Bing Watch . . . Just Bing It!

Decision and search engine honor Royal Wedding as Duchess of Cambridge said “I do” on Friday April 29, 2011

One day before the wedding ceremony Bing's homepage featured a picture of Westminster Abbey to honor the Royal Wedding.  On the wedding day, Google changed its doodle to show the Royal Wedding parade.  After the wedding ceremony, Bing published a series of photographs that were taken using Bing technology Photosynth.

Decision and search engine users searched for info on the Royal Wedding started several days before the D day, mostly searching for wedding gown info.  Google top-10 Trends before the wedding day were dominated by Royal Wedding-related keywords.  While Twitter followers were also hot on finding more info as #RoyalWedding was a top trend. 

To accommodate unanswered questions by decision and search engine users who have been searching thru Internet for weeks, during the wedding ceremony official website for Buckingham Palace released info on what the Princess of Cambridge was wearing, as the wedding gown was designed by Sarah Burton of Alexander McQueen.

(top left) Bing Photosynth, (top right) Google homepage doodle on April 29, (bottom left) Bing homepage showed Westminster Abbey on April 28

The search alliance Bing and Yahoo to delay International expansions until the decision engine fixed its America & Canada operations, citing revenue per search (RPS) was at below expectations

The giant software company and Bing’s parent has decided to delay its international expansions with Yahoo until further notice. In the latest Quarterly earnings report, Bing’s parent cited that revenue per search (RPS) was at below expectations.  Bing's decision to delay its international expansions also confirming last week's argument by Yahoo’s CEO Bartz.  After Yahoo reported its Quarterly earnings last week, Bartz said that the search alliance between Yahoo and the decision engine generated lower revenue that they have anticipated due to limited functionality of Bing’s adCenter.

Bing’s parent third-quarter (Jan-Mar ’11) revenue was at $16.43 billion.  This was an increase of 13% from one year ago.  The software giant net income increased to $5.23 billion or 61 cents a share.  Compared to one year ago net income was at about $4 billion or 45 cents a share.

 
(Chart: Microsoft)

The decision engine upgrades its features for Bing Shopping section with more product items and more articles

In order to make better decisions for shoppers, the decision engine upgraded its features to help Bing users searching for product items with more varieties and more reading materials (i.e., trends, top-10 items, etc.) to support them.   Bing Shopping section now has more shopping articles and categories.  With a new facelift, Bing Shopping homepage is now being re-arranged with more products and more brands to choose from. 

Few months ago, Bing Shopping had also been integrated with Facebook.  With connection to the social networking, shoppers can also ask fans, friends and family to recommend items and checking calendar of events (i.e., Mother’s Day) and get reminder of Facebook members’ birthdays.

 
(Screenshot: Bing Shopping)

Bing picks 25 winners of an Angry Birds plush toy, as Twitter followers must watch 4 episodes of video series on April 6 and tweeted their answers

Early this month Bing for Mobile team asked the decision engine users and Twitter followers to tweet an answer for four questions related to 4 episodes of Angry Birds video series.  Today, Bing Team has picked the 25 winners of an Angry Birds plush toy.  Here is a list of winners as per Bing blog:

@Shellbelle1972
@ChristyMayPhend
@Hyph_En
@lindydnil
@bigvincec
@jbstg424
@csharpfritz
@techSage
@GreenEyeBob
@tamrajh
@NatrlBournStarr
@marcham93
@mvtully
@valsparksabc
@ErickHollar
@Patty0616
@jdenwar
@conqui25
@baerwb
@jdnorthwest
@sizzlyshell
@nybabu
@ScottRicks
@iamSYNA
@mailmandave11

Analyzing log files of sex-related terms and keywords from around the world: well-documented theories versus search [decision] engine users’ explicit intent



Using search engines data compiled by Dogpile which include data from Google, Yahoo, and Bing, two researchers Sai Gaddam and former MIT researcher Ogi Ogas, have analyzed log files of sex-related terms to figure out what users’ explicit intent were when they conducting search online.  The theory for the study was about users who express explicit intent and want to find answer including searching for personal secret or items.  Researchers believe that as users conducting search they usually would not lie to search engines.

