The world of social media appears to be in a rapid evolutionary phase. While Facebook presently maintains its status as big dog in the social media world, newbie’s like Pinterest have managed to move users away from text-driven conversations to more image-based communication. Now, Microsoft’s new SOCL could pose a challenge to both sites with its sharp technology and user-savvy offerings.

An outgrowth of Microsoft’s student-based research, SOCL (pronounced social) has taken on a life of its own. SOCL allows users to say what they want to say and say it through captivating images along with personal captions and links to other sites and postings. With much the same format as Pinterest, SOCL allows users to gather images and videos from the internet which reflect their interests and then present them as cohesive postings. Once visuals are chosen, a simple mouse click automatically arranges them into an eye-catching format.

As with Pinterest and Facebook, SOCL provides a user identification landing called the Me Page. The Me Page doesn’t just provide personal bio information about you, however. It is actually an information-rich driver’s seat for all of your SOCL activity.  From there, users can see all their own postings and web interactions along with all those postings they choose to follow.

Visitors to SOCL posts can join in the visual conversation by adding their own photos, video, links or captions to the original posting. SOCL always clearly identifies the post’s originator so that everyone knows who started the discussion. But growing the conversation is what SOCL is all about, so visitors can also choose to follow the post creator or may even share the post to Facebook. Conversations can become extremely diverse when users post through SOCL Interests – defined categories ranging from food-film-football-photography and beyond.

Taking the conversation to a more dynamic setting happens when SOCL users start a Video Party. The Video Party allows users to share videos and discuss them in real time. Users from anywhere on the planet can watch videos with others of like interests and engage in conversations about them or wherever the discussion takes them. Of course, you don’t have to start your own Video Party, SOCL users can join in anyone else’s party too if the subject interests them.

Perhaps the most exciting trend to follow is how those leading the social media space will respond to Microsoft’s movement. What changes will be evident on Facebook, Pinterest, Google+, Twitter or LinkedIn, to name just a few, that will reflect this latest challenge? Whatever the outcome, the changes are sure to benefit the user, as long as they don’t come too hard or too fast.

With easy to use technology that allows users to share through a variety of mediums and across other social channels, it may not be long before SOCL topples social media’s current powerhouses for the top spot. Since the site is based on youth research it is certain to attract younger post creators and could soon ride the crest of our current social networking wave.