I doubt anyone wants this. Facebook, Twitter, and Google are already brands. Nobody says, "I want to do social networking! I'm going to type social.com!" They just google Facebook and go there.

Microsoft might though, would certainly be more relevant than the amorphous live.com.

I agree with your guess. This kind of thing seems right up Microsoft's alley. They used to have an entire campaign using the phrase: "Welcome to the Social". If one of the big players goes in, I'm guessing Microsoft.

It wouldn't be unheard of for Microsoft to rebrand it again. They have already rebranded it 3 times!

Microsoft Live Social Network, very catchy

Microsoft Bing Hotmail Live Social Network Simulator

Would definitely be interesting, given that they do live.com, docs.com, and office.com.

(is there something else that I'm missing out on..?)

In the post, I suggested those with big brands, like those you mention, are probably not interested. Maybe LivingSocial wants it?

Color could rebrand as Social.

Just, on principal, because there are gazillions of free domains out there, bidding on crap like this seems wrong.

Some dubious <strike>porn company</strike> adult-dating-site for sure. Maybe even Microsoft as @sradnidge notes.

Can anyone give a price estimate? I assume something like 200k?

According to the auction catalog at http://domainauctions.moniker.com/viewCatalog?id=209&x=6..., opening price will be $5MM or more.

Any potential buyer for Soci.al domain?

It seems like it might be perfect for LivingSocial. Still far from a household name with a somewhat awkward domain name (what does living social mean?), and lots of cash. I think they'd be happy to rebrand as social.com.

Exactly. That was one of my suggestions as well.