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Microsoft’s social network goes mobile with iOS, Android, and Windows Phone apps

Microsoft’s social network goes mobile with iOS, Android, and Windows Phone apps

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socl stock 1020
socl stock 1020

Microsoft’s Socl social network is expanding to mobile devices this week. After originally launching in late 2011, Microsoft’s Socl experiment has been confined to a browser over the past couple of years. New iOS, Android, and Windows Phone apps aim to change that somewhat, with touch-friendly controls for smartphones and a focus on the top mobile operating systems. Each app supports collages, sharing, notifications, and the ability to upload photos and content to the service.

Unfortunately, the apps are simply web wrappers based on the mobile browser version of Socl, and offer little extra benefits over the existing mobile site. Microsoft appears to have done the bare minimum on each platform to release a compatible app. It’s still not clear what plans Microsoft has for Socl, despite investing in animated GIF support and other creation tools earlier this year. The site is largely used as a social experiment in a research state with little promotion by the software company. Microsoft research runs and operates Socl, with employees testing out features that could make their way to other Microsoft devices and services in the future.