Microsoft offers new academic platform

networking Web site, So.cl, targeting the academic community, Examiner.com reports.

Much to the surprise of IT industry professionals around the globe, So.cl is not meant to replace or even compete with existing social networking sites like Facebook or Google+, but rather transparently integrate with Facebook as an added means of communication and provide a unique set of features tailored to the needs of high school and collegiate students.

As the weeks have progressed, so have the features and capabilities of Microsoft So.cl. Users can follow one another, set up feeds and search (both Web-wide and internally, powered by Bing). To extend upon search, users can share results with others very easily using Facebook, their So.cl profile, or e-mail. So.cl continues to build on the content-aggregation project Montage that enables authoring of visual collages of images, videos and stories - a unique and attractive way of presenting data and news to users.

Designers of So.cl have told MIT's Technology Review that the project's design is based on how students use social networks and search engines for class research, Education Week, writes.

In other words, the creators of Microsoft's So.cl, which is being tested on students at the University of Washington, in Seattle, Syracuse University, and New York University, have no aim to take over the social networking world in the next 10 years, as Facebook has done over the last eight.

According to EurActive, Microsoft is developing So.cl as a research experiment for students focused on combining Web browsing, search and social networking for the purposes of learning. So.cl is targeted at communities of researchers working at a distance, enabling them to pool specialist information. Microsoft is also hoping to capitalise on its relationship with Facebook to drive So.cl forward.