Google this: Microsoft and Facebook are broadening their search pact to let Bing power Facebook's Web search return universal features such as images, maps and other information. Facebook will also regain total control over selling its display ads, signaling that the world's leading social network is ready to strike on its own in the competitive display ad market versus Google, Yahoo and, yes, even Microsoft. Jon Tinter, general manager for Microsoft, said in a blog post Feb. 5 that Microsoft will in 2010 provide "full access to great Bing features beyond a set of links, including richer answers combined with tools that help customers make faster, smarter decisions."
Microsoft and Facebook are broadening their
search pact to let Bing power Facebook's Web search return more than just links,
including allowing Bing to power Web search on Facebook outside the United States.
Facebook will also regain total control over selling its
display ads, signaling that the world's leading social network is ready to
strike on its own in the competitive display ad market versus Google, Yahoo
and, yes, even Microsoft.
Microsoft has powered Facebook's Web search
exclusively in the United States since October
2008, when the software giant's search engine was still called Live Search. Microsoft
revamped and released its search engine as Bing last June, but it still only
serves up the substandard 10-blue links search results pages on Facebook.
Jon Tinter, general manager for Microsoft, said in a
blog post Feb. 5 that Microsoft will in 2010 provide "full access to great
Bing features beyond a set of links, including richer answers combined with
tools that help customers make faster, smarter decisions."
This means Facebook users searching for business
information will see maps and other helpful information in addition to just
links taking users to businesses' Websites. For example, a search on Facebook
Web search for "pizza" will return pictures of the food, recipes for
the popular dish, as well as maps to the nearest restaurant locations instead
of just links to Pizza Hut and Domino's pizza.
Tinter said users should see the "fruits of our
expanded relationship" in Facebook over the weeks and months ahead.
A Microsoft spokesperson referred eWEEK back to Tinter's
blog post when asked for more specific details about the kind of information
Bing intends to deliver in its Web search results on Facebook. The increased
Bing search coverage on Facebook comes months after Microsoft
agreed to index certain profile information from Facebook in real-time on Bing.
Bing search results surfaced on Facebook will also extend
outside the U.S. to the more than
400 million Facebook users around the world. This is important because of the
400 million-plus Facebook users, some 75 percent of them were based outside the
United States through December, comScore said.
Finally, Tinter said:
"We made the mutual decision
that Facebook would take over responsibility for selling display advertisements
on its own site... Given the kinds of advertisements that make sense within a
product as unique as Facebook, it just made more sense for them to take the
lead on this part of their advertising strategy."
Tinter, who said Microsoft will continue to provide
search advertisements to Facebook, said this move will help Microsoft focus on
propelling its Windows Live Messenger, Hotmail, MSN and Xbox Live.
This news represents a major change as Microsoft's
partnership with Facebook was solidified in an advertising agreement made in
2006, when Microsoft's adCenter
began exclusively serving banner advertising and sponsored links on Facebook.
One year later, Microsoft bolstered this deal and
took a 1.6 percent stake in Facebook for $240 million, which valued the social
network at a staggering $15 billion at the time. With that increased deal,
Microsoft became the exclusive third-party advertising platform partner for
Facebook and sold advertising for Facebook internationally in addition to the United States.
This alliance was seen as a huge blow to Google, the
dominant online advertising power.
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