• by Laurie Sullivan  @lauriesullivan, November 8, 2010

Search engines don't offer true social capabilities -- not yet, anyway -- but a Web browser unveiled Monday built on Google Chromium and partly funded by tech titan Marc Andreessen does.

Andreessen, who founded and built Netscape, apparently thinks the idea can succeed. His venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz led funding for RockMelt, which eventually raised a total of $9.9 million.

RockMelt CEO and Co-founder Eric Vishria, and CTO and Co-founder Tim Howes believe browsers should do more than navigate from one Web site to another. They should connect searchers with friends and news. So, the two started an open-source project -- a Web browser -- placing the emphasis on connecting and sharing with friends, as well as keeping up with news and finding Web pages fast.

After downloading the browser, it asks to integrate with Facebook. No doubt a carrot for Andreessen, who sits on Facebook's board. Both Vishria and Howes are former executives at Opsware, which Andreessen sold to Hewlett-Packard in 2007 for about $1.6 billion. The browser also allows the user to connect with friends on Twitter.

When downloading and installing the browser, it requests that the user give permission for RockMelt to access their photos and videos, as well as access to friends' information such as birthdays, likes, music, TV, movies, quotes, notes and status. The user also must give the browser permission to access data, even when not using the application or allow RockMelt to post status notes, photos and messages to their Facebook wall. This suggests that sometime in the future the information could be used to target and serve up ads in the browser based on likes and dislikes across the social and search graph.

If the browser -- which supports a search engine -- lists friends down one side and applications down another, there's no reason why advertisements and marketing material can't integrate in, although there is no word yet on how the company will monetize the Web browser. A company spokesperson says the team will initially focus on gaining users.

And while some might expect a few bugs in a beta version, not until having the opportunity to take the RockMelt browser for a spin will searchers, advertisers and marketing professionals fully understand the power from the combination of social and search.