Search is where it’s at on Facebook. Moving even further away from display ads, Microsoft has announced it will no longer be selling them on the Facebook site at all. The move was accompanied by the announcement that Microsoft will also be using Bing as the default for web search on Facebook on a global scale, pushing beyond the current U.S. restrictions outlined by their existing partnership.
Microsoft has said in a blog post that the decision to stop selling display ads on Facebook was a mutual decision, and that Microsoft would like to focus on the aspects of Facebook advertising that make sense. As Microsoft has already shared its plans to expand its current Bing offering on Facebook, it appars as though search may have a lot to do with the monetization of Facebook and related advertising options.
Right now Microsoft Bing is still rolling out new features on a regular basis, seeking additional adoption from web users and mobile users alike. Upon launch, Bing was already rather inclusive as far as features go, with a multimedia approach to search that also leveraged the social web more directly than Google. Incorporating Twitter and Facebook into their long term search plans indicates Microsoft’s hopes around the social web as they pertain to its own investment in Facebook.
Bing’s search results on Facebook, however, are pretty dismal. Going along with Facebook’s simple format for displaying information, it’s difficult to even tell that it’s a Bing search. Unlike the vibrancy of Bing’s main search portal, Bing results on Facebook are merely a series of links. That’s archaic compared to most search engine’s increasing ability to better contextualize search data. This is particularly notable as far as Bing is concerned, as its move towards contextual search results is one way in which Microsoft could be looking to out-do Google.
This process of contextualizing search data has been an ideal attached to the potential of social networking platforms, with Facebook leading the race. As Facebook continues to open up its platform towards more default public sharing, Microsoft’s Bing is leveraging that publicly-shared information to provide more relative search results in some cases. Tying search into more aspects of our actual Facebook experience can be another way in which an improved Bing presence on the social network could be used to Microsoft’s advantage.
The old tactic of becoming a default tool across as many partnering services as possible is one that Microsoft is now able to better employ on web-related platforms, particularly Facebook. With the social network claiming over 375 million users now, accessing those users on such a large scale could be a major benefit for Microsoft Bing.
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