Microsoft launches its own social network with Socl. (Image: Microsoft)

Microsoft has unveiled its new social networking site Socl only days after Facebook launched its initial public offering (IPO) on the NASDAQ stock exchange.

The American software giant, which also has shares in Facebook, quickly introduced its own take in social networking with Socl even without hype or fanfare – a careful attempt to avoid building up hype for Socl, especially with the company’s bad record for services like Zune and Kin, both of which having lavish promotions but failed.

Socl, however, apparently is not a direct competitor to Facebook as it allows users to sign in using accounts created from Mark Zuckerberg’s brainchild, the world’s largest social networking site with a user base of almost one billion. The new social network appears to give Microsoft crowd-source content from the Internet.

Unsurprisingly, the Redmond-based software maker intends to follow a different path from Facebook, especially when both firms are collaborating for several years running. Thus Socl seems to rival Google+, the second-largest social network and also a tie up of user-appraised content, but Socl will most likely be less successful than Google+.

Microsoft has yet to integrate its other services, such as Bing, and its operating systems and applications, to Socl.

About Francis Rey Balolong

A coffee junkie who spends most of his time writing about the latest news on social media and mobile technology. I would definitely consider myself a nerd (in the coolest most hipster way possible). That being said, I love technology, music, writing, and all things mobile. Follow me: Google+ Twitter

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