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Microsoft Social Networks Technology

Microsoft Tests Social Search Waters With 'so.cl' Network 135

benfrog writes "Microsoft just quietly launched so.cl in an experiment to more closely unite web searches and social networking. It's not intended as a stand-alone social network — users can log in with Facebook or Windows Live IDs, and it will share your searches publicly by default. "As students work together, they often search for the same items, and discover new shared interests by sharing links. We see this trend today on many social networks, such as Twitter, where shared links spread virally and amplify popular content. So.cl experiments with this concept by automatically sharing links as you search." They've also (wisely?) put Bing Search at the center of the site."
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Microsoft Tests Social Search Waters With 'so.cl' Network

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  • by TheGoodNamesWereGone ( 1844118 ) on Tuesday May 22, 2012 @02:00PM (#40079309)
    Yeah, FB jumped the shark a long time ago, and look for it to become even more careless about user privacy now that it's publicly traded. No other network, not even Google+, has been able to knock it down yet though. Myspace died because Facebook was 'cooler'. You can't put that in a bottle. Or, if you think you know how, billions of dollars await you.
    • by alen ( 225700 )

      that's why you should surf your porn in a different browser than you normally use. so you don't share it to facebook by accident

    • My, albeit limited, experience with MySpace is that it is a completely different animal. It is designed as a simple personal website with extras to allow you to interact with your "fans". FB from the ground up was designed to find other people and interact with them. The wall/profile is more of a way of knowing you got the right Melissa Etheridge before you start throwing your tomatoes.

      • My, albeit limited, experience with MySpace is that it is a completely different animal. It is designed as a simple personal website with extras to allow you to interact with your "fans"..

        Yep, you pretty much described Facebook.
        The differences between MySpace and Facebook? Facebook did a better job of limiting outside spam. Facebook did a better job of limiting annoying style sheets... Facebook pretty much did a better job with everything. But at the heart of the matter MySpace and Facebook provided the same service.

    • Myspace died and Facebook took over because customers wanted games, a decent scheduling module, and a walled garden where people couldn't put up their own horrible html pages filled with malware (while catering to the people that like to post a hundred times a day and read other people's hundred posts a day). The only thing Myspace really had was lots of music and bands, and they pretty much failed to take advantage of that.
    • I keep hearing this comparison of Facebook and Myspace and a prediction that Facebook will suffer the same fate as some other cooler social network catches the fancy of people. I don't believe that. I think Facebook has won the social networking war. I think social networking went through its "evolution" phase and Facebook is the winner. While it is possible that some other social network ousts Facebook, I think it is not very likely. Now, I don't mean Facebook will be the king forever, it will be killed, b

  • users can log in with Facebook or Windows Live IDs

    So, you need to provide Microsoft with your login credentials to do this. Brilliant. Bet that violates Facebook's TOS.

    I rank that right up there with trusting Facebook with my gmail password so they can find me new friends ... sorry there skippy, but WTF do you think makes me want to trust you with the password to my account? Sure, I believe you when you tell me you won't save it. Oh, wait, I don't.

    I have no idea of why I would want Microsoft to allow Fa

    • It's Facebook Connect, which is a pretty standard login method now...
    • So, you need to provide Microsoft with your login credentials to do this. Brilliant. Bet that violates Facebook's TOS.

      You have no idea what you're talking about, do you? Facebook Connect goes via Facebook. It's like OpenID. You don't even need to provide your password if you're already logged in.

      I have no idea of why I would want Microsoft to allow Facebook to know all of the searches I do on Bing. In fact, I have no idea of who would want this.

      Searches from Bing don't count, only from so.cl site. It's made for collaborative searching and discovery.

      • You have no idea what you're talking about, do you?

        Did I know about Facebook Connect? Nope. Do I believe that gives me any more reason to trust in this? Absolutely not.

        Then again, I've disabled APIs against my Facebook account ... I don't want every web site I visit to be able to access that information.

        You don't even need to provide your password if you're already logged in.

        That's the last thing I'd want enabled. Otherwise half of the websites you hit would suddenly have access to my information. Fuck

        • And you continue jabbering about things you don't know anything about.

          It's not automatic. Facebook Connect will popup in a new window, it will tell you what information the site will get and then you have a button where you can login using Facebook.

          Google has similar stuff [google.com], but for Google accounts.
          • And you continue jabbering about things you don't know anything about.

            It's Slashdot, that's what we do.

            In the mean time, you'll forgive me for not giving a shit if someone with a 7 digit ID and a posting history of all of 6 comments wants to impress us by waving his pecker around.

            Now run along.

            • Way to care about shit that matters. He proved you wrong, so you attack him?

              Here, attack me instead. I have the same number of digits as you and quite a posting history.

