Facebook partners with Bing for social search

Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, who was recently named Person of the Year by Time Magazine, announced a new partnership with an unlikely “Underdog.” Hard to believe, but he was referring to Bing, the Microsoft owned search engine that could only be an underdog next to Google. So why didn’t Facebook partner with Google, which dominates 70% of all U.S. searches? After all, they seem to know what they are doing.  Zuckerberg said it was because being the underdog gives you an incentive to be innovative.  That means that we can expect to see some major changes emerge from the Facebook and Bing partnership. Social Search Results The new offering is being called social search. The way it works is that when you search for something online using Bing, Bing will sift through what your Facebook friends are talking about and pay close attention to what they “Like.” Your friends’ preferences will be taken into account when you search for a restaurant in your neighborhood. If a friend “Likes” a local steak house, it has a better chance at being at the top of your search engine results. Social Search Optimization The partnership between Bing and Facebook brings a new term to mind—social search optimization. Social search has already been launched, but it hasn’t yet taken off. Make sure you are ready when it does.  Building a solid social network will be crucial for businesses. Without a strong network, less people will be able to locate your business. If you don’t already have a strategy to find and maintain friendships through social media networking, then it might just be time to start one today! If you are looking for help in building your social media strategy, we have a special going on our social media training course  http://artofsocialmedia.com/ – but only through January 15^th, 2011.