Microsoft's working on a social network for students

Just when you think the social networking scene is saturated enough with Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Google+, Microsoft's getting into the game. But they're changing it a little. Microsoft is planning to launch its own social network, but it's planning on going the Facebook route where the network will only be open to students. According to ReadWriteWeb, the company is currently testing their social network, So.cl (pronounced "social") at three university campuses in the U.S, University of Washington, New York University and Syracuse University. The social network is only being tested on students interested in social media.

Opening up on campuses

The social network reportedly is built from Bing's API and according to Microsoft, "works as a research experiment for students focused on combining web browsing, search, and social networking for the purposes of learning". The project is designed to help students with collaboration on projects and research. Basically the project is based on taking a search engine, specifically Bing, and adding a social factor to it. Microsoft is choosing to stay niche with their social network as they believe that Facebook, Twitter and Google have already got the grounds covered, as far as general social networking is concerned.