              • My point was instead of acting like a douchebag, he could have simply explained his position.

                Instead he went straight to being a dick ... so he's not much better than an AC who trolls, and doesn't have enough presence for me to treat him otherwise.

                I'm willing to concede I'm wrong. I'm not as willing to listen to some whiny prick who has barely posted anything if he's going to act like an asshole out of the gate.

    • by Baloroth ( 2370816 ) on Tuesday May 22, 2012 @02:10PM (#40079435)

      Not your login information, no. You login through Facebook itself (HTTPS) and it uses some sort of identifier system to verify the login to MS. However, it also lets MS access your name and profile information, especially email address (including friends, although those are supposedly not retained). So no, you don't give MS your login information. You do, however, grant them the right to retain all your searches and use all your public information for any purposes whatsoever, so there is that.

    • So I tried logging in by clicking on the "Windows Live" option. A pop-up window appears listing the access and permissions that Socl will need. Makes me leery so I click "NO".

      Brix were shat.

      Seriously, which summer intern wrote this site?

  • by Dwedit ( 232252 ) on Tuesday May 22, 2012 @02:03PM (#40079351) Homepage

    "Open require Javascript, please enable the javascript in your browser and try again"

    Sounds like an outsourced job.

  • by cpu6502 ( 1960974 ) on Tuesday May 22, 2012 @02:03PM (#40079353)

    No.
    There are some things about my friends I'd rather not know.

  • Dear Mr. Microsoft.

    Since you already have penetrated my life so fully, I also want you to have access to a list of my friends and their information too. I know you will never use this information in a bad way, or to profit off of me.

    Sincerely, The Ignorant Masses

  • by Animats ( 122034 ) on Tuesday May 22, 2012 @02:12PM (#40079453) Homepage

    Timestamp: 5/22/2012 12:06:38 PM Error: uncaught exception: [Exception... "Security error" code: "1000" nsresult: "0x805303e8 (NS_ERROR_DOM_SECURITY_ERR)" location: "http://www.so.cl/ Line: 185"]

    That site has such intrusive code that Firefox 12 with high security settings won't even display it.

    • by Eskarel ( 565631 )

      Not really a meaningful result.

      For one thing, security in Firefox is a heap of crap and always has been. The browser is excessively paranoid, which is great I install stuff which makes my Firefox is even more paranoid. The difficulty however is that it's very difficult to mark content as trusted. Zones are one of the few things that IE has always had right in terms of security(possibly the only thing), to perform the same thing in Firefox you have to edit a config file and manually grant the specified permi

  • by vlm ( 69642 ) on Tuesday May 22, 2012 @02:22PM (#40079541)

    As students work together, they often search for the same items, and discover new shared interests by sharing links. We see this trend today on many social networks, such as Twitter, where shared links spread virally and amplify popular content.

    Yes, the above is true and I'm sure the reader is suppose to think kids are researching academic topics like Dr Martin Luther King Jr's speeches and the metabolic pathways of the TCA cycle, but lets be realistic, its going to be used to search for pr0n. And there's nothing really wrong with that, either.

  • The only thing worse than a search engine knowing everything you've searched for is your social network knowing everything you've searched for.
  • by JohnnyMindcrime ( 2487092 ) on Tuesday May 22, 2012 @02:39PM (#40079683)

    ...tickets for the "How many days does Ballmer have left" sweepstake went on sale today.

  • Share links? wtf? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Nyder ( 754090 ) on Tuesday May 22, 2012 @02:40PM (#40079711) Journal

    Seriously, I don't care what my friends are searching, and honestly, knowing some of the shit i search for, I don't want to know what my friends are searching for.

    Social Networking is cool, i guess, but seriously, do we fucking need to share everything we do online?

    If I find something cool, I can easily tell my friends. I can email them, twitter them, facebook wall it, text them, and probably some other ways also. In fact, it gives me a chance to actually communicate with them, instead them getting some automated message about what I'm doing.

    I'm sure all this social stuff is really cool, but really, aren't we going a bit overboard on it? Is this the way to communicate by not actually communicating?

    For example:

    Joe: "Hey, how is your brother doing, Dave?"
    Dave: "According to so.cl, he's got crabs, is looking for a new job, and seems to be interested in Chicks with Dicks."
    Joe: "So you haven't actually talked to him lately?"
    Dave: "Talk about what? Everything we do is recorded and sent to all my friends, nothing to talk about."

    • by wcrowe ( 94389 )

      No doubt. Social isn't always cool. STDs come to mind.

    • by Anonymous Coward

      Seriously, I don't care what my friends are searching, and honestly, knowing some of the shit i search for, I don't want to know what my friends are searching for.

