14 DAY TRIAL // So.cl (pronounced “social”), previously codenamed “Tulalip,” is the latest research project that Microsoft has decided to make public.
Coming from Microsoft’s FUSE Labs, the new initiative is built on Bing search programming interfaces and is focused on delivering a new learning tool for students and academics who are interested in social media.
So.cl was already opened to a small number of people, but it is now accessible to more of them today, including information and design schools at the University of Washington, Syracuse University, and New York University. Others can also participate, but only if they get an invitation.
The Redmond-based software giant plans on making it available for more schools in time, aiming at making expanding So.cl’s use as a learning and information-gathering tool.
The main purpose of the new initiative is to provide students with expanded educational experience, while also offering them the option to rethink the manner in which they learn and communicate
Just as with any other social network, they will be able to create posts that include photos, video, text, and more, and to share them with colleagues.
Moreover, they will be able to find more students that share similar interests and who are interested in building communities around specific educational goals. They would also be able to create their own social tools and customize them for their specific community.
Some of the main features the project kicks off with include:
- So.cl combines social networking and search, to help people find and share interesting web pages in the way students do when they work together. - So.cl helps you create rich posts, by assembling montages of visual web content. - To encourage interaction and collaboration, So.cl provides rich media sharing, and real time sharing of videos via "video parties."
Lili Cheng, general manager of FUSE Labs, explains that the team behind the new project was set to collaborate with a student audience interested in both sciences and the humanities, rather than creating a tool only for a technical community.
However, she explains that So.cl is not aimed at becoming the next Facebook, but that it should help them gain a new perspective on how search and social networking can be combined.
“We expect students to continue using products such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and other existing social networks, as well as Bing, Google and other search tools,” So.cl’s FAQ reads.
“We hope to encourage students to reimagine how our everyday communication and learning tools can be improved, by researching, learning and sharing in their everyday lives.”