Bing It On!

It should come as no surprise that MSN’s new search engine, Bing has created a rivalry with Google.  On July 29, 2009, MSN declared that they will be merging with Yahoo; this merger will give Bing a much larger share of the search engine market.

Since MSN’s rebranding as Bing, it has reportedly spent $100 million in advertising across multiple platforms including, television networks promotions, television commercials, online entertainment mediums and many more.  According to eWeek.com, this additional exposure helped Bing boost its search engine share to 9.6 percent in August; however September’s search engine volume share fell sharply to 8.5 percent.

Bing continues to brand itself as a ‘decision engine,’ not just another search provider; its goal is to prevent searchers from ‘search overload’ as with other engines.  Bing’s new interface is equipped with tools and a new layout to differentiate itself from the old MSN Live interface.  Whether these new features alone are enough to give Google a run for its money remains to be seen.  However, with the merger, Yahoo will give Bing a larger portion of the search market; making it second only to Google.

According to PC World, the battle between Bing and Google is starting to heat up on Facebook and Twitter.  Google recently announced it plans to launch its social search platform as well as the ability for searchers to stream live music within their search engine.  Google’s new music feature will allow users to eventually purchase songs from large music moguls such as Apple’s iTunes with just a few clicks.  Only a short while later, Bing fired back saying that they will be working with Facebook to incorporate profile status updates within Bing search results.  Although, Facebook claims that ‘no money has changed hands’ concerning the deal.

Even though the Yahoo/Bing merger has not yet been completed, it is apparent that Bing is making strides to capture and retain internet searchers.  The battle is on.  Who will win?  Only time will tell.