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Bing Will Add Twitter, Facebook Updates To Searches By Carl Weinschenk October 21, 2009 2:57PM Microsoft's Bing search engine will include Twitter and Facebook in search results and should help it chip away at Google's search-market lead, an analyst said. Bing is already offering a U.S. beta of Twitter searches. Bing's link to Facebook updates is expected early next year. The analyst said the real issue is for Microsoft to keep innovating.   Related Topics Microsoft Bing Search Twitter Facebook Google Innovate Latest News Endeavour Inspected for Damage Autism Risk for Kids of Older Mothers Go Online and You Can Save the Planet In Haiti, Relief Gaps Are Spreading U.S. To Form Climate-Change Agency Deals between Microsoft 's Bing and social-networking giants Twitter and Facebook are the type of non-traditional approach Microsoft needs as it seeks to chip away at Google's big lead in the search market, according to an analyst. "They've been at this for four or five years, and it's good to see them accelerating and adding things that Google doesn't have," said Matt Rosoff, an analyst with Directions on Microsoft. Integrating Social Networking The deals will add Twitter tweets and Facebook updates into Bing's search results. A Bing blog posting verified the arrangement with Twitter but didn't provide details. The posting said Microsoft is offering a U.S. beta of Bing Twitter search. The beta allows users to search Twitter feeds on any topic and provides choices to display the results. Tweets can be viewed as they are posted, full pages of tweets can be displayed, or tweets can be ranked by the number of followers the author has. Entries identical to earlier tweets are ranked lower, according to the blog. The Facebook deal was announced at the Web 2.0 conference in San Francisco on Wednesday. A company statement said, "Today we announced that we are working with Microsoft to make status updates that Facebook users choose to make public to 'everyone' on Facebook also available in real time through Bing search. With this partnership between Facebook and Bing, search becomes more relevant and social than ever, giving people the ability to discover what's happening in the world right now. This new functionality will be available early next year." Real-Time Reaction Rosoff said the concept of integrating social networking into search will help Bing provide more timely information. "Twitter feeds in particular offer a different type of information than is usually available through search engines," he said. "It provides up-to-the-minute sentiment on and information about particular topics. News can be searched on Google and Bing, but it is not as timely. Someone has to write and file the news stories." Though these are essentially consumer-facing moves, Rosoff said, companies can learn a lot from the results. "Already PR and marketing firms monitor Facebook and Twitter very closely to follow the sentiments on their products," he said. He noted that there already are tools to gauge online reactions. Rosoff said the moves are of medium importance. He said that in the bigger picture, it's good that Microsoft keeps innovating, both for its own sake and as a way to goad its competitors. "It's important that Microsoft keep doing little things," he said. "Things like visual search, which they introduced a few months ago. They are trying to innovate quickly in search, and in the end Google is forced to respond. I think it's a good thing overall."   Tell Us What You Think Your Comment: Also Visit: iPad Info Center Billions of Bytes Mobile Device Now Apple Info Center TopTechWire.com Advertisement  Business Briefing 1.   Super Bowl Ads Go for Laughs, Heart 2.   Veteran SAP CEO Abruptly Resigns 3.   A Telecom Italia-Telefonica Merger? 4.   U.S. Investigating Prius Brake Issues 5.   Ex-Yahoo Exec Lands at Chegg.com Torrent Traps Used To Harvest Logins Web sites sold with backdoor access. Average Rating: Stealth Cookies Track Consumers May be used to offer 'dynamic' pricing. Average Rating: Social Networks: A Hacker's Delight Workers urged to be 'trained skeptics.' Average Rating:

Enterprise Hardware Spotlight

Microsoft Says Battery Woes Not Caused By Windows 7 Battery problems on Windows 7 machines are not caused by the operating system. That's the position of Stephen Sinofsky, head of the Windows division, in a long posting on the Windows engineering blog.   IBM's New POWER7 Servers Save Energy with Big Loads IBM has unveiled high-capacity servers that are the first to be based on its new, multi-core POWER7 chip. It said the new line is designed "to manage the most demanding emerging applications."   'Dead Simple, Dirt Cheap' JooJoo Tablet Shipping Soon The JooJoo, a web-browsing tablet device that is the subject of a high-profile legal dispute, appears on track to reach buyers at the end of February, but the tablet scene has dramatically changed.

Mobile Enterprise Spotlight

To Love or Not To Love: Apple iPad Pros and Cons Now that the iPad has officially been announced, opinions are rolling in on this device that combines the features of an iPod, e-reader, and tablet PC. Will the iPad turn fewer heads than the iPhone?   Analysts See iPad Price Drop, with Some Cannibalization Just weeks before Apple officially rolls out the iPad, financial analysts are making pricing predictions. But could the analysis itself hinder the initial demand for the pricey tablet computer?   Bar Codes Go Mobile, Get Hip Again For decades, retailers have used patterns of black dots and lines to encode data onto products. Now, bar codes are gaining favor as an easy way for cell-phone users to view ads and other data instantly.

Enterprise Technology Spotlight

Google May Add Facebook, Twitter Links to Gmail Google will reportedly roll more social-networking features into Gmail, the fastest-growing e-mail service. The new features could save users the trouble of switching to Facebook or Twitter.   IBM's New POWER7 Servers Save Energy with Big Loads IBM has unveiled high-capacity servers that are the first to be based on its new, multi-core POWER7 chip. It said the new line is designed "to manage the most demanding emerging applications."   IBM Opens Eco-Friendly, Cloud-Focused Data Center IBM has opened its latest data center in North Carolina. Big Blue said the $362 million facility in Research Triangle Park is designed to support cloud computing and other new computing models.

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