Redmond, Washington — Software colossus Microsoft Corp. and social-networking website Facebook are in discussion to further deepen their search ties, with the possibility that Bing could use anonymized data generated by Facebook users to better personalize their search results, according to a report published by tech news site All Things Digital today.
According to AllThingsD reporter Kara Swisher, citing anonymous sources, wrote that Microsoft is looking to enlarge its relationship with social networking giant Facebook to enhance the search capabilities of Bing, in order to better take on Google.
Those familiar with Facebook’s “like” button know that in the world of social media a single click can communicate positive sentiment without elaboration. Now Microsoft is looking to suck in information from Facebook’s Like buttons, which the social network is trying to spread across the Web, something can help their search engine Bing win big in its ongoing search war with Google.
AllThingsD reports that Facebook and Microsoft are currently in talks to bottle the user experience and organize the web in a completely new way. From her report:
Although the deal is not concluded as yet and discussions could end without result, such information might bring forth a treasure trove of insight for both search users and advertisers. That is because it represents search based on what people are actually interested in rather than just crunching massive amounts of information and muscling it into something useful. The company is looking “to mine anonimised data from consumer usage of the social networking site’s recently introduced Like buttons, allows users to indicate an interest in a page with one click that then tells their Facebook friends.”
AllThingsD speculates that if the partnership is conceived, Microsoft plans to arrange the internet based on user like rankings. This would present the most relevant and publicly trusted information first.
Currently search engines stack news based on traffic, but this method can be vulnerable to manipulation. Incorrect or inaccurate click counts can twist the results that companies and search engines rely on and present a challenge when pricing out advertisement rates. And it would also presumably give Bing a little leg up on Google, since data will be available on it that is not available on the search giant, made more important as Facebook’s information-generating audience grows ever larger.
Microsoft and Facebook have a history: In October 2008, Bing — then Live Search — became the Web-search provider for the popular social network. And, of course, in 2007 Microsoft invested $240 million in the social networking giant and integrated Facebook’s real time public updates service into its search engine under a non exclusive deal in 2009. Since then, Microsoft has maintained a healthy working relationship with the social networking giant.
Microsoft declined to comment on today’s report, citing a policy of not commenting on rumors or speculation. Facebook did not immediately respond to a seattlepi.com request for comment.
In the meantime, the report claims that a source familiar with the matter has cautioned that the deal is still in its initial stages, and might still collapse mid way. Read All Things Digital’s full report here.