      I don't think that's the main purpose of the research. I think the main purpose is to see whether there's a way for people to informally collaborate on things by searching and bundling different content of interest for those things they are collaborating on. That's why they kept it closed for so long. Having said so, I don't think it will work. For one reason, exactly because of your reaction: most people will think that the main purpose is to peek into other people interests by looking at their searches an

  • RE: "so.cl" (Score:4, Funny)

    by denis-The-menace ( 471988 ) on Tuesday May 22, 2012 @02:56PM (#40079929)

    anybody else first pronounced it in their head as "Suckle"?

  • by JustAnotherIdiot ( 1980292 ) on Tuesday May 22, 2012 @02:58PM (#40079953)
    Another contender for the world's most empty social network.
  • by wcrowe ( 94389 ) on Tuesday May 22, 2012 @03:18PM (#40080143)

    I have two questions:

    1. Why would I want to share my search results with everyone?

    and more importantly,

    2. Why would I want everyone to share their search results with me?

  • Insert generic "Microsoft sucks" comment.

    Seriously guys?

    Regardless of whether so.cl succeeds or fails, by having another "giant" enter the social networking arena will drive up innovation.

    When Google released Google+, yes we can agree that its kind of stillborn and lacking, but if forced Facebook to innovate and provide additional features. Google+ then also followed suit by making its features better.

    I have no doubt that Microsoft is capable of doing a few things better then the rest, so if those things are disruptive to the way the current "standards" deliver social networking, then it will be a win for everyone when social networking improves as a whole.

    Lets put it this way, Google, Apple and Facebook are ALL paying close attention. Its the reason why the are billion dollar companies and you drive a used Corolla, they don't just say "Microsoft sucks" and move on, they made something better.

    Sure its easy and safe to say that Microsoft does not have a chance to displace Facebook, or even Google+, but this is only a research project and I think a few ideas will most likely trickle their way into Facebook and Google+ and social networking in general. Its interesting to see their take on social networking and foolish to assume they are completely irrelevant.

    • by Nyder ( 754090 )

      Insert generic "Microsoft sucks" comment.

      Seriously guys?

      Regardless of whether so.cl succeeds or fails, by having another "giant" enter the social networking arena will drive up innovation.

      ...

      Really? Seems to me it's just another example of MS trying to get on a bandwagon once again, since they are always late to the party. And having searches shared with friends isn't innovation, it's fucking creepy.

    • LOL, name one MS innovation in the last three years that hasn't turned out to be a joke. A BAD joke.
  • Something has to replace Facebook. Not this but something has to. I am sure most Slashdotters would prefer some open/free/libre thing. Where is it?!

    • Something has to replace Facebook. Not this but something has to. I am sure most Slashdotters would prefer some open/free/libre thing. Where is it?!

      Some people use Google+ (which has a data liberation so you can export all your data if you like, but probably not as open as some would like). There is also "Diaspora*" which is open, but still in development I believe.

  • If Google did this would it be an invasion of our privacy?
  • YESLER WAY, Seattle,, Saturday (MSBBC) — Microsoft today stealth-released its new social network, Bing Minus [newstechnica.com], automatically adding every person in the world still using Internet Explorer, such as your mother.

    The Bing Minus software was distributed Friday morning in an automatic urgent mandatory critical Windows security update. It will also be available on Windows Phone 7 and BlackBerry.

    “Social networking is the new primary focus Microsoft is betting the business on,” said CEO Steve Ballmer, defining “the business” as “my job.” “It’s already banned in China!” he proudly declared, although Chinese contacts deny this. Productivity has also increased in offices containing Bing Minus users.

    Bloggers and tweeters are already swapping tips on how not to obtain Bing Minus invitations every time you click on anything whatsoever in IE or Windows itself.

    “Facebook is definitely quaking in its boots. Who are users going to want to give all their information to, Facebook or Microsoft? I think the choice is obvious.”

    Ballmer looks forward to a bright future for Bing Minus. “Whatever happens,” he said, “it’s going to suck less than Buzz.”

  • Many people seem to be confused that this is some kind of privacy invasion, with Microsoft sharing your search queries with all of your friends.

    No. You must specifically log in to so.cl and perform a search. It is only these searches which are made public and (if you allow it) to your social networks.

    The site is definitely geared to students and to help them collaborate on search results. It even offers features similar to Pinterest and a video chat room surrounding specific terms.

    • . You must specifically log in to so.cl and perform a search. It is only these searches which are made public and (if you allow it) to your social networks.

      It doesn't share searches. It shares search results... the search results you tell it to share.
      As far as i can tell, this shares search results... and allows video chat... Can't I already do that fairly easily? You know... copy link, paste into facebook wall?

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