Facebook and Bing have come together to advance search though one of your most trusted voices - your friends. Your friends are the go to, the ones you call to ask advice and seek approval from. We do not always like what our friends like as that would be incredibly boring but the things we do have in common and like are what brings us together. Bing and Facebook have enhanced that by partnering to make it easier to see what your friends like with just a few strokes of the keys.
Internet Searching for Information
We search the internet for information. Whether that be for a new car, a product, reviews, ideas, recommendations, etc, we are searching with a purpose. We digest the information and then look to see who else is or has done some research on it. When we are looking to purchase we seek reviews or recommendations before we commit. Reading from people we do not know does not always give the warm and fuzzies. We want to make a decision that is the right one and almost always turn to people we know as we trust them. Facebook knows that we trust our friends and listen to them. Their entire platform is built upon friends. Connecting, communicating and sharing with friends as even if we have been out of contact for years, we still trust them more than we do a random person putting up a review.
Bing and Facebook - The New Trusted Search
The partnership with Bing an Facebook is more of a trusted search. They are showcasing what your friends like based upon matches to your search query. If you are searching for a restaurant, a movie, a product or a brand, if your friends have liked and linked, this will be a part of the search results to your query. They know we trust our friends and are more apt to click on a link that our friends have liked (and so do the hackers). Trust in search for a brand is a big deal. Brands optimize to be in the top 10 coveted results and try to find new ways to get consumers to focus on them and click their link. Being in the top 10 is a bit of trust for the consumer as if they are appearing on the front page, they must be good or at least warrant a look. Bing and Facebook are looking to bring more users to Bing by taking this trusted top 10 to the next level. If your friends like it, they know that you will be curious enough to click on it. Bing wins as more people are jumping over to them, Facebook wins as they are providing the data and the consumer wins by having a sense of trust through their friends likes showing up on the front page of a search engine.
Is Bing the New "We Try Harder"
When I first saw the announcement of this partnership I immediately though as a marketer of Bing trying to bridge the gap between Google and Bing. Whoa that is a bigger gap than the Grand Canyon. But is it? The old Avis campaign of We Try Harder comes to mind as they were so far behind Hertz but through this campaign, they did close the gap as much as they could. They recognized that they were second and second was not so bad after all. Bing is trying to switch people from Google and so far while they are making tiny steps, they are still making steps. The partnership with Facebook can be showing that they do try harder.
Bing and Facebook Search Limitations
The Bing/Facebook partnership is not met without limitations. In order for you or your friends' results to appear is to have remained opted in to instant personalization. For those that have opted out of instant personalization, your likes will not appear. Will this drive people to change their settings out of curiosity? Facebook and Bing hope so. The only way that this will work and be a trusted search is if users who have opted out opt back in. Opting back in is giving permission. Facebook is still a permission based platform; despite trying very hard to be non-permission based.
Should Google be seeing footsteps? I do not think so as Bing's search results have lacked. Yes could be more of a trusted result we have to wonder if someone liking something always equates to trust or an answer to a search query.
What do you think? Have you performed searches and seen what your friends have liked?
photo credit: Mashable