"Live Search is evolving. Welcome to Bing."
Microsoft's new search engine, "Bing" is open for business (in "preview") mode. The interface is simple, attractive and much more colorful than the spartan Google page since it features topical photographs. It appears that the photographs will change throughout the week but if you have Silverlight installed, you can view photos from the past. The bottom of the home page shows searches that are currently hot and the results page keeps track of your search history, a handy feature. Some early detractors have already dismissed it as simply a "dressed up Live Search" while some smarty pants pointed out that Bing could stand for "But It Isn't Google." However, these critics are missing one of the main points of Bing.
A major developmental goal with Bing was to create a search engine that helps you make better decisions. The following snippet is from the Welcome page:
"We took a new approach to go beyond search to build what we call a decision engine. With a powerful set of intuitive tools on top of a world class search service, Bing will help you make smarter, faster decisions. We included features that deliver the best results, presented in a more organized way to simplify key tasks and help you make important decisions faster."
I find this concept intriguing, but also puzzling at the same time. I mostly use search engines to find information, but not necessarily to make decisions. Even when I do need to make a decision, the role of the search engine is limited mainly to helping me locate insightful information on other websites. I generally have no expectation that the search engine itself will play a part in choosing option A over option B. In fact, a neutral search engine seems appealing to me, and this may not be possible if Bing is going to proactively present information in a format that helps sway users one way or the other.
So to make this less abstract, what kind of decisions are we talking about here? It's not entirely clear to me what Microsoft has in mind, but the Bing tour gives some clues. It references helping users decide which flight to book, which freeway would be best to take and which hotel to reserve. Too bad I already have an established decision process for making travel plans that I am happy with. It also speaks of "supercharged" buying decisions and "Honda vs. Hummer." So far, it sounds like a mishmash between Expedia, Pricegrabber, Consumer Reports and the endless traffic updates on AM radio.
Is this what we want out of a search engine? Does your decision making process rely heavily on search engines? If not, do you think Bing could change the way you do things?
-- Michael
-- Michael
[originally posted on 6/1/2009 8:13 PM by lawtechgeek]
ReplyDeleteI should mention that Bing offers advertising opportunities for attorneys much like Google's AdSense program. I received this information from Microsoft in e-mail today:
"Microsoft is committed to Search and Search advertising, and is dedicated to providing you the best value for your online advertising dollar. The innovative Bing search experience is designed to maximize opportunity to capture and retain new users, grow query share, and most importantly, help you make the most of your online advertising investment. In the coming months, a broad reaching awareness campaign spanning television, web, radio, and print will inform and entice consumers to try Bing. Now is a great time to take a look at your current search strategy and take advantage of the momentum that this campaign will drive."
Of course, the effectiveness of advertising on Bing to some degree depends on how much people will use it. There are rumours that Microsoft will spend $100 million dollars soon to promote Bing, but will it be enough? Google is estimated to have a market share of about 76%. For more on this issue, see this blog guest commentary: Can Microsoft's Bing reclaim market share from Google?"