Microsoft and Facebook have announced a new partnership that brings “Like” data and profile search to Bing. The deal marks a big leap forward in social search and also represents a new advantage for Bing –- which Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg declared the “underdog” in search during today's press conference -– in its quest to take market share from Google.

Starting today, Bing users now get an experience that’s customized using Facebook Instant Personalization. For now, that means searches (where appropriate) will feature a Facebook module that shows you what your friends have liked as it relates to that search, as well as a smarter people search results.

The Bing and Facebook teams offered a few examples of how that might be useful during today’s press event: surfacing restaurants that your friends like, pulling in movie likes from IMDB or articles that have been shared about a car you might be eyeing. With the like button now being used by more than two million sites and Facebook passing 500 million members, there’s now enough scale to make that type of data surface on a regular basis in search.







Beyond that, Bing is trying to dramatically improve people search, which Bing’s Senior VP Online Audience Business Yusuf Mehdi said makes up about 4% of searches. Much like Facebook’s site, Bing will recommend new friends based on mutual relationships. Bing now surfaces that data when you search for a name (for example, a “Bob Smith” that five of your friends know will come up higher than a “Bob Smith” that none of them know). From search results, you can add people as friends or send them a message.







The future gets even more interesting though. Bing and Facebook said they’re working on including like data from friends alongside each search result. Further out, the companies see an opportunity to surface people who are experts in specific subjects.

At face value, Facebook integration certainly seems to make Bing search better in some instances. I know I’d be more inclined to click on a link in search results if one of my friends had liked it. Does that make me more likely to use Bing over Google? Not necessarily, though for the examples offered –- where opinion matters –- Bing’s “decision engine” differentiator starts to make a lot more sense.

Will Facebook integration make you more likely to use Bing? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.