It’s pretty clear that Experian Hitwise has a comfortable familiarity with Tom Smykowski’s “Jump to Conclusions” mat, at least in regards to comparing search result accuracy with Google and Bing. It’s either that or perhaps the “online competitive intelligence service” needs another lesson in correlation and causation.

In a recent report discussing Bing’s improved market share — something the tech journalism sector is going wild about, but if I’m not mistaken, 68 percent is far greater than 27.4 — Experian Hitwise made the bold statement that, because Bing users click search engine results 81.54 percent of the time, compared to 65.58 percent for Google users, Bing’s results are more accurate than Google’s.

Experian Hitwise found that Bing’s market share rose from 10.60% in December to 12.81% in January. As we pointed out in a previous post, Bing didn’t simply steal users away from its partner Yahoo, either.

Of course, considering the spat between Google and Bing, and Bing’s use of at least a small percentage of Google’s search engine results, it adds more skepticism to Hitwise’s claim.

As many of you know, the principle idea in “correlation does not equal causation” is one thing does not necessarily cause another, or in the case of Google and Bing’s search result accuracy, one piece of data (more Bing users click the results) does not make bold conclusions true (Bing’s results are more accurate).

Taken at face value, it’s easy to conclude Bing’s results are 16 percent more accurate, but then, when you consider so many more people are using Google to conduct Internet searches, the margin for non-clicks for any number of reasons — incorrect spelling, refining the original search query — is a lot larger than Bing’s.

Furthermore, what is the average experience level of Bing users? If Bing users are comprised predominantly of “Internet noobs,” for lack of a better term, would they not be more inclined to click the first result they saw, even if it was relevant or not? If Google’s users are “more experienced,” would they not be more selective about which results they clicked?

And if that’s the case, doesn’t that mean the overall quality of search results — across the board, not just with Google — need to be improved?

As for Google’s results being less accurate than Bing’s, before making such a claim, much more research is needed: an extensive, side-to-side comparison of multiple queries, not just reliance on how frequently the results were clicked. Another obvious aspect to consider is the user’s experience level. An Internet veteran will not click everything they see; whereas an Internet novice using Bing because they liked their witty “search overload” commercials is not as selective.

In regards to Hitwise’s conclusion, as told via Internet chat lingo, the following statement comes to mind: More clicks != better quality of results.

You need more data to make such a profound conclusion.

There are lots of tools that can tell you whether or not a domain name is available; domain name registrars don’t make money unless people actually buy sites, after all. But many tools can be a little clumsy, and Psychic Whois aims to address that problem.

Psychic Whois is reminiscent of Google Instant. Just begin to type a domain name, and it’ll provide auto-completed suggestions along with their status (registered or available). Everything’s color-coded, too, making it even easier to learn more about domain names at a glance.

Without getting into the specifics, let’s face it: there’s some stuff on your site – perhaps a script or image – that you’d rather not have a search engine focus on. The Robots.txt File Generator can come to your aid if that’s the case.

This tool lets users pick which robots they’d like to either allow in or keep out, with options ranging from the Googlebot to the MSNbot to Teoma. Then, after the user specifies some files or directories, it’ll spit out a robots.txt file.

In less than five years, social media has revolutionized not only our communication culture but how we conduct business. The dizzying effect of endless and sometimes unfettered-24-hour access to people and information has transformed the various tools into a game changer.

There is a broad and increasing list of sites, including BlinkList, YouTube, Delicious, Flickr, Tumblr, BlogMarks.net, and the triumvirate of major sites: Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn. These social destinations have become to business professionals and entrepreneurs what golf is to C-suite powerbrokers – a juncture to strategically network and close deals based on shared interests and personal engagement. But these sites do more by offering users valuable real estate to advertise products or services, create and expand brand recognition, solicit feedback, build relationships, and create community forums. Users also have unprecedented access to consumers, hiring managers, prospective clients, industry experts, and opportunities.

Moreover, social media levels the playing field by allowing anyone access without restrictions on time, location, or social status.

