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Microsoft perks up Bing 'the underdog' with Facebook tie-up
By siliconindia
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Thursday, 14 October 2010, 14:42 IST
Bangalore: Microsoft deepened its ties with Facebook, one of the largest social networking sites, bolstering its fledgling Bing search engine to catch up with Google. Microsoft has stepped up its efforts within its online services division -- which lost $2.3 billion last fiscal year -- to challenge the dominance of Google, the world's largest search engine. Microsoft said it would integrate content from Facebook to refine search results, including profiles of Facebook users and Web pages they have endorsed by clicking on "like" buttons.
"The thing that makes Microsoft a great partner for us is that they really are the underdog here. Because of that they in a structural position where they're incentivized to go all out and innovate," said Facebook Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg.
Bing will integrate content from the world's leading social network, tailoring search results to users' preferences based on information from their network of Facebook friends -- which Google does not do. Bing is now the exclusive provider of Web search on Facebook, and Microsoft sells text-based search ads for the social networking site.
Microsoft invested $240 million in Facebook in 2007, giving it a 1.6 percent stake in the social networking company, and the two companies have forged various business collaborations over the years. Microsoft introduced Bing, an overhauled version of its search engine, last year, and forged a 10-year partnership with Yahoo that merges the companies' back-end advertising systems, offering marketers a larger audience.
The Facebook data provides important "signals" to help refine search results, Microsoft Online Services Division President Qi Lu said that as part of their agreement, Microsoft's Bing will be able to access user's "likes" on the social networking service and deliver search results tailored to individual preferences.
