The first smart move that Microsoft had made was to prominently display Tweets as results. But may be it was biting off more than it can chew. Now comes the news that first, Facebook has acquired FriendFeed for $50 million , second it has replaced Live.com its search engine with Bing. Readers remember that Microsoft has 10% share in Facebook.

Facebook is no doubt much improved and less cluttered and more efficient in its search capabilities. In the old Facebook one had to browse through various categories and there was no way to search for shared items and status updates. Now tabs have been provided on Facebook on the left side where you can simply click to find various categories. You can also seach the web and find the results displayed as a filter rather than on your own page.

Hitherto the facility of sharing your up dates was not available to others and Twitter certainly scored over Facebook where you could search for anything on the earth. Now on Facebook you can go to “Posts by Everyone” and find information the same way you do on Twitter. A message on top of the screen will update the results of your query as they appear.

Although, Facebook has made its intentions clear the problem seems to be with the users who are not prepared to part with personal information to “every one”. Facebook is trying to get over this problem by introducing new privacy options.

The rivalry will begin if Facebook succeeds in turning Twitterish.

So, it is still early hours to expect Twitter to react and know how it will fend off competition. But, will Twitter move closer to Google?

Ever since Microsoft launched Bing it has lived up to its predictions to be a Google Killer. The Hundred Million dollars invested on its advertisement has never hurt them and Bing has generated some significant consumer interest to carve out a niche for itself on the World Wide Web. If you happen to be a website owner, you will also notice that in effect, Bing is beginning to notice you considerably.

Lately, there have been more and more SEO related blogs that have been focusing on Bing optimization and it has crossed my mind, should we be optimizing our sites for Bing as well as Google? It is in fact true that Bing has only been going strong for a short while, but it is definitely going to accentuate full speed ahead and will eventually take over Yahoo.

The following tips are for those users who take Bing optimization seriously:

• Bing favors older domains more: which means that for example there are two domains A and B. If domain A is older than B and both are targeting the same keywords, automatically A will be given higher ranking.
• The titles are the key to higher ranking on Bing: Bing is similar to most other search engines has affinity to keyword rich titles. This means you should really concentrate on SEO when writing blog posts or creating content on them. You must not only ensure that the title to be keyword rich, but it should be related to the content as well.
• Bing mostly favors longer forms of writing: When the content of your blog post, article, or web page has more than 300 words, then you are likely to be ranked higher in Bing.
• You must also ensure that you are letting in the MSNBot to your site: which is nothing but the spider that crawls on your site looking for the keywords and text.
• Linking out App.: In Google your rank is affected by linking out, but in Bing it is not so and so feel free to do so on Bing. You must ensure not to do too much as it may affect your Google Rank. I tend not to worry about that because linking is a natural app of the World Wide Web.

Bing has with pride unveiled its knockout punch to Google or at least it hopes so. Bing will start displaying Tweets of thousand prominent and prolific people. The best thing is Bing wants to showcase this as a part of real time search ( what has happened to the connotation that it is a decision engine?)

I have come across two very interesting comments in a site called “College Humour”. They are 1) The matrix is made of Windows and  2) Bing the easier way to Google.

To this I do not know if they will add “Bing tweets in Real Time”

One thing is that if you want to make a search facility available make it universal – that includes the application of filters not only for time but also for relevancy and quality.

Twitter is a site that thrives on followers. Fortunately, the number of twitter users is limited when compared to face book. But by limiting your search results to only 1000 isn’t Bing putting off the other twitter users?

It is one thing to display the tweets of a person. That is not real time search. It is when you select a topic to search and Bing displays the tweets real time , pertaining to that topic, it is a real time search. Otherwise it is not a search at all.

Debate is veering to search engines (google, bing, yahoo search, ask search) and probably Bing started it by trying to position itself as a decision engine.

Searches are being categorized into “tapping into consciousness” and tapping in to “memory”. We presume that by “memory” it is meant the memory of the web. Real time searches are being equated with consciousness presumably of the web too or is it our consciousness? 

Real time searches as on today is merely updating the results in chronological fashion. That is if your search is for a particular subject. It is true that mere chronological sorting brings in lot of unwanted results too. This can be eliminated by a quality filter. But our consciousness is the sum total of our experiences based on which we arrive at a decision. Merely organizing the results of a search does not help a person who does not have prior information on that subject.

One way of organizing a search of listing the latest occurences after filtering them with a choice of opting to know more about the search and categorizing it in the usual manner.  Another is displaying the pulse of real time searches by indicating the most searched topics of the day and by providing the results.

There is another important method that is tailoring the search to individual preferences which is stored in his history or on his home page. When the individual exercises his option all the latest updates of his favorite sites and favorite topics can be provided under one heading.

The last thing is can the search engines help an individual when he does not know the exact word for his search for e.g Latest technical jargon doing the rounds which he wants to catch up with. Then he may want to know the latest discoveries and theories of the universe. These cannot be categorized by a single word and can be different sites on different subjects under the heading of “Universe”. May be he wants to know the latest singles released by various artistes etc.,

Yes, there is a need for integrating chronological search with memory search. One can be provided as an option to display when the other is searched for.

