SAN FRANCISCO — Microsoft’s Bing search engine is heading in a new direction as it drills deeper into Facebook’s social network and Twitter’s messaging service to showcase information unlikely to be found on Google.
The changes, unveiled Thursday, will reshape how Bing displays its search results. It represents Microsoft’s most dramatic shift in Internet search since the software-maker introduced Bing as a “decision engine” nearly three years ago.
Microsoft Corp. is counting on the new format to loosen Google’s stranglehold on the lucrative Internet search market. In the process, Microsoft hopes to turn a profit in its online division, which has lost more than $6.3 billion since Bing’s June 2009 debut.
Bing replaced “Live Search,” a mostly futile attempt to challenge Google. Microsoft touted Bing as a Google alternative that would provide more meaningful results by helping people make important decisions, such as picking a doctor and finding the best time to buy an airline ticket.
For the past two years, Bing has been taking advantage of Microsoft’s close relationship with Facebook to make search results more personalized and more relevant to users. The Associated Press
