Software giant Microsoft has quietly launched the new So.cl, a social networking site that is specifically designed for students. Although a social network service, the company clarified that the website is not meant to compete with Facebook or any other existing websites.
The company has been giving hints to So.cl since last year, but it launched the site over the weekend quietly.
So.cl (pronounced “social), which was developed by Microsoft’s FUSE Labs, is an experimental project that aims to please students for its educational functionalities.
“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,” said Microsoft in a statement. “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.'”
According to the site’s FAQ page, the company expects students to still use their favorite social networks, such as Facebook, LinkedIn and Google Plus, but they 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.”
So.cl also uses Facebook authentication, which means that users can use their Facebook accounts to log in to the service. Users can also choose to or not to post content from their So.cl profiles to their Facebook walls.
What do you think of this new service from Microsoft?
via: So.cl
