Microsoft Tailors Bing Search To Get Personal
Bing is playing catch-up to Google in at least one major way this week: they are now sorting search results based on location. This means that when users search for a particular place to eat, for example, the results that populate first will be ones that are nearby. Microsoft can glean this information based on your IP address or GPS coordinates, and while privacy concerns will almost certainly pop up, we think it's a positive move for those on the go.
When you're in a hurry and using a cramped mobile keyboard, it's redundant and burdensome to type out a location of a place. In most scenarios that we can imagine, any searches that you make will most likely relate to things that are nearby. Of course you can override this by simply searching for a specific place while searching for the topic. Google made this change to their results months ago, and now Microsoft is calling their move "making search yours." It's a move that will bring personalized search to Bing users, and we love the examples given by the company:
"For example, ‘traffic’ at 6pm on a Friday likely refers to road conditions, not the movie or the band. So we can generally use some math magic to make really good predictions about what you mean when you type ‘traffic’ at 6pm tonight, but what if we’re wrong? It’s easy to see how that could happen especially if you, say, walk to work. In that case a more personal search would benefit you; having more detailed information about the person doing the search can make results more effective."
We view this move as one that will almost universally improve results for those using Bing, particularly those using Bing on the go. No need to waste time typing out cities of places that you already are, etc. The more our phones get to know us, the better off we all are. Or else, the more ruined we become when they fail us. Ah, technology!
When you're in a hurry and using a cramped mobile keyboard, it's redundant and burdensome to type out a location of a place. In most scenarios that we can imagine, any searches that you make will most likely relate to things that are nearby. Of course you can override this by simply searching for a specific place while searching for the topic. Google made this change to their results months ago, and now Microsoft is calling their move "making search yours." It's a move that will bring personalized search to Bing users, and we love the examples given by the company:
"For example, ‘traffic’ at 6pm on a Friday likely refers to road conditions, not the movie or the band. So we can generally use some math magic to make really good predictions about what you mean when you type ‘traffic’ at 6pm tonight, but what if we’re wrong? It’s easy to see how that could happen especially if you, say, walk to work. In that case a more personal search would benefit you; having more detailed information about the person doing the search can make results more effective."
We view this move as one that will almost universally improve results for those using Bing, particularly those using Bing on the go. No need to waste time typing out cities of places that you already are, etc. The more our phones get to know us, the better off we all are. Or else, the more ruined we become when they fail us. Ah, technology!
