RockMelt, a 'social' web browser designed to integrate the web with all its social networking functions, is now available as a beta version for download.

The browser, which launched on Sunday, is being released on a first come first serve basis to those who have signed up for it.

The company plans to control the early downloads for the first beta version in order to avoid overloading the servers.

The browser is based on Google's Chromium platform and offers browsing speeds equal and similar basic functionality to to Chrome.

The USP of the web browser is that it comes deeply integrated with social networking platform Facebook although it is not a Facebook centric browser. RockMelt is designed to allow users to post status updates, links and videos on both Facebook and Twitter, with more platforms being added at a later stage.

The web browser is backed by Netscape founder and venture capitalist Marc Andreessen, who said: "The market is ripe for new ideas and better products."