On the new book with a title “A Billion Wicked Thoughts” the two authors Sai Gaddam and Ogi Ogas also provided a list of Top 10 sex-related searches.  Citing the book, Maureen Callahan of nypost.com compiled a summary of terms and keywords which were mostly used to search online include the following:

1. Youth (13.5%)
2. Gay (4.7%)
3. MILFs (4.3%)
4. Breasts (4.0%)
5. Cheating wives (3.4%)
6. Vaginas (2.8%)
7. Penises (2.4%)
8. (Blocked out in the book)
9. Butts (0.9%)
10. Cheerleaders (0.1%)

(Image of book cover “A Billion Wicked Thoughts”)

Bing is looking for buyers: the decision engine to say “goodbye” to Ciao, a European comparison website that provides opinions, reviews, and questions

As partnership between the decision engine and social media networking Facebook has gone to the next level, fans, friends, and family would be more helpful to provide opinions, reviews, and questions to Bing search results than other sources.  One of those other sources for helping Bing in the early days was Ciao.  This is a European comparison-shopping site that Bing’s parent bought in 2008 for a big chunk of cash, as businessinsider.com believes the price tag was close to $500 million.  However, with the recent popularity of adding Facebook dataset into the decision engine shopping site, the need for Ciao is less significant. 

In order to get some cash from selling Ciao while it’s still possible, citing a note by mergermarket.com,  businessinsider.com reported that the giant software company is considering to get rid of Ciao as soon as possible with an asking price for only $100 million.  That’s it, cheap with 80% discount!

The decision engine simplifies its user interface by integrating Bing Rewards into Bing top navigation bar (header) to help users to earn more credits and will be accessible from all popular web browsers (IE 7+, Firefox, Chrome & Safari)

All decision engine users will be able to earn more credits without installing Bing Bar. Bing engineers just integrated Bing Rewards functionality into the top header (top navigation bar), as Bing team blog wrote “…we’ve integrated Bing Rewards into the Bing header for easy and quick access to earning credits and redeeming rewards.”

The decision engine also allows users who have installed their PCs with other web browsers include Firefox, Chrome, and Safari, to easily earn credits for Bing Rewards program.

Bing team also noted that only decision engine users in America can join the Bing Rewards program.

 
(Screenshot: Bing Rewards)

Bing gives more cash for all of its employees and modifies its review system starting September 2011

CEO Steve Ballmer sent out an internal memo to all employees early this morning and a large part of the memo was picked up by one of the most popular Microsoft blogger Todd Bishop of geekwire.com.  Later on, several blog posts include anonymous Mini-Microsoft employee blogger revealed that fatter paychecks will not arrive until September. 

In the memo (also see an original Ballmer‘s email published by Nick Eaton of seattlepi.com) said that not all employees will get fatter paychecks, as Mr. Ballmer wrote “We will make important increases in compensation for specific populations where the market has moved the most.”  This means that Bing decision engine team who has worked very hard during the past two years and gained search market share from competitors (i.e., Google) will get bigger paychecks than employees in less competitive areas such as Windows division.

Bing introduces “Read / Write World” mapping and visualization system at the Where 2.0 Conference in San Jose, California

At a conference about business location dubbed as Where 2.0 Conference, one of Microsoft top engineer for Bing Maps and mobile-related technology, Blaise Aguera y Arcas, introduced a new way to visualize beautiful maps from around the world.    The new mapping and visualization system is now called as “Read / Write World.”  This new system is powered by Microsoft Azure cloud technology to synchronize and geo indexing some kind of GPS system and matching panoramas photos using Photosynth technology.

According to Bing team blog, developers who utilize Bing Maps for their websites can now add Microsoft’s open source viewing code and Azure services to create additional Read/Write World.

 
(Image: Bing team blog)

Bing team offers Twitter followers in America for a chance to win one of five $100 Visa gift cards (deadline: April 19, 2011, 8:00am to 9:00pm Pacific Time)

To draw more traffic into Bing mobile deals site in America, Bing team offers its Twitter followers a chance to win one of the five $100 Visa gift cards.  According to Bing team blog, the decision engine mobile deals site compiles as many as 200,000 best deals with coupons and from 14,000 cities in America.  Deals include from top restaurants, health-related services, arts, and entertainment.

Over the next few hours on April 19, 2011, Bing team will continue to send out questions via Twitter @bing.  Users must submit their answers from 8:00am to 9:00pm Pacific Time.  When replied to the question, players must add this sign @bing and hashtag #bingmobiledeals.  Only residents in America can join this sweepstakes.