Technical data has begun to roll out in the battle between Bing and Google. It is presented in a manner to give it a semblance of respectability by using technical jargon known as eye tracking as to the average amount of time each user has spent while going through his search results.

Two categories were chosen for search by participants one informational and other transactional. The time spent by the participants on various parts of the screen was measured to arrive at a conclusion. The other part of the test has nothing to do with tracking the attention span but the behavioural pattern which is quietly slipped along with the other results.

The uniform news first. The participants spent the same amount of time looking at the results for search. No scoring of points here. The participants spent a fraction of second more for Bing’s sponsored links than Google.

When it came to devoting time for related links that appear on the bottom for Google, they hardly bothered.

Here is where Bing scored over Google. In its provision for refining a search which the participants used in their subsequent searches also.

Was it out of curiosity or dissatisfaction?

We leave it to your wisdom.

The CEO of Google Eric Schmidt has gone on air saying today the search engines are at a primitive stage of evolution. This is not with standing the grandiose announcement made by Bing that it wants to be termed a decision engine. For all its announcements of its intentions Bing is no different from Google except that it is slightly different and some may even say it is a shade better in certain aspects. He then went on to say that developments in Artificial Intelligence will help in refining the search engines. He has also gone on to add that search engines are about understanding one another granting all the barriers of language, culture upbringing etc.,

Before search engines can implement the developments in AI as and when they come, we have to understand that we use language to communicate with each other say English. A sentence is nothing but a collection of words that follow a grammatically correct pattern and a word is again a collection of letters that probably makes no sense to a computer except the number of bytes and ASCII code.

What exactly does a word represent? A word can be a noun or verb or adjective. Which means it can be an object or action or description.

In other words a word that we use is a code for the numerous experiences of a human being. To understand a word the computer has to understand the code or to what the code is referring to.

A human being is conditioned from his childhood to learn words or remember the codes, what they represent and then he learns to recall the code when he wants to use. But how does he remember the code for an object? By comparison. Just as the computer can compare numbers, human beings are conditioned and taught right from their child hood to compare and recognize objects in 2 and 3 dimensions by using their senses and they give a code to it which is a noun. Then what is a verb? It is the action of these nouns. That is several frames in time, of an object. Adjectives or slightly trickier because many can be subjective rather than be objective and for description of the same topic, can differ from person to person depending on the way a human being is conditioned.

For a search engine to become sophisticated it has to first learn or at least understand the codes of the words and it also has to understand the contents of a file to be able to take a decision. Considering the speed and memory of present day computers I guess we will have to wait for that to happen.

The Bing features are different from related hosts that are available on the web. It provides tools that make it easier and quicker to find relevant local content including, user reviews aggregated from local content sites, hours of operation for local businesses, one-click directions, maps and traffic reports.
The local search features include detailed business listings, scorecard, search refinement, one-click directions and Bing maps.
Each local listing in Bing provides a snapshot of information to help people make decisions under detailed business listings. Let us take the example of a restaurant listing which includes the phone number, type of cuisine, location, hours of operation, price estimate and parking availability. The search results also may offer quick links to customer reviews, menus, one-click directions and a bird’s-eye view of the location.
Bing includes a scorecard that consolidates online reviews of local businesses in a simple readable format understood by even by children. The users can click on “Show Reviews” to read consumer feedback for specific criteria. As for restaurants, the criteria might include food quality or service.
Bing lets you refine local search results under search refinement. This alternative is based on a number of factors, including rating, distance, type of cuisine, price or atmosphere, so restaurants can be filtered by “Mediterranean” or “romantic,” for example, to find just the right place for dinner. The other local business results can be filtered by payment options or parking availability.
Most people often have a good understanding of how to navigate their neighborhood. So by default, Bing provides directions under One-click directions ranging from the nearest freeway or main route to a final destination, which can save time by eliminating a multi-step set of directions beginning from their home. When the users require door-to-door directions, it can be accessed by clicking on “A Specific Location” from the one-click directions page. They also can access a variety of other navigational tools such as current traffic with Bing Maps.
The Bing Maps aids the users to easily find, discover and share location information. One can get maps and directions and view high-resolution aerial or bird’s-eye imagery. Lately, with the introduction of Microsoft Photosynth, people also can add or view synths of many locations or point of interest on Bing Maps.
These features on Bing do a decent job of helping people navigate the Web and find information along with enabling people to use the information they find.

Also look at Top 10 Bing Tips & Tricks.

Initially, search history starts as soon as the users search on Bing and will continue to grow for the duration of their current surfing session, with a maximum session time of 48 hours, unless they choose to turn search history off. The most recent search history is displayed on the left side of the search results page. To see the entire search history for the current browser session, click see all under the user’s history. The very same way Bing also saves up all the search history and if the users want to disable this stuff they need to perform the following steps.

