Microsoft’s search engine offering Bing is to follow in the footsteps of Google by introducing more personalised results for users.
IT Pro Portal says that the Redmond-based Windows maker is to introduce “Linked Pages”, a social-centred search algorithm that will help users establish connections with data pulled from sites like Facebook.
In a blog post, Microsoft explained that “searching for people is one of the most common things we do on the web”. Therefore, when a user gives permission for Bing to access their Facebook page, a user can then pick which kinds of things they want to make available about themselves to others searching for them.
“There are probably many ‘John Smith’s’ out there, but when John Smith’s friends are looking for him, they want to find their friend John and information about him,” Microsoft wrote on the blog, cites PC Mag.
“By having more control over how you show up in Bing through linking related pages to your search results, now you can help your friends find the interesting stuff that you want them to see.”
The move is the latest collaboration between Facebook and Microsoft, whom have already worked together to bring the “like” system into a users’ search engine result page.
The new functionality, much like the existing ”like” system, means that firms should strive to incorporate more content driven search marketing into their campaigns. This is so that a users’ friends may also stumble across the same content when carrying out a search.
Microsoft’s foray into incorporating Facebook-metrics into its search results eerily echoes that of Google, who are now placing greater emphasis and weight on websites “+1′ed” by other Google+ users – the firm’s answer to Facebook’s “like”.
