23 November 2010 | Author: N. Hamilton Media copywriter
The web's search giants agree context is king as the technology grows more social, with Microsoft and Mountain View planning to tweak Bing and Google so that a web user's social context will be reflected in their search results.
BBC News reports that while search has long considered searchers as individuals, both Bing and Google have been developing ways to allow a web user's social network to influence returned search listings.
Bing seems to have powered from the social search stalls to leave Google lagging behind, after paired with Facebook - the world's most popular social networking site - in a bid to shake Mountain View's stranglehold on search.
"If you look at today's consumer web, by and large up to this point the search experience is designed as if you are the only person on the planet," said Microsoft's Qi Lu, adding that search had struggled to find out more about a searcher's lifestyle and consumer preferences before the advent of social networking.
Now able to tap into the Big Blue F's 500 million-strong and profiled user base, Lu said Bing will be able to filter search results to match a user's indicated preferences as the partners roll out social web initiatives in the US market over coming months.
"If your social context is with you, then the experience will be dramatically better," Lu said.
And archrival Google agrees.
Tom Stocky, a search product manager, noted that while context is already massive for mobile, with time- and location-sensitive search becoming ever more popular, social context could be even bigger, particularly as mobile-savvy users are more likely to respond to the likes and dislikes of their friend recommendations when weighing time and location search results.
While Mountain View does not have access to Facebook's data, the search giant does plan to track users' social preferences using cookies in a bid to better filter search results, making results appear both natural and intuitive.
"We don't want users to have to think about search," Stocky said. "We want the interface to be invisible. We try to build for what does not exist yet - and so far the world has continued to catch up."
Bing and Google agree: context is king as search turns social
The web's search giants agree context is king as the technology grows more social, with Microsoft and Mountain View planning to tweak Bing and Google so that a web user's social context will be reflected in their search results. BBC News reports that while search has long considered searchers as individuals, both Bing and Google have been developing ways to allow a web user's social network to influence returned search listings.
Bing seems to have powered from the social search stalls to leave Google lagging behind, after paired with Facebook - the world's most popular social networking site - in a bid to shake Mountain View's stranglehold on search.
"If you look at today's consumer web, by and large up to this point the search experience is designed as if you are the only person on the planet," said Microsoft's Qi Lu, adding that search had struggled to find out more about a searcher's lifestyle and consumer preferences before the advent of social networking.
Now able to tap into the Big Blue F's 500 million-strong and profiled user base, Lu said Bing will be able to filter search results to match a user's indicated preferences as the partners roll out social web initiatives in the US market over coming months.
"If your social context is with you, then the experience will be dramatically better," Lu said.
And archrival Google agrees.
Tom Stocky, a search product manager, noted that while context is already massive for mobile, with time- and location-sensitive search becoming ever more popular, social context could be even bigger, particularly as mobile-savvy users are more likely to respond to the likes and dislikes of their friend recommendations when weighing time and location search results.
While Mountain View does not have access to Facebook's data, the search giant does plan to track users' social preferences using cookies in a bid to better filter search results, making results appear both natural and intuitive.
"We don't want users to have to think about search," Stocky said. "We want the interface to be invisible. We try to build for what does not exist yet - and so far the world has continued to catch up."
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