Software giant Microsoft has launched So.cl (pronounced "social"), a social 'network' that was tested by university students in 2011. According to Microsoft, So.cl is an experimental research project developed by the company's FUSE Labs focused on exploring the possibilities of social search for the purpose of learning.
The service per se doesn't look similar to Facebook or Twitter. According to its FAQ, "So.cl is not meant to replace existing full-featured search and social networking tools. It is an experimental research project using a minimal set of features which help combine search with the social network for the purpose of learning."
Adding another layer to social networking it requires users to login through either their Facebook or Windows Live account. So.cl uses Facebook authentication, and a user's name and profile picture from Facebook also appears in So.cl.
However, by default Microsoft does not post any content from So.cl into Facebook stream. If a user chooses, he or she can post content to Facebook using the 'share to Facebook' feature in So.cl.
As for how it works, So.cl search is powered by Bing. Microsoft uses the public Bing APIs to display search result data. As students work together, they often look for the same content, and discover new shared interests by sharing results. These results can be web pages, images, or videos found through Bing. So.cl experiments on this concept by letting users share links as they search.
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