Microsoft has finally made their own social network. It advertises itself to students, but can be used by anyone. They call it So.cl and it is really easy to sign up for. All you need is a Facebook account or a Windows Live account. You can create you So.cl page with either of those credentials, or just create them for free. Upon first arrival it looks similar to Facebook or Google Plus. It has some cool features including the ability to share your searches and quickly. You also have posting, videos, pictures, and you can hang out in a video chat with multiple people at once. You can also follow people and you can see who is following you. One thing I found annoying is that any search that you do is automatically shared unless you change your privacy settings. You can also delete this account easily unlike some other social networking websites.
Microsoft has not decided on any future plans with Socl. As of right now you can search and share the search, as for college students this could end up being an easy way to collaborate ideas. They have no plans for becoming another Facebook or Myspace. Other cool features include viewing users by their interests in picture format. So if a person likes a certain band, say Buju Banton, then a picture of Buju will show up in “My Interests.” This could be helpful for finding people with similar interests in a browsing format.
