Qwisk, which is launching today at the Real-Time CrunchUp, is an innovative new way to add a social twist to your browser. The site, which is a product of Y Combinator-funded company Socialbrowse, connects with you with your friends on Facebook and Twitter in real-time as you browse the web. We have 500 invites exclusively for TechCrunch users. You can redeem these invites simply by clicking here.
It’s important to note that Qwisk is a browser extension, not a plug-in to a browser. On the site’s page, you sign into your Facebook and Twitter accounts via Facebook Connect and oAuth. Qwisk will then add a sidebar to your browser that will show a feed of Facebook status updates and Tweets. You can also share any link or content to Twitter and Facebook from the sidebar itself.
Qwisk also includes its own built in social network, where you can share content from your browser with your friends via a drag and drop technology. When you drag a site into your friend’s profile, Qwisk will automatically send him or her a shortened link to the site, You can then conduct real-time conversations around any content on the web.
The fact that Qwisk is doing this via a standalone application as opposed to a plug-in is impressive. The upside is that it works on all browsers but it’s not easy to do. Powered by FriendFeed’s Tornado technology, which was just open sourced by Facebook, Qwisk is adding an real-time sharing element to browsing that helps all of us lazy folks who don’t want to jump to our Twitter or Facebook client to share a link. It truly does make sharing very simple. Qwisk is similar in theory to Reframe It and Google’s Sidewiki, which both add a social element to browsing.