Microsoft, Facebook expand search partnership; Facebook to sell own ads
Microsoft and Facebook have revised their search pact into a global deal where the social networking giant will sell its own ads and get more of Bing's features on its Web results.
In a blog post, Microsoft outlined the changes:
- Facebook users will get the full-featured version of Bing beyond links for the site's Web search;
- The deal becomes a global pact that will bring Bing to Facebook users abroad;
- And Facebook will sell its own display ads.
The revised deal makes a lot of sense on many fronts. First, Facebook should be selling its own display ads so it can work on better targeting---the ads do seem to be getting better in recent weeks---and control its revenue destiny.
Jon Tinter, general manager of Bing, said:
Given the kinds of advertisements that make sense within a product as unique as Facebook, it just made more sense for them to take the lead on this part of their advertising strategy. Microsoft will continue to provide search advertisements to Facebook.
The other parts of the pact also seem to work out for both parties. Bing gets to show off enhancements via its exclusive Web search results on Facebook, which is gaining more clout and scale each month.
Meanwhile, the international partnership could be a big win for Microsoft as it seeks market share for Bing.
Tinter added:
Bing has been very focused on helping customers make important decisions. We believe that counsel from family and friends can be a big part of that process. Going deeper in web search experiences with Facebook, in addition to the collaboration we announced last October about bringing public data from Facebook’s API into the search experience, will enable us to do great things together for our customers.
These changes are supposed to start appearing in the weeks and months ahead. Financial terms weren't revealed.