Earlier this week, Fusible.com uncovered a Microsoft splash page at Socl.com which appeared to be part of a larger social search strategy at the software giant. Curious, I checked out the site yesterday. Glad I did because now the graphics and editorial content on the page, along with the code-name for the project, Tulalip, are gone.

The site initially declared: “With Tulalip you can Find what you need and Share what you know easier than ever.” (I tried to dig into the privacy terms on the page, but clicking on the terms didn’t work and it was difficult to find any reference to Microsoft).

Now, interestingly enough, the splash page is gone. In its place is a stripped down message which explains that the site was published accidentally by Microsoft. It reads:

“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.”

Hmm. That’s very curious stuff, and it is leading to all sorts of speculation as to what Microsoft is actually building, with the tech press believing that it is a new social search project designed to compete with Google.

Microsoft describes Tulalip (which happens to be the name of a Native American tribe north of Seattle) as an experimental app that integrates with Twitter. Let us know what you think.

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