(Image: a sample question @bing)

Bing’s Photosynth team introduces app for Apple’s iOS gadgets (iPhone, iPod, iPad) for taking mobile panoramas and share them via Bing Maps and Facebook

Bing team just released a new and free Photosynth app for Apple’s iOS devices include for iPhone 4, iPod Touch, and the new iPad 2.  This new app helps users to capture panoramas photos, upload, and share those photos with friends thru Bing Maps and Facebook.  Photosynth is almost similar to a four-dimension system for capturing photos.  As per to Bing team blog wrote “Photosynth’s interactive panoramas allow you to look left, right, up and down” views.   Users can download the new app via Apple iTunes store. 

For Windows Phone 7 operating system, they must wait for a while to get this app.  Bing’s engineers usually let competing products to get their app first.

(Screenshot: Photosynth.net)

The decision engine offers rewards for gamers to earn credits and redeem them for Bing gears, Xbox LIVE Gold membership, Facebook Credits, or donate them to charities

With the help of Facebook fans the decision engine urged gamers to sign up for Bing Rewards program.  First, they must install Bing Bar to receive 'free' 250 credit points.  While continuously using Bing Bar to conduct search they can earn more credit points.  According to official rules, users can gain more points by “searching on Bing, setting your homepage to Bing or trying out new features of Bing.” 
 
As Bing users have collected enough points, they can redeem those credit points for rewards.  The rewards include Bing gears, Xbox LIVE Gold membership, Facebook Credits, or donating those points to charities (incl. DonorsChoose.org, $1 to Kids In Need, etc.).

 
Screenshot: (top) Facebook, (bottom) Bing Rewards Gamers

Rival's quarterly earnings: some financial highlights from Google’s Q1-2011 results (January to March), revenues from Britain dropped to 11% share (compared to one year ago at 13% share), CPC increased 8%, plus extra operating cost of one billion dollar

The decision engine’s rival has reported a total of $8.58 billion in revenue for January to March 2011, compared to one year ago which was at a total of $6.77 billion in revenue (an increase of 27% within a 12-month span), as reported by the giant search engine after Wall Street closed this afternoon, April 14, just one day before personal income tax return is due to Uncle Sam.

Google properties (incl. search homepage, YouTube, etc.) gained a total of $5.88 billion in revenue which representing 69% of total revenues, compared to one year ago which was at a total of $4.44 billion in revenue (an increase of 32%).

The ratio for International businesses to the total revenue for the past two fiscal years was unchanged which representing 53% of total revenue.   For the latest Quarter, the giant search engine captured a total of $4.57 billion from International businesses.  However, the ratio for its business branch in Britain dropped to 11% of the total revenues, compared to one year ago which was at 13% of revenues.

Google’s Q1-2011 aggregate paid clicks from all ads served on Google properties and its partners gained about 18% over Q-1 2010.

Google’s Q1-2011 CPC (Cost-Per-Click) from all ads served on Google properties and its partners also gained about 8% over Q-1 2010.

One billion dollar was added to operating expenses during Q1-2011.  There were two big items for this extra cash.  First, former CEO Eric Schmidt promised to increase all Googlers’ salary by 10% before Christmas last year.  Second, Google announced to hire at least 5,000 new employees during this fiscal year.  With these two items, the giant Internet company’s operating expenses have skyrocketed during the first three months of 2011.  Total operating expenses for Q1-2011 were $2.84 billion, compared to one year ago which were at $1.84 billion.  The ratio of operating expenses over the total revenues was 33% of revenues in Q1-2011, up from 27% of revenues in Q1-2010.

All signs point to a successful decision engine: Bing captured 13.9% share of search engine market in March, up from 13.6% in February 2011

The decision engine share of explicit core search market (with user intent) continues to increase.  The two-year-old search engine which formerly known as Live Search (or "Kumo" during beta version) captured 13.9% of the search engine market in America, up from 13.6% in February 2011, as per the latest data from comScore, the most widely used dataset by Wall Street analysts, online marketers and publishers.

The search alliance Bing and Yahoo captured about 30.01% share of the search engine market in America as reported by Hitwise early this week.  And now, comScore has confirmed the same results as the combo captured a total of 29.6% share, with roundup close to 30% share. 

Bing’s top rival Google has 65.7% share in March, compared to 65.4% in February (an increase of 0.3% share). 

