Bing launched its Tags feature in late July 2012, promising to help you “get noticed,” and “show up better on Bing”. The feature, however, is largely dependent on Facebook, but now you can tag yourself and your friends on blogs, Twitter profiles, or any website for that matter, and have the results show up for everyone to see.
Now, Bing is making tags more visible by allowing users select pages they want to tag with the results showing up in search results for all and sundry to see.
The company executive explained the feature in his post saying, “Whether it is your Twitter profile, blog, or that art portfolio you are proud of-Bing Tags lets you highlight the pages that best represent you,” says Bing Social program manager Diana Hsu. “You can also help your friends by tagging relevant pages about them. Was your friend quoted in the local paper, or published in an online journal? Or maybe they have a fantastic photo blog to show off? Just tag your friends to show them some love, and once they have approved the tags, the pages will appear on Bing.”
Making a cautious approach, before being made publicly available, the tagged individual must approve the tag, then only it will show up in search results. The system utilizes Facebook, but allows tagging on any search result for the public to see.
The executive further says, “Remember – you have full control over what is shown to the public on Bing,” adds Hsu. “If a friend tags you to a page, we will not surface it outside your network until you confirm the link is the one you want showing up in search results”
It seems that this feature has gained enough exposure among users for Microsoft to consider broadening its scope by a rather significant amount. Again, this is about tagging not just yourself, but your friends as well. Microsoft wants you to “help your friends by tagging relevant pages about them” whether they were quoted in the local paper, published in an online journal, or have a fantastic photo blog to show off.
Generally speaking, Bing Tags is easy to use; after connecting with Facebook, users can tag their friends in various search results. For instance, let us assume a friend John Smith is featured in a recently published article. One of John’s friends can Bing Tag him on the link. Once tagged, he will receive a notification to approve it, and assuming he does, it will then be publicly available for the digital world.
The company is probably visualizing that each group of friends will have at least one individual that will go on a tagging spree to help the feature grow quickly. Besides, this follows close on the heels of Microsoft’s January 17 announcement that Facebook content has been further integrated into Bing Search.