Microsoft IM product tries to woo youth market
Reuters | at | by Mike
Microsoft unveiled a test version this week of threedegrees -- an instant messaging product aimed at 13- to 24-year-olds that lets them hang out online together -- as part of the software company's efforts to target the set that grew up with the Web. The new product, available for free on the Internet, is an effort to get a firm foothold in the market targeting a tech-savvy demographic that finds the Internet second nature for shopping, socializing and finding information.
Threedegress is the first application from Microsoft's "NetGen" group, which has been working for about 18 months to find what services will ring truest with the young people who have "internalized the Internet."