Microsoft becomes latest web giant to stir social search pot
There has been much talk recently about the fusion of social media and search, dubbed, imaginatively, 'Social Search'. Not since the first time cheese and pickle were put together between two slices of bread has there been such a stir in the advertising community.
While social search is still very much in its infancy, the giants of social media and search are all keen to get in on the action. Google is keen to make itself more like a social network, recently launching the beta version of Google+, while Facebook continues to threaten to expand its considerable influence into the field of search.
Now Microsoft has thrown its hat into the social search arena. Well at least it did, briefly, before yanking it back in mock embarrassment.
Oopsy daisy...
Currently, Microsoft's www.socl.com bears nothing but a short message that states, "Thanks for stopping by. Socl.com is an internal design project from a team in Microsoft Research which was mistakenly published to the web. We didn't mean to, honest."
But for a brief time, what was displayed on the site was an innocuous green rectangle, accompanied by a similarly innocuous series of advertising-friendly portraitures, and the message, "Welcome. With Tualip you can Find (their capitals) what you need and Share what you know easier than ever." This was happened across by a blogger known as J.B., and the screen capture of this mysterious 'Tualip' has been doing the rounds on the Internet ever since.
The future of search?
Little more is known about the project, or whether the leak was indeed accidental or simply a little marketing exercise by Microsoft. But if anything, it is further evidence of the swelling tides of change approaching the search and social aspects of the Internet, and by extension, the field of search engine optimisation.
It is not possible to predict how exactly social search will alter SEO, but it seems likely that it will be a gradual evolution, with common SEO practices being adapted to keep up with the pace of change. Alternatively, as the doomsayers would have it, it could be 'the death of SEO'.
While social search is still very much in its infancy, the giants of social media and search are all keen to get in on the action. Google is keen to make itself more like a social network, recently launching the beta version of Google+, while Facebook continues to threaten to expand its considerable influence into the field of search.
Now Microsoft has thrown its hat into the social search arena. Well at least it did, briefly, before yanking it back in mock embarrassment.
Oopsy daisy...
Currently, Microsoft's www.socl.com bears nothing but a short message that states, "Thanks for stopping by. Socl.com is an internal design project from a team in Microsoft Research which was mistakenly published to the web. We didn't mean to, honest."
But for a brief time, what was displayed on the site was an innocuous green rectangle, accompanied by a similarly innocuous series of advertising-friendly portraitures, and the message, "Welcome. With Tualip you can Find (their capitals) what you need and Share what you know easier than ever." This was happened across by a blogger known as J.B., and the screen capture of this mysterious 'Tualip' has been doing the rounds on the Internet ever since.
The future of search?
Little more is known about the project, or whether the leak was indeed accidental or simply a little marketing exercise by Microsoft. But if anything, it is further evidence of the swelling tides of change approaching the search and social aspects of the Internet, and by extension, the field of search engine optimisation.
It is not possible to predict how exactly social search will alter SEO, but it seems likely that it will be a gradual evolution, with common SEO practices being adapted to keep up with the pace of change. Alternatively, as the doomsayers would have it, it could be 'the death of SEO'.
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