The most diligent and creative players are reaping huge benefits. According to a report from Forrester Research, 55.6 millíon U.S. adults – just shy of one-third of the population – visited social networks at least monthly in 2009, a jump from 18% in 2008. Recent Nielsen research says Americans spend nearly 25% of their time online on social networks and blogs, up from nearly 16% a year ago.

The initial foray into social media can be daunting and bewildering. Newcomers to the space might wonder: Who’s reading? Will I be heard or noticed? Isn’t it all just fun and games? Isn’t it invasive? Making the effort worthwhile requires time, patience, and a work-smart-not-hard strategy. Whether you’re an entrepreneur or a corporate professional, the success of marketing your products, businesses, or your personal brand will be determined by how well you engage interest on the varying platforms. In part one of a series on social media strategies, Black Enterprise offers some tips to get you connected.

What Business Owners Should Know

Finding out who your customers are and how they like to be served is essential for the success of any business. Questions and surveys offered on social media platforms can help business owners quickly access that information. Jason Burton, social media strategist and marketing director of Lab 5702, a boutique marketing firm in Kansas City, Missouri, says such data can help you position your product to broader groups outside your initial base of contacts. “Put your product in front of the trendsetters or the next level of users,” he suggests. “Targeted searches let you drill down beneath the surface to find followers and potential influencers that can use or promote your product or service.”

Location-based social mapping services such as Foursquare, Google Latitude, Loopt, Facebook Places, and MyTown allow consumers to benefit from their influence. For example, if you visit your favorite flower shop in Tucson and tweet it to your followers, you get $2 off your purchase. The greater the network and influence, the bigger the discount. These services also enable users to find friends and events; share locations, updates, tips, photos, and comments; and share across online social networks and blogs. Loopt has more than 4 million registered users and partnerships with every major U.S. mobile phone carrier and is available on more than 100 smartphones, including the iPhone, BlackBerry, and Android. Google Latitude and Foursquare boast more than 3 million users each. Greater social media interactivity has been facilitated by mobile apps such as ÜberTwitter, MobileLinked IM, and Nimbuzz. According to a Juniper Research report, the number of downloads from mobile application stores is expected to rise from fewer than 2.6 billion per year in 2009 to more than 25 billion in 2015.

What Corporate Professionals Should Know

Carmen Hudson, CEO of Tweetajob in Seattle, oversaw employer branding campaigns when she was senior manager of talent acquisition for Yahoo and has witnessed the shift in recruitment practices. “Companies are cultivating and marketing a brand that attracts and is attractive to certain types of candidates,” she explains. For companies such as Yahoo, Starbucks, Apple, and Microsoft, social media is increasingly at the forefront of that strategy. Recruiters will, for instance, use LinkedIn to create a search stream of attributes to find precisely the type of candidates hiring managers are looking for with minimal time and fuss. Moreover, Hudson adds, “They’re also looking at how many followers you have. Do you have a strong network? If you’re an expert, friends and/or follower numbers are strong indicators of that.”

A Jump Start Social Media survey of hiring managers indicates that 66% go to LinkedIn to find candidates for openings, 23% go to Facebook, and 16% to Twitter. “Job seekers who frequently post and update profiles are nimble and often get to job opportunities first,” Hudson says. “Recruitment officers can execute a well-rounded and more diverse search, through a search stream of attributes because they now can meet candidates where they play,” says Hudson. At the same time, companies can promote the brand and the company message, which gives the job seeker a more informed perspective on the companies as potential employers.

How to Maximize Social Media Marketing to Promote Your Brand or Business

• A blogging platform such as WordPress or Blogspot is essential, advises Warren Laidler, webmaster and creative director of DeLite Multimedia in New York City. Blogs have greater potential for organic leads because their content-rich nature makes them more search engine friendly. Search engines love content-driven platforms and rank them higher than static websites. “Think of your blog as a launch pad or hub for your enterprise. Your social media efforts should lead back to your blog or website, which should be dynamic and informative, providing content and information that encourages visitors not only to return, but to distribute your content to their network.”

