Microsoft Research Releases Socl App For Windows Phone 8 Devices
If you are not aware of Microsoft's own social network called Socl, here is the description from Microsoft. Socl offers a set of simple, fun “create experiences” that make it even easier to express and share ideas with people worldwide …
Context & Ripple Effects
Socl began as a social-search experiment out of Microsoft Research revealed in December 2011, then was quietly opened up more broadly in May 2012 (its low-key launch) as a browser-based 'create experiences' playground for sharing ideas. Shipping a dedicated Windows Phone 8 client turns what has been a web curiosity into one of the few first-party social apps carrying the Microsoft name into mobile.
The pickup by The Next Web and WinBeta shows the story travelled through the Windows enthusiast press rather than mainstream tech outlets — consistent with Socl's status as a niche research product rather than a consumer push, arriving at a moment when Windows Phone's app catalog was under scrutiny.
First-order effects
- Windows Phone 8 owners get a native way to use Socl, removing the browser dependency that had limited the service since its 2012 launch.
Second-order effects
- Every Research-born consumer app Microsoft ships to its own platform adds to the first-party app count Redmond cites against the perception of an app gap on Windows Phone, while leaving Socl's tiny user base unchanged unless the mobile clients attract new audiences.
Third-order effects
- If the pattern holds, Microsoft Research functions as a low-cost pipeline for experimental social and search products that double as showcase apps for Windows Phone — a hedge while the company's broader mobile strategy remains unsettled amid the CEO succession search reported the same week.
The trend: Microsoft is using small Research-originated social experiments like Socl to seed its mobile platform with first-party software while larger strategic bets remain unresolved.