09 July 2009 | Author: L. Sutherland Head of Media Content

Bing bags more hits than Twitter

Last month's release of Microsoft's 'decision engine' Bing was keenly watched by industry insiders and search fanatics alike and, despite somewhat mixed initial results, it seems that the new search offering is finding its feet. In fact, Bing is possibly even stealing ground from other well established net presences, including social network darling Twitter - in the US at least - as it racks up visitors from around the world.

Analysts Compete.com released figures showing that Bing has drawn 29.57 million unique US visitors since its launch, pushing its numbers ahead of Digg at 38.96, CNN at 28.54 million and Twitter at 23 million. However, according to Brand Republic, this impressive start hasn't eclipsed the popularity of its predecessor: Live.com enjoyed 79.4 million unique visitors in the same time period.

Despite this, Bing has been powering ahead at a rate that could have Google feeling the crunch - although the current search king has already dismissed the new challenger as no serious threat. Brand Republic reports, however, that early usability tests have indicated that Bing's sponsored listings are proving to be read more often than Google's equivalent listings, suggesting that the 'decision engine' could be well placed to tempt advertisers away from Mountain View.

The results seem to suggest one thing for sure: Microsoft's £61 million advertising campaign is paying off. As are the company's attempts to steal a chunk of the search market by leaping on innovative search techniques, from the inclusion of Twitter tweets in search listings to announcing an eco-friendly challenge to bring more developers to Bing. If the search engine keeps going at this rate, Google is sure to start hitting back to defend its title - or it may find itself unexpectedly overtaken at the top search spot.

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