Microsoft has launched So.cl, which it describes as a social-search tool to share information and meet people with common interests. "So.cl is an experimental research project focused on the future of social experiences and learning, especially among younger people," Microsoft said in an e-mail. The tool was launched late last year for students at a numver of colleges and universities. Last week, the company quietly made it available to the public for a trial period.

According to a recent study by Freewheel, the xBox gaming console is the most popular non-computer device to watch streaming video, edging out the Apple iPad by 28.2% to 27.1%. According to Peter Kafka, this is a 'sneaky success' because more people watch web video on a Microsoft machine than on an Apple iPad, iPhone or any android machine. “And when it comes to home viewing, competitors like Apple TV, Google TV and Roku are so far behind they’re not even competitors,” said Kafka. 

LinkedIn is introducing a new service that allows businesses to customize content sent to followers according to various criteria, including industry, seniority, job function, company size, etc. With this new service, companies will also have direct access to an analytics dashboard showing engagement metrics such as likes, shares, comments, as well as followers’ demographic data. 

Microsoft's Bing search engine now ranks second behind Google. According to statistics released on Wednesday by comScore Inc., Bing and Microsoft's other websites fielded 2.75 billion search requests in the U.S. during December, beating Yahoo for the first time. Bing's December search volume translated into a 15.1% share of U.S. search traffic, while Yahoo had 2.65 billion search requests, which amounted to a 14.5% share.

Google and Mozilla have struck a deal to extend their search agreement for another three years. Under the terms of the new agreement, Google will pay Mozilla $300 million per year to be Mozilla Firefox's default search browser. Sources said the total amount of $1 billion was the minimum revenue guarantee for delivering search queries garnered from consumers using Firefox. Google’s main rival in the bid was Microsoft’s Bing search service.

According to ComScore, Microsoft's Bing has reached 15 percent market share at the expense of Google and Yahoo. Bing's share rose from 14.8% in October to 15% through November, while Google dipped from 65.6% in October to 65.4% in November. Bing's increasing market share may is probably not a cause for concern for Google, who has consistently maintained 64% -66% market share.

According to a new study by StatCounter, Chrome's market share in the global browser market rose to 24% in the last weeks of November and in the first week of December. Meanwhile Microsoft's Internet Explorer share was at 22.9%. This is a significant accomplishment for Google, as Microsoft usually maintains the majority share.