Flock users may want to start looking for a replacement. The social networking-infused Web browser (and former Eddy award winner) will be discontinued as of April 26, according to an end of support notice posted on the developer’s Website.
First released in 2005, Flock set itself apart from its more prominent competitors by focusing on integration with social networking sites. It sported a built-in RSS reader as well as allowing users to post videos, photos, and updates from their browser to sites like Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, Flickr, Blogger, WordPress, and more. While the most recent version of the browser, 3.0, was based on Google’s open-source Chromium code, previous versions had been built off Mozilla’s Gecko rendering engine.
Zynga, the company behind FarmVille, purchased the browser in January; the company said Flock had around 10 million users at the time of the purchase agreement. In an FAQ about the shutdown, Flock says its team is now focused on developing social games for Zynga.
Since Flock’s sync and social networking features will stop working on April 26 and the browser won’t get any further security updates, its developer recommends that users switch to either Firefox or Chrome, citing the other browsers’ reliability and robust support for add-ons.
Updated at 3:38 p.m. PT to add a few more details about Flock’s shutdown.