So.cl
Microsoft Research mixed social search, visual collages and group video viewing into a network whose name most people never learned to pronounce.
Quick facts
- Existence state
- Officially Gone
- Peak stage
- general availability
- Research confidence
- high
- Last verified
What it was
A formally released experimental social network operated by Microsoft's FUSE Labs.
Users assembled visual posts from web searches, followed interests and created collaborative media collections.
Existence timeline
So.cl opens to selected students.
Microsoft releases the social search network broadly.
Collages, riffs and video parties shape the service.
The experimental network receives fewer updates.
Microsoft gives users eight days' notice.
The public network leaves the web.
Why it ended
Microsoft announced the service's closure in March 2017 and shut it eight days later.
Last confirmed trace
Archived profiles, research posts, screenshots and contemporary reporting preserve the experiment.
What it left behind
So.cl illustrates the period when large technology companies launched social networks as public research projects.
How we classified it
The archive unit reached normal public release or operation and is no longer obtainable in its original public form.
Verified normal public availability maps to 100 under Arrival Score V1.
Sources & verification
Last reviewed 2026-08-01. Sources are linked so readers can inspect the evidence directly.