Turning off search history

* This is done by clicking turn history off on the search history page or by clicking turn off on the search results page when required. This command effectively pauses the feature on the menu. The no clicks and no searches are shown for the searches done while history is turned off, but turning history off doesn’t delete any of your existing search terms or click information. If the users have either JavaScript or cookies disabled in their browser, they may have problems turning off search history. It is recommended to try enabling both JavaScript and cookies and try again.

* By simply clicking turn on search history is restarted.

Clearing search history

There are several ways of clearing search history, depending on how much information is to be removed.

• An individual query from search history is cleared by clicking see all to go to the full page of history and then clicking the ‘X’ next to the query an user wants to remove.
• Clear the entire search history by clicking clears all. The entire search history is cleared by simply closing the browser.
• The search history will automatically be cleared the user closes the browser window or leaves the page open for more than 48 hours.
• The browser can also be used to delete search history.

The result of this new approach is an important beginning for a new and more powerful kind of surfing on the web. The explosive growth of online content has continued unabated and this was developed as a tool to help people navigate more easily through the information overload that has come to characterize many of today’s search experiences.

So finally the bing is released. i was so eager to see this day. so, i went to bing and started looking for some of my sites. all the posts are not indexed. then noticed that your sitemap has to be uploaded just like google to make it work with your site, and so i uploaded it.

Bing lke google also provides webmaster tools specially designed for webmasters. All you have to do is login with ur live id to access all features.

How to Register your site and Upload your sitemap?

In order to uplaod your sitemap, you have to verify your site with Bing first. Verification process with bing is simple and fast. Go to the link, Web master center and loginto the account with ur WINDOWS LIVE ID (i.e., xyz@hotmail.com or abc@live.com etc). After logging in to the account, you get a webmaster center page. In that page, click on the “add a site”  button. It will take you to a page where you have to fill your web address and a sitemap optional. it is advised to update a sitemap. After filling up the website doamin and sitemap address, you will be provided with a LIVESEARCH xml file. Put this XML file in your root directory and click on verify. Your site is authentcated and the details from then are clearly visible.

Bing started its action as we already discussed. Since it is Microsofts proprietary we cannot ingnore its capabailities. So one should be aware of the bing features in order to search on bing efficiently. First of let me make you clear one thing that i already discussed in earlier posts. Bing is a combination of orthodox search engines and the new age portals. Its in simple can be stated as a NEW ERA SEARCH ENGINE. so it very necessary to know the key ascpects of bing before actually using BING.

BING Features- Tips & Tricks to make most of it:

1. Bing – Related Searches:

Bing unlike google shows the related searches as shown in the image below.  For example, if you type a query “Angelina jolie”, it shows the related results that are near to angelina in its left pane. This helps you get the specific results.

2. Bing – Xrank:

Bing’s Xrank shows the top searches related to the total search volume. It will help you in deciding what and who are top rated persons, and top viewed things or persons today. It is very much helpful to know If your favourite hero or heroine or movie or book is hot today.

3. Bing – language:

Bing offers you to search in as much as 41 different languages, which makes it more and more effective.  to change you language, follow the link here. it will take you to a page where you can set your language preferences.

4. Bing – Full US Versions Access:

If you are using bing from any country other than United states, you might probably viewing the limited version of the site with respect your country specification. so in order to use the full version of bing, you have to change the country selection to united states.

How to recognise, If you are using a non-US version ??

On the type right corner you will notice the 3 options as shown in the pic

• Option 1: Sign In
• Option 2:Your country, EX: India, United states etc.
• Option 3: Extras

If you notice any other country in that place, then you are using the site that is your country specific. In order to cahnge it, click on the option 2(your country name generally) and select the United states in the page that is opened subsequently.

5. Bing – Sentimental Extraction:

Bing’s sentimental Extraction helps you inviewing the ratings about any topic and the reviews that are collected from various trusted parteners of Microsoft like Cnet, Cityspeak etc. have a look at the image to understand it better.

6. Video search that allows to view short clips of restricted TV sites to people outside US:

Bings capability of showing the short clips of videos allow you to view the video clips of the TV shows that are restricted outside US. So make the most of it. You can view the clip by hovering your mouse on the clip. you can view CNN videos like heroes, HULU videos etc.

7. Rss Feeds:

Get access to the Rss feeds of the search results unlike other search engines.

8. Search for pages that have links to your required information:

As we all know, MSN search shows the search results which have specific links. So whenever one want a site that is linked to some ISO file or MP3 file Or a avi file, one can easily use the advantage of it. It can be accessed with a keyword: ” CONTAINS ” .

9. Share your search results with your friend:

You can send an email to your friend of your search results. Previously in google, if you want to display any search result, the only way to share is direct posting of URL that google gives you in final. But there is not guarantee that google will show the same result if you friend access it after few days.

10. Add search widget to Internet Explorer:

You can add a search result of any company’s stock or information automatically by adding a slice of that particular search result from BING to your internet explorer toolbar, which gives a huge advantage of not searching it daily.

some tips are from amit agarwal's labnol