• Blogs or websites should contain SEO, or search engine optimized, keywords and phrases that help visitors find the business when they search via Google, Yahoo, Bing, and others. Laidler also suggests pulling in RSS feeds and useful links into your blog. “RSS feeds allow you to import content from outside sources and are a great way to share information that visitors find interesting.”

• Work on engagement and consistency. For example, your Twitter timeline should be a combination of original updates, retweets, or shares from other sources, replies from connections, inspirational quotes, and trending topics. A standard formula is two to four tweets per day. Positive activity can also blossom quickly and create buzz that reaches well beyond a businesses’ core audience. In the virtual world, consumers and job seekers can become influencers and trendsetters by persuading their network to take action or purchase a product or service. Laidler suggests using tools like Klout or Twittergrader.com to measure your social media influence and find out the reach of your Twitter posts.

Twitter is a wonderful business tool, not least because it’s free; all it will cost is your time (and if that’s in short supply, you can hire a social media marketer to manage it for you).

Used well, Twitter can provide good exposure for your business; but you can also damage your brand with social media marketing if you’re not careful, so it’s worth learning the biggest dos and don’ts before you start using Twitter.

Tip 1: Be yourself and be human

The beauty of Twitter is that it’s a huge global community of human beings (mostly; there are spammer accounts but they’re easy to spot, block and report). So do show your human side, especially when using your business account. Talk about things that matter to you: funny things your children say, recent achievements, your favourite band or TV show, and so on. Join in with conversations that interest you – be friendly, show emotion, and use smilies if you want to.

On the other hand, don’t be too human. Don’t share anything you wouldn’t share at a real-world business networking event; keep intimate health problems and controversial or potentially offensive opinions to yourself.

Tip 2: Watch how you write

Some people write well, others don’t – that’s true in all areas of life, not just on Twitter. You don’t need to be a bestselling novelist to use Twitter, but it helps if you have basic literacy skills (and if you use Twitter at the website instead of through a client, your Tweets will be spellchecked as you type anyway – which helps).

However good (or bad) your writing skills are, with Twitter’s 140-character limit you’ll need to be creative with your Tweets. Your Tweets need to be concise yet informative, and often you’ll be trying to squeeze in a URL too (URL shortening services like bit.ly and tinyurl.com are lifesavers).

One definite don’t is using text speak. Text speak is fine if you’re 13, but as a professional adult promoting your business you’re just going to look silly, and won’t communicate your messages efficiently – unless you’re targeting 13 year olds.

Tip 3: Share and share alike

If you have some good news – related to your business or your personal life – share it; everybody loves a good news story.

Do share links – to your website, your blog, your local news service, or anything else that interests your followers – this is a great way to get conversations going. But do remember to explain what the link’s about, or your followers will feel less inclined to click it. And don’t Tweet the same link over and over; people will quickly become bored and may stop following you.

Do retweet your friends’ links, too; they’ll be grateful, and so will your followers if the link is interesting and relevant. But here’s a very big ‘do’ – DO make sure you click the link and read the content before sharing it with your followers, or you could end up sharing a page that’s irrelevant or offensive, or which contradicts your usual position on the subject.

Tip 4: Be part of the community

Don’t treat Twitter as your personal billboard. It’s not: it’s a community, millions of members strong, and the community as a whole is not very tolerant of users who constantly advertise. Try to stick to the 80-20 rule when you use Twitter for business: no more than 20% of your Tweets should advertise or self-promote, and at least 80% should be non-promotional. If you can get the ratio down to 90-10 or 95-5, even better.

Listen to what people are saying, and join in. Twitter is a network of conversations, so it’s good practice to listen and respond to parts of those conversations that interest you; don’t just stand in the middle of the room with a megaphone, shouting “I’m fabulous! I’m selling widgets at 20% off this week!” Again – if you wouldn’t do it at a business networking event, don’t do it on Twitter.

Do retweet your friends’ requests for help (for example, charity appeals and sponsorship requests), and do introduce friends that are new to Twitter and could do with some followers. And again – do retweet useful, interesting links from people you follow, but always check links before sending.

