Syracuse University is one of three universities participating in So.cl, Microsoft’s new social network to function as a site for student collaboration and information gathering.

Microsoft said So.cl is ‘transforming the web and social networks into the new classroom’ by allowing students to work with information and share it among their peers, according to a Dec. 15 article on VentureBeat.

The site is a product of Microsoft’s FUSE labs, which functions as a host to target the learning process, according to the article.

The site contains several unique features like the rich post, which functions as a compiled status update with multiple links and images that can be commented on, tagged and embedded elsewhere on the Web, according to the release. There is also the ‘video party,’ which allows for group video collection, sharing and viewing.

This technology is only available to students studying at SU, New York University and the University of Washington, according to the article.

Anthony Rotolo, assistant professor of practice at the School of Information Studies at SU, said the tool was built using Facebook Connect, which allows users to log on to the site and removes the need to maintain a separate profile. Like Twitter, users are able to follow posts containing information, topics, gathered articles, links and new ideas people share and are interested in, he said.

‘Using this site is a benefit to students because it gives them ideas of what might be coming in social space, as changes come so quickly,’ Rotolo said.

Rotolo said Microsoft reached out to the iSchool because it is a leader in social media exploration and education. Microsoft felt SU students were a good fit to understand the product and give helpful feedback on the site, he said.

Focus groups on the product have been conducted by Microsoft at the iSchool, and feedback has already been incorporated, he said.

Rotolo said he does not know what the final product will be, whether Microsoft will eventually release So.cl, or if only its best features will be incorporated into their search engine.

Rotolo teaches a course in the iSchool called IST 486/686: ‘Social Media in the Enterprise’ in which students get an in-depth education on social media as a whole. They endure a semester-long project in which they work with client companies to help those businesses implement social media. Students have already been using So.cl to work with clients in a real environment, Rotolo said.

Ross Lazerowitz, a freshman information management and technology major in the iSchool, was part of a focus group and said he was able to give feedback directly to developers and Microsoft research leads.

Lazerowitz said he considers So.cl an ‘accessory to social searching’ and that it applied the ideas of the site StumbleUpon to Facebook.

He said that although So.cl is helpful for group research projects and is easy to use, he is not enthusiastic about the site because with so many social networks the average user will not understand the difference between So.cl and everything else.

Lazerowitz said he thinks Microsoft is going after a certain demographic of individuals with a high interest and knowledge of social media and technology, which is why it came to the iSchool.

Said Lazerowitz: ‘This is a milestone in seeing more Microsoft interaction with the iSchool, and we will hopefully be seeing more.’

rebarill@syr.edu 

Published on December 20, 2011 at 12:00 pm