(Chart: comScore)

Bing partners with NAVTEQ to start taking street pictures in Britain and other European countries

Several Bing and NAVTEQ cars are now wandering around big cities in Europe and taking street pictures.  The first photography assignment was spotted in London, as reported by bbc.co.uk. 

The Chicago-based NAVTEQ is maps maker for global cities with features for local traffic and navigation tools include for desktop computers and mobile phone users.  NAVTEQ’s branch offices in Europe include in Czech Republic, France, Italy, Spain/Portugal, a combine office for four nations (Sweden, Norway, Finland and Denmark), another combo office for three nations (Germany, Austria and Switzerland) and United Kingdom.  As NAVTEQ has access to those European cities, Bing team will soon launch street pictures for Europe dubbed as Streetside which is almost similar to Google's StreetView.  Bing has launched this product in America last year which includes cities such as New York, Seattle, etc.

(Image: bbc.co.uk)

The search alliance Bing and Yahoo Search captured over 30% of search engine market share in March 2011, while Google dropped to 64.42% share in America

The search alliance between Bing decision engine and Yahoo Search hit a new record high at 30.01% share of search engine market share in March 2011, compared to February which was at 28.48% share (an increase of 1.53% share), as reported by Hitwise.

Bing alone also gained more search market share in March 2011, as the decision engine captured 14.32% share, compared to February which was at 13.49% share (an increase of 0.83% share).

Google dropped to 64.42% in March 2011, compared to February which was at 66.69% share (a drop of 2.27% share).

 
(Image: searchalliance.com homepage)

The decision engine launched “Bing Business Portal” (BBP) for business owners to manage their local listing and promote their companies online

In order to provide correct information for business entities, the decision engine is now asking owners to submit their companies’ names to “Bing Business Portal” (BBP).  Each legitimate business owner can claim a spot at BBP by phone or via postal mail, as Bing team will mail a Personal Identification Number (PIN) to verify the real owner that match the business’s address.

According to Bing team blog, BPP is still in beta version, and the purpose of this new service is “to help business owners create and control their online listing, making it easier for their customers to find them on Bing.”  This latest service also helps business owners to expose their companies to all decision engine users (via Bing search results) and other partners (i.e., Facebook page).

BPP is a great service for restaurant and bar owners, as they can add menus online via BPP site or by redirecting users to restaurant’s website.  Other formats for menus are also available in PDF file or in a mini site for mobile access. 

To compete with websites that provide daily deals such as Groupon and LivingSocial, business owners can also create promotion materials such as coupon or rebate to attract potential customers.

Click here to start the process.

(Image: Bing Business Portal)

Bing Travel’s new rival: Google received a round-trip ticket from the Justice Department as the search giant will be allowed to purchase ticketing company ITA Software and launch travel search service

America’s Justice Department has approved Google to purchase ticketing company ITA Software for $700 million in cash.   There are several “if-s” for the deal to be completed, such as Google must let the decision engine to continue crunching data from ITA for Bing Travel section.

Bing Travel will face a new rival as Google will soon launch a travel search service, including providing flight search information, best deals for ticket, best deals for vacation packages, etc.

New Bing’s features from Microsoft’s “Imagine 2011” presentation are now being spotted in the wild (incl. the new HTML5-enhanced version)

 
It appears that the decision engine has been experimenting with adding and modifying its homepage and its second page's top search box.   Our team just spotted several new features in the wild to enhance Bing's homepage and top search box, on April 7 (Thu) afternoon.  Those new features were introduced by Bing's executives during Microsoft’s “Imagine 2011” event in early April, include Bing HTML5-enhanced version, a lot of dark color on top search box (mostly in black color), etc.  Some of those new features are now starting to appear on the decision engine homepage and the following search results pages, such as:

• Bing shows a modified top search box on the second page after users type-in keywords search on page one.  The top search box is now aligned to left and slightly longer than the old search box.
• By installing the latest Internet Explorer 9 and combined with Windows 7 OS, the bottom toolbar shows several tiny icons (in orange color) for easy search on Bing’s popular sections, include icon for weather, finance, news, maps, and travel.
• A new and smoother User Interface (UI) for left navigation bar for related searches and search history which embrace HTML5 functionality.  Users will see a smooth transition from page 2 to page 3 after clicked on ‘Next’ page.

