For a couple of years now, speculations about Microsoft's entry into the social media arena have been escalating.
And, with the "accidental" leaking of information about socl.com last July, the online world is bracing for the announcement that many expect will be coming soon:
Microsoft will be launching its own social network to take on those of Facebook and Google+
First, the announcement, if and when it comes, should not really surprise anyone. Microsoft has been dabbling in social networks and social computing research for several years now, as far back as 2000, or perhaps even earlier.
There are at least three groups within Microsoft Research, the software giant's R&D facility, dedicated to undertaking research projects in areas relevant to social networks:
- Social Computing, tasked "to develop software that leads to compelling and effective social interactions";
- the similarly-named Social Computing Group, which "researches and prototypes socio-technical systems that support a variety of human social interactions";
- and Social Networks and Services, which "provides social network users an unprecedented user experience that will enrich their interaction with different applications and with other users."
The offshoot of Microsoft Research is FuseLabs, which Microsoft has set up to take charge of executing and delivering Microsoft's social media ambitions. Throughout the years Microsoft has been rolling out sites and apps aimed at testing the social networking waters.
Many of these have long dropped by the wayside and are all but forgotten. But each foray into the social networking arena has allowed Microsoft to learn a lesson or two. In 2000 the company started Wallop and spun it off as a venture capital funded business in 2006 (it has been rebranded as Coveroo).
Wallop is a Flash-based social network for self-expression. Project "Twigg" came to life in 2007. This data collection tool leveraged the Windows Azure platform to make sense of huge amounts of social data being created. Bing Twitter, launched in 2009, sought to create a real time search engine using Microsoft's Bing integrated with Twitter.
The Bing Twitter Maps app which followed that same year placed Twitter tweets within the context of location, like FourSquare on steroids. Microsoft's Docs for Facebook lets users discover, create and share MS Office documents using Facebook.
Other social apps and experiences in Microsoft's arsenal include Montage (now Bing Topics), a visual album of your favorite web topics; SPIndex, which provides an overview of your entire social connections on a single page; Kodu, a social platform for creating games; and Company Crowd, which collects stories and social media content about companies you may be interested in. So Microsoft has had the social smarts for more than a decade now.
All they need is a strong premise to compete with Facebook and with social upstart Google+. Facebook has been the king of social networks through the power of its engaging content. Google+ promises to provide a more solid and integrated social platform for business.
So what's left for Microsoft to conquer? Initial sightings of Socl indicate that Microsoft's approach is to try to own the space for "social searching."
Social media marketing professionals will have a new channel to learn and new strategies to build if they plan on getting the jump early, but it sure will be fun to see how (and if) this new Microsoft property catches on and what social media experts will do.