So last week, Microsoft posted what looked like a social-networking project--codenamed "Tulalip"--onto the Web URL socl.com. "With Tulalip you can find what you need and Share what you know easier than ever," read the page's opening text, above a series of what looked like user-profile photos.
That page was subsequently yanked, replaced with a note suggesting the whole thing was an accident: "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."
As I mentioned on eWEEK a little while ago, Microsoft has two good reasons to explore the possibility of branded social networking: Google and Facebook.
What's that, you say? Microsoft already owns a minority chunk of Facebook? That's right, and Redmond's leveraging that relationship to the hilt: baking Facebook features into its Bing search engine and offering up newly acquired Skype for Facebook video chat.
By itself, that could be enough for Microsoft to combat archrival Google's growing influence in the social-networking sphere. But that minority stake also means Microsoft has precious little control over Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, who, well, sort of has a reputation for marching to his own drummer. Sure, the relationship between Microsoft and Facebook is pretty tight at the moment--but what happens if it turns sour?
In light of that, it seems inevitable that a company as large and ostensibly forward-thinking as Microsoft could consider how to best establish a branded social-networking presence beholden to nobody. Hence this weird accident (or "accident") with Tulalip. Nonetheless, Microsoft still needs to tread carefully--Google Plus is apparently enjoying an early-adopter surge, and Facebook remains the dominant force in social networking.
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