Bing slips into bed with Twitter

Little one says 'roll over'

By Kelly Fiveash • Get more from this author

Posted in Applications, 2nd July 2009 12:48 GMT

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Microsoft has added Twitter messages to some search results in a desperate attempt to snatch some market share from Google following the launch of Bing last month.

Redmond’s revamped search engine has indexed some popular Twitter pages using the all-talk-no-trousers site’s public API.

“We picked a few thousand people to start, based primarily on their follower count and volume of tweets,” wrote MS search general manager Sean Suchter.

Real time results are displayed in a separate box alongside other search queries in Bing, for anyone keen to keep their stalking mojo at full tilt.

It’s hardly surprising to see Microsoft attempt to benefit from some of the traffic flowing into and out of Twitter, whose real time search engine has prompted mild cause for concern over at Mountain View towers in recent months. ®

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