Tip 5: Mind your language

Don’t use offensive language when representing your business on Twitter; even mild swearwords can put sensitive souls off following you (and besides – cursing in public is hardly professional).

Use Twitter to answer customer questions and solve their problems, by all means; many organisations use Twitter as a customer services tool very effectively. But never, ever use an impolite or impatient tone with a customer. On Twitter, everything you say is out there for everyone to see, so leave your followers with the best possible impression of your brand at all times… the Internet has a very long memory!

Finally – consider this a bonus tip, since it’s not really connected to any of the previous ones – try to enjoy yourself when you use Twitter. Try to embrace all that’s good about Twitter – the new friendships and business contacts you’ll make, the fun hashtags and trending topics, the strong community spirit – and before long you’ll be singing (or is that Tweeting?) Twitter’s praises to anyone who’ll listen.

2010 has come and gone and even now many online marketers and web designers are still ignoring the importance of adapting their websites for other languages and cultures. While English was still the number one language on the Web in 2010 with 536.6 million users viewing pages in English, Chinese is closing in with 444.9 million users.

This means that there are almost the same number of Chinese users as there are English and if your website is in the business of selling, then you are missing out on a potential 78% of internet users if you only provide an English version of your site.

We explore some of the main areas you need to consider when creating and optimizing your site for a multi-lingual audience.

Keyword Research

One of the most common pitfalls of localizing your website into another language is not spending enough time researching language specific keywords. Simply translating your English keywords is a step on the road to failure. The classic example Google Translate gives for ‘car insuránce’ in French is ‘l’assurance automobile.’ While this is an accurate translation French users will more than likely not use this keyword at all and type something along the lines of ‘assurance voiture.’

Foreign language keyword research should be approached in more or less the same way that English keyword research is achieved by using a native speaking professional translator who is able to brainstorm for synonyms and the most commonly used search terms for that country.

TLD vs. Sub Domain

This age old debate nevér fails to arise on discussions of multi-lingual websites. Is it better to use a country code top level domain (ccTLD) or a sub domain of your main domain?

Both choices have their ups and downs. For instance, using a ccTLD such as www.yourdomain.it may make your site look slightly more authoritative in Italy to local search engines and visitors than a .com/.net address, although there is much debate as to whether this is truly the case.

Using ccTLD’s is useful if you are looking to target countries or regions, but don’t get caught in the trap if you simply want to provide alternative languages for your site. There are many countries that speak the same language. You wouldn’t really want your Spanish .es site serving your South American visitors would you? Add in the cost of some ccTLD’s, maintainability issues of separate domains and hosting and you have to ask yourself if you are targeting a specific language or a specific country.

The alternative is to use a sub domain of your main domain such as www.it.yourdomain.com or even www.yourdomain.com/it. This method is more practical if you are looking to provide alternative translations of your content but are not solely focused on selling products or services in a specific country or region.

Cross-Cultural Content

It’s not only keywords that need to be researched and managed; content also needs to be properly localized for each language. A common mistake is to poorly translate English content or have content machine translated on the fly.

Content should be properly localized for individual cultures and that doesn’t just mean getting your content translated. Different cultures prefer different styles. You could get away with an informal, almost ‘chatty,’ tone when writing for a UK audience. But try this for a German audience and visitors will more than likely be put off by your lack of professionalism since they prefer a more corporate, to the point, efficient tone.

You should get to know your target audiences and what their preferences are. Use analytics and statistics to evaluate your landing pages and content. How long are your visitors staying on a page? How high is your bounce rate?

Successful multi-lingual content is a mix of many different things, including SEO, and can take numerous trial and error attempts to get right. So research, refine, and re-write!

Translation Management

Management of your translated content also needs careful consideration. What happens when you alter your English pages? Do you leave your other language pages as they are or have them translated again?

There are efficient ways of working with translated content such as the open source GNU gettext framework which allows your translators to work from easy to use .po files. We will be exploring this method further in a future article. There are also numerous methods for popular blog platforms to manage translations.

