Microsoft’s Bing search engine is plugging more social data into its search results. The company on Wednesday announced that now when users search for local merchants and other businesses, their friends’ Foursquare recommendations will pop up in the new gray “People Who Know” sidebar on the right side of the screen. As Microsoft’s Swati Gharse writes:
Thanks to the Bing and foursquare collaboration, I have now found delightful insights like “try the fried chicken” from real users to help me get the most out of my night.
The move follows Bing’s earlier integration of users’ Facebook friends’ posts into search results. Overall, Microsoft is trying to differentiate Bing from, and appeal to critics of, Google, which tends to surface Google Plus content at the top of its search results as the result of changes made in January, a new functionality that some have found to be detrimental.
