The updated Bing search engine, was unveiled on Thursday, to include the user comments, likes and activities posted in popular social networks like Facebook and Twitter.
icrosoft’s contentionis that the redesign is “the most significant since Microsoft launched Bing three years ago.
“Bing will tap into Facebook’s and Twitter’s capabilities. Unlike Google, Bing and Microsoft aren’t vying to create their own social media destination, so they will access the best-of-breed social media sites like Facebook and Twitter
The new Bing interface, is expected to move from a private to a public beta test period soon, and offers users a sidebar that focuses on people in the user’s social networks and their opinions and search queries. A user might search for a local bike shop. Along with the usual search results, there will be a “people you know who may know” social sidebar that offers up bike shops that friends have “liked” or commented on.
The social sidebar is designed to let users ask their friends questions about their query topic, and those friends can respond either through Bing or Facebook, Microsoft said.
Microsoft has shown a knack with Bing for boiling down functionality to a useful level. Since Microsoft first launched Bing in the summer of 2009, the company faced a daunting task in taking on Google’s dominant search enginewhich . has remained dominant despite all of Microsoft’s efforts.
Microsoft is hoping that its social search capabilities can become the game-changer the company needs. Because it has its own growing social network, Google+, arguably Google is at a disadvantage when trying to work with widely used offerings like Facebook and Twitter. whereas Microsoft, , has strong relationships with both companies
