News about Socl, Microsoft’s new platform, has been released thanks to an article by The Verge. According to the newly leaked information, Socl will blend search, content discovery and social networking to create a new breed of user interaction. Read on to see if the company’s digital strategy will pay off.
Socl’s design is similar to both Facebook and Google+. Here is a screenshot of it from The Verge’s coverage:
As you can see, Socl offers the standard social media management tools such as news feeds and friends. Microsoft has borrowed heavily from competitors by adding recent trends such as a “video party” feature. This function is very similar to Google+’s hangouts. Socl may also end up relying on its competitors as The Verge reports that the fledgling site will allow third party log-in using Facebook integration.
Socl includes a wide variety of search functionalities. The site features a search bar which will allow users to surf the web and then share their searches with friends. Members can “tag” terms as well, allowing the tags to be used to sort through their friend’s searches and statuses. Socl will also employ a social search feature similar to Google’s, which will show how connections rate sites and services that appear in queries. While it has yet to be announced, it is not out of the question that approval from the Socl users will boost rankings in Bing. If this is true, it will change the way social factors into SEO services.
Socl seems to be a fine blend of StumbleUpon’s content discovery, Facebook and Google+’s social media functions and Bing’s search. How do you think the project will do once an invite-only beta is announced? Share your thoughts in our comments section.