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Bing Deepens Facebook Relationship

Sure to make Google's blood boil, Bing has deepened it relationship Facebook to more thoroughly integrate the social network's data into search results. While this isn't the first time that Microsoft and Facebook have worked together to make search more social, Computerworld explains: "Before, Bing let users know if their Facebook friends had ‘liked' any of the search results they were seeing ... Now Microsoft is giving a greater preference to ‘liked' search results in Bing's results ranking."

Also, Microsoft's search engine will calculate how many people in general "like" certain search results, so rankings won't be entirely based on users' friends. "Microsoft, which likes to call Bing a ‘decision engine' to distinguish it from Google, wants Bing to mimic the real world, where people often seek advice from friends before making decisions," CNet explains.

Calling the partnership "a stunning move of corporate cooperation," The Next Web asks: It is now up to Google to make a move, will it stick with its own social strategy, or will it head over as well and talk to Mark Zuckerberg?""Amping up its Facebook partnership is a distinct advantage Bing has over search rival Google, whose relationship with Facebook is strained, to put it mildly," writes All Things Digital blog NetworkEffect.

"While Google has also tried to offer ‘social' inputs into its search results, Microsoft said that its partnership with Facebook would allow it to go further than its rival," according to The New York Times.

Still, rather than declaring the deal a slam dunk, paidContent writes: "Microsoft is making a big bet that Facebook data will help give it an edge over Google, which remains, of course, the most popular search engine."

Read the whole story at Computerworld »

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