Microsoft is rolling out a series of social features to make creating on the web even easier, from a new meme generator tool to creating animated photographs you can share on social networks.
The updates are coming to the company's Socl online community, which was first designed as an experiment aimed at students. Developed by Microsoft Research FUSE Labs and launched in 2011, the community has since attracted more than 400,000 registered users across all demographics, especially those with a creative spirit. In that vein, the new features will allow users to create more digital content that is shareable with other social networks such as Facebook, Twitter and Tumblr.
Among the most compelling new features is a new app for Windows 8 devices, allowing users to blend both video and photography together. Microsoft is calling these creations Blinks.
Here's how it looks: An image of a woman sitting in a cafe may look like a still picture until you see her hair move slightly by the wind.
"These are actually very hard to create, so we wanted to make a tool that would let people easily put them together," Lili Cheng, GM of Microsoft's FUSE Labs, told Mashable.
Jumping on board the meme-generator train, Microsoft also now lets you assemble your own memes, while adding a gaming element to it at the same time.
By typing a message such as "What's up, Dog?" and clicking go, the tool will deliver a message with your text on a photo.
The Socl platform is also enhancing its existing Collage feature, which lets you search for images — and now upload your own — to create a photo montage that is sharable on social networks.
"We've been hearing for awhile that our users want to mix personal content with public content," Cheng said. "Now that you can add your own photos and blend it with existing stuff online, we know this will give members even more opportunities to get creative."
Image courtesy of Microsoft
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