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Microsoft creating TownSquare, an enterprise social network

Site to blend Facebook-like functions with SharePoint feeds, according to a <i>Computerworld</i> report.

Rafe Needleman Former Editor at Large
Rafe Needleman reviews mobile apps and products for fun, and picks startups apart when he gets bored. He has evaluated thousands of new companies, most of which have since gone out of business.
Rafe Needleman

Microsoft on Thursday will reveal TownSquare, a social network for its business customers, according to Computerworld.

The service is reportedly similar to Facebook, in which Microsoft has a $240 million stake. Users can see others' feeds of what they are doing, upload and view photos, and connect with each other in teams. The site has been in use at Microsoft since Janurary, the story said.

TownSquare also reads in news feeds from the Web and workflow information from the SharePoint groupware platform, Computerworld said.

Another Microsoft social network experiement, Wallop, spun out of the company in 2006 and more recently rebuilt itself as a creator of social applications for other, larger social platforms. See more social experiments at Microsoft Research.