Analytics, Analytics & Analytics

Google Analytics shouldn’t ever be ignored. First you should make sure you have a separate account for each domain or sub domain you have running. This will help to segment and breakdown the analysis of each site and enable you to draw conclusions on how each country or language version is performing and where to improve.

In a post on the official Google Blog, Matt Cutts, head of the company’s webspam team said that Google’s search quality is the best it has ever been in terms of relevance, freshness, and comprehensiveness.

“Today, English-language spam in Google’s results is less than half what it was five years ago, and spam in most other languages is even lower than in English,” said Cutts. “However, we have seen a slight uptick of spam in recent months, and while we’ve already made progress, we have new efforts underway to continue to improve our search quality.”

“As we’ve increased both our size and freshness in recent months, we’ve naturally indexed a lot of good content and some spam as well,” explains Cutts. “To respond to that challenge, we recently launched a redesigned document-level classifier that makes it harder for spammy on-page content to rank highly. The new classifier is better at detecting spam on individual web pages, e.g., repeated spammy words—the sort of phrases you tend to see in junky, automated, self-promoting blog comments. We’ve also radically improved our ability to detect hacked sites, which were a major source of spam in 2010. And we’re evaluating multiple changes that should help drive spam levels even lower, including one change that primarily affects sites that copy others’ content and sites with low levels of original content. We’ll continue to explore ways to reduce spam, including new ways for users to give more explicit feedback about spammy and low-quality sites.”

The post was in response to a lot of talk throughout the Blogosphere lately that Google is losing its edge in search – when it comes to relevancy and spam. Some of this was no doubt fueled by the recent launch of the spam clock from Blekko, which may not be on the minds of much of the general public, but that many influential bloggers in the search space are certainly aware of.

Cutts says it is a misconception that Google doesn’t take as strong an action on spam in its index if the spammy sites are Google ads.

“To be crystal clear,” he says, “Google absolutely takes action on sites that violate our quality guidelines regardless of whether they have ads powered by Google; Displaying Google ads does not help a site’s rankings in Google; and Buying Google ads does not increase a site’s rankings in Google’s search results. These principles have always applied, but it’s important to affirm they still hold true.”

Something tells me Cutts and Google will never convince everybody, but at least they’re being “crystal clear” in their explanation.

2010 has been a huge year for Facebook – arguably the company’s biggest yet. CEO Mark Zuckerberg was named Person of the Year by Time magazine, a Hollywood movie about the founding of the company was released in theaters, and attracted a great deal of critical buzz. The company launched the “open graph”, possibly the most important feature the company has ever implemented, as it connects nearly the entire web to Facebook itself. Then there was the messaging product, the privacy fiascoes, and much more.

January

It was a good year for Facebook right from the get go, starting when Facebook beat Google (in terms of traffic) on New Year’s Day, according to Hitwise. Also in January, the company launched a Fellowship Program for Ph.D. students, became a sponsor of the Apache Software Foundation, partnered with McAfee, got into customized data centers, and expressed the desire to be users’ news source.

Mark Zuckerberg made some comments related to privacy that raised a few eyebrows, though this was nothing compared to the privacy firestorm he would set off a few short month later.

Facebook added a feature that lets users reply to comments from their email, added a retweet-like share button, started letting app users get notifications through email, and started giving Facebook Page admins more stats.

Also, rival MySpace started integrating Facebook Connect into its site.

February

In February, Microsoft and Facebook adjusted their partnership, and Facebook celebrated its sixth birthday. The company announced it was approaching 400 million users, and redesigned the homepage.

During the Super Bowl, more people visited Facebook than any other site. Facebook was added to AOL Instant Messenger, Facebook passed 100 million mobile users, got a patent on news feeds, and was coaxed into opening a new office by the governor of Texas. Facebook announced people could pay for Facebook Credits using PayPal.

March

In March, Facebook began testing a “promote your post” feature, partnered with Omniture on ad data, expanded its Preferred Developer Program, made its Texas expansion official, and unseated Google as the most-visited site. Yahoo brought Facebook into its own inbox. Facebook tweaked its privacy policy and its search suggestions.

April

In April, Hitwise dubbed Facebook the most searched on brand in the US, