Microsoft Socl: inside the company’s secret social network

November 16, 2011 | Online Marketing

Microsoft is testing a new social service, called Socl.com, which looks like the company’s attempt at creating its own version Google+. Apparently, Microsoft is nearing the end of its private testing period and will roll Socl.com out to a bigger public audience through an invite system.

Socl is a research project, so it's possible that it won't ever get released as a mainstream product, but we're hearing it's still going to be tested publicly.

Socl is starting late to the game, so it's no surprise that you can plug into the potential traffic firehose that is Facebook. While all of your searches and tags are visible to your friends on Socl, Socl activity can be limited via Facebook's lists.

Otherwise, there's not much here in the way of interacting privately with other users on Socl; no private messages, no @replies, and none of the curated, semi-private groups like Google's circles.

Socl ultimately needs to better show how yet another social network and search tool can help users find the information they're looking for; without mobile support or integration across the rest of the Microsoft world, Socl's got a big hill to climb.

Get the full story at The Verge

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