I need a browser that enhances my productivity, not one that tempts me to stay up to date with every last Tweet
Productivity @ Home: Is Flock a Productivity Killer?
If you want to use Flock for work, but without constant notifications of new Facebook updates/Twitter tweets/etc, you could set up a second Flock user profile. In your second profile you wouldn’t login to Facebook/Twitter, and so you could continue using Flock without some of the distractions. If you have business-related RSS feeds that you follow, you could track them in your “business” Flock user profile without seeing updates for less serious feeds that you follow.
Downsides to Multiple Profiles
You can only have the browser open/working with one profile at a time. If you have a bunch of tabs open for business activities, and feel the need to veg out a bit by checking on tweets, you could not switch to the other profile without closing the browser first. To work around this, you could bookmark your tabs, switch to your “personal” profile, and open the tabs again when you resume.
By following RSS feeds in two versions of Flock, you probably won’t want to track the same feed in both profiles, because when you mark articles as read in one profile, it will still appear as unread/new in the other profile. Using an online RSS reader (Google reader, for instance) would solve this problem in that you can access it and read feeds from both profiles.
More Information
- Setting up multiple profiles in Flock
- Firefox support: Profiles (applicable to both Firefox and Flock)
I personally use both Flock and Firefox at home (and IE for checking work email), and Firefox at work.
As someone who has been known for getting distracted at times (I do realize I’m posting this at 1am EST), how do you manage your work/life separation?
Tags: work, productivity, Flock
June 21, 2008 at 12:18 pm |
These are great tips. Sometimes the line between work and play gets blurred when you work on the computer for a living.
On another note I tried Flock when it very first came out and then just sort of stopped using it. I think I’ll give it a try again. Of course, I may need to come back to this entry because I’m easily distracted.
June 22, 2008 at 12:30 pm |
Tested out flock again last night and whoa, I see what you mean. It’s almost exclusively geared toward having fun. That’s cool and all but I’d have to use flock for that reason only and keep FF3 for business stuff.
June 26, 2008 at 12:45 am |
There’s a reason Flock bills itself as “The Social Web Browser.”
You can certainly use it without logging into digg/FB/etc. but these features are the differentiating factor separating Flock from Firefox and other browsers. The RSS feed reader is quite nice, and the browser may fit into some workflows, but many people will be happy with Firefox for their work productivity.
May 12, 2009 at 1:27 am |
Chris, you’re a true Flock Hero.
)
Thanx so much for the answer to my forum ‘theme’ problem.
So – I now WILL continue with Flock as my default … at home anyway.
(And yes, I DO like the Feeds facility a lot, along with a few of the other novelties.
May 17, 2009 at 2:12 am |
I don’t know if this works for Flock (yet, about to try it now) but in Firefox, you can create a shortcut on your desktop (or where ever) and in it set
-P “prof_name” -no-remote
and in the other shortcut set
-P “other_prof_name” -no-remote
Then you can have both open at the same time if you like. I did this in Firefox so me and my girlfriend could both have separate profiles open at the same time, works great.