Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Microsoft Is Closing the Social Network You Forgot It Ever Launched (techcrunch.com)

Posted by msmash on from the how-about-that dept.

So.cl, the little-known and probably much-forgotten social network project from Microsoft Research's FUSE Labs division, is closing down. From a report on TechCrunch: The service was launched in late 2011 as a social community where the objective was "collaborative consumption, not communication." Initially for students, So.cl opened up to anyone once it had gotten going and subsequently added support for mobile devices, too. When word of the project first leaked out prior to its launch, many had assumed that Microsoft was building a social network to compete directly with Facebook -- this was a time when companies might be inclined to do that, remember Google Buzz launching in 2010? But Facebook this wasn't. It actually used Facebook log-in for user sign-up so if anything it is/was a Facebook app. If you're looking for a comparison, the focus on image collages and video made So.cl a little like a Pinterest-style service for visual content.

8 of 44 comments (clear)

  1. /. article by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I wonder how many /.ers remember

  2. Modus Operandi by overlook77 · · Score: 2

    I feel like everything MSFT does is some crappy, lesser knockoff of a better service that they attempt to force their users to adopt.

  3. Don't you mean Google+? by xxxJonBoyxxx · · Score: 2

    >> building a social network to compete directly with Facebook -- this was a time when companies might be inclined to do that, remember Google Buzz launching in 2010?

    Don't you mean "Google+", which launched in 2011? If you're looking for a higher profile social network flop from Google...

  4. Collaborative consumption, not communication by BarbaraHudson · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Seems to me that most "social media" is exactly the same - everyone consuming - there's very little actual communication going on. Just people screaming past each other like two cats with their tails tied together thrown over a clothes line (and if you want to know what THAT sounds like, just listen to Bohemian Rhapsody).

    --
    "Transparent" is a shit show that trades on every stereotype going. A man in drag is NOT a transsexual.
  5. I don't get it by Ol+Olsoc · · Score: 2
    Since you have to log into Facebook, the whole thing could have been done via a Facebook group.

    This was the Zune of Social Media.

    --
    The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
  6. Didn't forget, never knew it existed. by Lavithas · · Score: 2

    I still dislike it when articles, and such, make assumptions about me.

  7. You Forgot It Ever Launched by allo · · Score: 2

    neutrality of media, my ass.

  8. Hmm, actually... by uliar · · Score: 2

    Google's Social Network was Orkut, and launched way before Facebook did.