Back in July of 2011, less than a month after Google+ was launched, a rumour started that Microsoft was also going to launch a social network. ‘Not another one’, was the understandable response from many tech writers.
Code-named Socl (pronounced ‘social’), the rumours were correct, however, rather than a mere social network for sharing pictures of your pet cat, so.cl (note the addition of the full stop) is being billed as a site for student collaboration and information gathering.
Microsoft says so.cl is, “designed to give students the ability to network with peers, share useful information quickly, and build their own pages that collect information from both inside and outside the classroom — in a sense, transforming the web and social networks into the new classroom”.
The site itself looks very like the major social networks and is centred on Microsoft’s Bing search engine. There’s also a Twitter-like function that allows users share information and chat. Its coolest function is perhaps the ‘rich post’, a multi status update that can include many links and images that are assembled together in a visual montage.
So.cl’s main purpose appears to be as a social search site. In other words, powered by Bing, it encourages its users (students) to share links as they search and build communities around their interests.

Share and build communities
The site features a search experience, powered by Bing, that displays search result data but also encourages students to share links as they search. Students can also build their own communities around subject matters or topics of interest.
“The rumors were all that we were taking on Facebook, and that’s not our goal,” said Lili Cheng, the Microsoft researcher who led the development of So.cl. “So.cl is really an experimental research project focused on how social networking and search can be used for the purpose of learning.”
It’s important that Microsoft says such things, after all, attempting to challenge Facebook this late in the day is a waste of time. By ‘differentiating’ so.cl and calling it a research and collaboration tool, Microsoft has created a niche social network but one that has a clear focus.
Initially only selected students at the University of Washington, Syracuse University, and New York University were invited to use so.cl. They are now inviting friends to join them and Microsoft will slowly roll the service out to students as 2012 progresses.

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