 
(Images: (bottom) Bing homepage's features with smaller icons and (top) Bing's top search box on the second page)

Swipe and decide: a free Apple’s iPad app for the decision engine users to enhance search experience

The decision engine just announced the availability of a free Apple’s iPad app.  The new app dubbed as Bing for iPad.  After download the app into users’ iPads, then users just need to swipe and decide when conducting search. Click here to download the free app via Apple iTunes store.

With easy touch screen functionality which is also optimized for all Apple's gadgets, users can conduct search and find info about Bing’s popular homepage images, national/local news updates, movies, Trends, weather conditions, maps, stock market info, business listings, local events, and others.

The new subsection Trends is designed “exclusively” for iPad app.  Users can observe the latest updates on the decision engine and find the most popular search terms in real-time.

Another extra feature for this Bing for iPad app includes the ability to utilize Bing’s Voice Search when users conducting search.

(Screenshot: Bing team)

Bing Angry Birds Sweepstakes: watch 4 episodes of videos and 25 lucky winners of plush toys, April 6, 2011, 8:00am to 9:00pm Pacific Time

In partnership with the world's most popular mobile gaming producer Rovio, Bing team is giving away 25 Angry Birds plush toys (see a sample on right) on April 6, 2011, 8:00am to 9:00pm Pacific Time. 

According to Bing team blog, in order to find the answer for several questions thru @Bing Twitter account, users are urged to watch 4 episodes of the Angry Birds videos on Bing's YouTube channel:

• Angry Birds Go Bing: Image Search (Episode 1)
• Angry Birds Go Bing: Map Search (Episode 2)
• Angry Birds Go Bing: Shopping (Episode 3)
• Angry Birds Go Bing: Deals (Episode 4)

Users must send their correct answer to @Bing and make sure to add #bingangrybirdsgiveaway hashtag.  Click here to read official rules.

Here is a screenshot of the first question at @Bing

 

Power couple, web browser and decision engine: newer versions of Internet Explorer is driving users to Bing

According to the latest ad network data provided by Chitika, access to Bing has continued to increase with users who have installed their PCs with newer versions of Internet Explorer web browser.    The more tech-savvy Bing users are the better for the decision engine to gain search market share, as users who have the latest version of web browser are flocking into Bing instead of other search providers (i.e., Google).

Chitika reported that Bing usage increased from 16.9% for IE8 users to 22.9% for IE9 users (an additional of 6 points increase or 35.5% gain).  In the newest web browser from Microsoft (IE9) which was launched in mid-March this year, Bing is set as the default decision engine.

(Chart: Chitika)

New version of "Search Overload" campaign for Bing decision engine produced by JWT New York ad agency

The ad agency who handles Bing’s marketing just released a new version of "Search Overload" campaign for the decision engine.  According to adweek.com, the new ad is produced by JWT New York ad agency. 

In this new ad with a sub-title as “Smartphone,” a teenage girl was trying to help her father to research for smartphone while at the same time her father was overwhelmingly with too much info.  The ad shows Bing Shopping section could help users to find things like smartphone.  Click here to watch.

 

(Screenshot of Bing’s new ad “Smartphone” via adweek.com and JWT New York and video by Bing YouTube channel)

Bing executives show the new HTML5-enhanced version during Microsoft Advertising event while the decision engine is also testing a redesigned homepage with search verticals categories being moved to the top navigation bar

Top notch advertisers and people closed to Microsoft met at “Imagine 2011” event this week which was organized by Microsoft Advertising division.  The event was held in Bing’s parent headquarter in Redmond from March 29 (Tue) to March 31 (Thu).  Microsoft executives (incl. CEO Steve Ballmer) and engineers also presented their latest technology to woo more money from advertisers.

 
In the event, Bing’s President Qi Lu and Online Audience Business SVP Yusuf Mehdi, also presented the future directions of Bing.  Mr. Mehdi shows a new HTML5-enhanced version of the decision engine (click here to watch video).

In the meantime a blog post by Microsoft-News shows a new version of Bing’s homepage.    The redesigned homepage moved the search verticals categories to the top navigation bar.   The old version show the list of categories displayed over the beautiful homepage image.

NEW VERSION OF BING HOMEPAGE:

 

OLD VERSION:

 
(Screenshots top: Imagine 2011, middle: Microsoft-News, and bottom: Bing current homepage)