So.cl (pronounced social) is a new social networking site launched by Microsoft to rival Google+.  Using the site should feel familiar as its key features are borrowed from the most popular social sites, which makes sense as the site is meant to work with Facebook integration rather than compete against it.

Similar to Twitter, users follow each other.  You can instead follow categories, like on Pinterest.  The site layout is like the news feed on Google+ and Facebook.  Similar to liking or +1ing, users can smile at posts.  In order to sign up for So.cl users need to go through either their Facebook or Microsoft live account.  One huge social media feature the site is missing is the ability to upload photos, but videos can be watched on the site.   For profile pictures So.cl pulls from users’ Facebook accounts.

Through the Learn & Share feature members can share their search queries to help their friends find what they might be looking for.  Users can also be connected to other users whom they do not know who have similar interests to them.  They can also start a Video Party to chat with multiple friends.  On the Explore tab, users are shown categories they may be interested in following.

The main purpose of So.cl is to get users to use Microsoft’s browser Bing, rather than Google.  If Bing results are not your focus, you can weigh whether the other features are worth it for you.

Tags: bing, facebook, Google, marketing strategy, microsoft, pinterest, so.cl, Twitter, uses of social media, web 2.0

This entry was posted on Thursday, June 14th, 2012 at 10:55 am by Jessica Glynn and is filed under Marketing, Social media. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.