Microsoft's Stefan Weitz Explains Bing's Facebook Obsession (Video)
Bing this week started weaving Facebook likes, shares and profile information more deeply into its search results.
So if you search on Bing for a city while logged into Facebook, you’ll see which of your friends live there or lived there in the past. Or if you search for a publication like Us Weekly, you’ll see which articles your friends and Facebook users in general have liked or shared. And if you visit a page that doesn’t offer the Facebook “Like” button, you can share it with your Facebook feed by “Liking” it using the Bing toolbar for Internet Explorer.
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.
In a video interview at Microsoft’s San Francisco office, Bing Director Stefan Weitz explained a bit more about how Bing is increasing both the supply and demand for Facebook “Likes,” discussed why Bing treats Facebook as a proxy for social, and waved his hands around a lot (literally).
Please see the disclosure about Facebook in my ethics statement.