Microsoft integrates all social networks into its Internet search engine Bing

Microsoft's Internet division brings billions of dollars in losses to the corporation every year, but those at the corporation's headquarters in Redmond are not despairing. The software giant has prepared a major overhaul of its internet search engine Bing in an attempt to once again challenge Google. Microsoft calls the upcoming redesign “the main thing in the history of Bing” and modestly notes that they are going to “reinvent search.”

In fact, this means that Microsoft, following Google, has decided to make search more “social.” But if Google’s latest “Search plus your World” initiative adds data exclusively from the half-dead social network Google+ to the search results, then Bing will draw wisdom from all possible sources at once - from Facebook and Twitter to Foursquare and Quora.

From now on (Microsoft promises to make changes in the next few weeks), the Bing search results page will be divided into three columns. The first is called “Search Knows” and is a familiar set of blue links on a white background. There is a small innovation: if, say, you made a request for “Forbes Russia”, and one of your friends “liked” our page on Facebook, Bing will put a thumbs up next to the desired result. The second column – “Bing Knows” – will contain all factual information. Looking for a specific address? Bing will show the map. Want to know more about the hotel in Hong Kong? Bing will show its average rating on Agoda.

90% of people consult friends or experts before making a decision, Microsoft says. It was this message that became the foundation for the most interesting third column, called “Friends Know”. This will not contain answers to questions that interest the user, but his friends who may know these answers. Let's say you want to know if you should watch the new season of Game of Thrones. Bing will find your Facebook friends who like the series and let you ask them a question without leaving the search results page. Interested in a new bar down the street? Bing will show friends who have checked in there via Foursquare. In addition, Friends Know will have a People Who Know division. It will include strangers whom Bing considers experts on a topic. For example, if you search for The New York Times, “People Who Know” will bring up the Twitter feeds of the editorial staff, which you can immediately follow.

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Bing has been on the market for three years. Despite all the efforts and resources of Microsoft, this search engine has not yet been able to capture a significant market share. According to comScore as of March 2012, 66.4% of Americans used Google and only 15.3% preferred Bing (the results for the entire planet are even more humiliating for Microsoft - 80% and 5%, respectively).

However, Internet search is now on the threshold of a new era. Since all pages on the Internet have long been indexed and placed in the right places by computer algorithms, search engines want to know more about the personality of their users and the variety of their social connections. To do this, it is necessary to treat all sources of social information impartially. And while Google's hands are tied with its ambitions to create its own social network, Microsoft really has a chance to try to turn the tide in its favor.

Microsoft has found a new weapon against Google