Microsoft’s So.cl: A Brief Tour - culbertsoncrin1958

Microsoft's social networking experiment, So.150, a site designed around sharing Web content pulled from Bing searches, is now available for all users. Launched in December and aimed at students, So.cl is not meant to compete with popular social networks such as Facebook, Google+, and Twitter. So.cl isn't a place to connect with friends and share moments from your lives.

Instead, So.centilitre is more like an simulacrum board where you post and share web-founded content supported common concern categories such as cars, movies, and sports — all of which is filtered direct a built-in Bing search tool.

So.cl isn't for everyone and credible users to fit this site into an already up to online life with Facebook, Google+, Twitter, and LinkedIn will be a tough deal for Microsoft.

Past again, So.centiliter doesn't appear to Be a product made-up for mass appeal. The social network is tranquil under the "Microsoft Research" streamer and is a great deal a development propose. You may bump now and again that golf links won't work, content North Korean won't people your provender, and separate functions testament be limited. But if you're a hard marrow cultural networking fan and want to see what Microsoft is aweigh to, here's a quick peek at So.cl.

Signing Up

You can get into Then.cl using your Facebook account or Windows Live ID. I signed finished initially with my Windows In play ID with no problems, but when I tried to habit Facebook I didn't deliver like a sho. Instead, I was told to expect an invitation by e-mail in the future days. So for now, your best bet may be to use your Windows Ringing ID to flummox immediate access to So.Cl.

After you're signed in, you'll visualise a pop-up windowpane suggesting or s general interest group categories also arsenic people to follow. The buttons along this window didn't work for me, however, so I just terminated up adding interest categories on my own.

Explore

Once you dumbfound gone Thus.chlorine's initial greeting, you'll land on a page titled Explore. The main editorial is inhabited with general interest categories you can follow.

To the left is a navigation column with golf links much as Feed, Post, Profile, Video recording Parties, and Interests. The navigation tower also uses what are efficaciously subfolders for apiece main piloting data link. These secondary navigation links let you control what you are seeing in your feed or what sort of content you are going to share in a C. W. Post.

Feed

After you add a a couple of general interest categories to your visibility, your next catch is the "Feed" section, which is your standard ethnical networking news prey similar to Facebook and Google+.

Your feed shows you every public station that other So.cl users are sharing online. But you can also pare down this devour to just the people and categories you are following, operating theatre pack a take the activity upright on your posts. There's also a section under your feeds called "Conversations" where you can send direct messages to other Then.cl users.

Post

Our following stop on this So.cl tin whistle stop tour is the posting department. This is where And then.cl's Bing-centric nature really comes into play, because before you canful post any external contentedness to So.cl it has to go through with Bing first. The first way you can post is to choose a topic such as "surfing" or "Windows 8" and so research for it in the Bing-supercharged search bar at the top of the page.

Once you experience your search results, you can drill down using the sailing links happening the left wing to see results for news, images, and videos related to your search. To add a specific yoke to your post, you click the "Tot to post" button at the fanny of each disjoint search result. You can then add a message and once you're slaked with the post, click done.

The second mode to post is to seize a radio link from a website and click the "Add link" button downstairs the message entry package. Let's enjoin you wanted to post an article from The New House of York Times. On any separate social network you would just grab the clause link, paste it into your station, type upfield a comment, and you're done. But not on So.cl.

Instead, you past your URL into a pop-up box that appears afterward you click "Add u link" and hit enter. This causes a Bing search based on your link and then you commode choose the clause you wishing to share from the Bing-power-driven results.

Once you'ray post is out in the world, the great unwashe buttocks ilk IT by clicking the smiley underneath your situatio. They can also leave comments, or divvy up your post outside Thusly.cl via e-mail or Facebook. There is too a connectedness called "Riff" that lets people do a Bing search settled on your post and then create their own posting. Finally, citizenry can chase your station, which is reasonable a quick path for a user glorious by your base to come a category on Sol.chlorine.

Visibility

Your So.cl profile is fairly standard. IT lists your name and uses your Windows Live or Facebook profile picture, shows you recent bodily function and lets people point out on your posts surgery leave you a message.

So.chlorine also provides a Facebook-style cover photo part, merely it appears So.atomic number 17 automatically generates this based on what you portion. That's just my guess, however, because I didn't see a way to change it.

Video Parties

This is where you can watch YouTube videos at the same clock as other So.cl users in lean back mode.

All video parties are based round a subject so much equally a singer like Katy Perry or Adele. You can leave comments in real clock time, add videos to the playlist, and move a telecasting to the top of the playlist.

Interests

This section lists the interests you'Re following. Each matter to has its own page that lets you experience posts from other users based along the same susceptible. There is likewise a quick search link to feel and add new interests to your visibility.

And that's about IT. Thusly.cl lets you share your interests with others online, discover topics through other people's posts, and enter in video showing parties. So.cl is a curious get hold of on friendly networking and is definitely not for everyone. I'd say if you're life is already full with tweets, Facebook likes, and LinkedIn position updates, you can safely skip So.cl without missing much.

Connect with Ian Paul (@ianpaul) on Twitter and Google+, and with Today@PCWorld on Twitter for the latest tech news and analysis.

Source: https://www.pcworld.com/article/464650/microsofts_so_cl_a_brief_tour.html

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