hope that this will help our Grand Prize Winner to continue to upload amazing photos to Flickr!
Without further adieu, the finalists:
友情長存
Floatin'
twister+bubbles
More Flocktography to come?
We really enjoyed the enthusiasm around this challenge and got some great images for our homepage. But there are certainly some things we could have done better:
Been clearer about what types of photos we wanted - We had to pass up on some great photos because they didn't really work on the Flock homepage. Butterfly and puppy pictures are adorable, but don't necessarily define the feeling of Flock. We weren't as clear as we could have been.
Been better at keeping you in the loop - I forgot to post a message when I closed entries on the Flickr group, and mightily confused a few folks.
Been faster - What with the holidays and all the hard work we're doing on the browser, this challenge managed to stretch on far too long. Next time it needs to be shorter.
What did you think about the Flocktography Photo Challenge? Would you be interested in seeing another? What could we do better in addition to the items mentioned above?
Lastly, I'd like to call out my personal favorite from the runners up:
That dog has excellent taste in browsers.
Evan Hamilton
Community Ambassador evan at flock dot com
I just wanted to remind you that (nearly) every week I hold Community Office Hours on Monday at 11am PST.
While you're always welcome to contact us on GetSatisfaction, IRC, or by email (evan at flock dot com), I am often unable to talk in real-time during the week. Things come up...meetings, brainstorms, sudden bouts of synchronized dancing and singing, etc.
During Community Office Hours I am entirely focused on and available to the Flockstar community. Ask questions, give suggestions, or just send me awesome lolcat links.
I promise that from 11am-noon on Mondays I will not multi-task or get pulled into meetings. I mayTweet if you send me a really funny lolcat. No promises there.
My contact info is always available on my bio, but I'll repost here for your convenience:
email: evan at flock dot com AIM: evanhprotean MSN: evanhamilton_protean at hotmail dot com Gchat: evanhamiltonLD at gmail dot com Skype: evan.hamilton IRC: irc.flock.com, #flock
Talk to you in a bit!
Evan Hamilton
Community Ambassador evan at flock dot com
I just had to share this video with you. Flock's CEO Shawn Hardin stopped by the TechNow show (as seen on several California NBC stations) to talk about Flock 2.0, and I think it turned out great!
What I love about this video is how they deconstruct the browser piece by piece. Flock can be intimidating at first (something we're constantly working on improving), but the way they split up the features is a fantastic way to introduce them.
Also, I think that's probably the coolest that Shawn's name has ever looked.
Evan Hamilton
Community Ambassador evan at flock dot com
I want to clarify Flock's intentions and the new direction of the Flock extensions page, extensions.flock.com (EFC).
We haven't stopped hosting extensions, we've just simplified the back-end submission process, and content that we host. One of the great bonuses of this is our new ability to host Flock themes.
Flock still embraces extensions and themes, but we will leverage Mozilla's secure back-end hosting environment by encouraging you to get extensions from addons.mozilla.org. We’ll be dedicating our resources to responding to your needs and adding new and exciting capabilities onto the Flock browser.
The broad majority of Firefox extensions have always worked in Flock. Most Flockstars are aware of this and do not visit EFC for their extension needs. With the shift in focus to content that is Flock-specific, EFC now serves the niche that addons.mozilla.org does not: we provide extensions that enhance the many specific features that are unique to Flock.
Almost all of the developers that have their extensions removed from EFC had their extensions hosted on addons.mozilla.orgalready. We continue to support development of extensions for Flock and Firefox, and the developers who have interacted with EFC in the past continue to talk with us about the future of extensions for Flock. New developers are encouraged to check out our documentation and join us on IRC.
I hope this clarifies our position. You can still have all the feature benefits of Flock and take advantage of available Firefox extensions.
Community feedback is of the utmost importance to us and will always guide the development of Flock, our website, our extensions and our company. As always, I welcome your comments and emails.
Flock'n'roll,
Evan Hamilton Community Ambassador evan at flock dot com
The majority of our 7.5 million downloads have been generated by 
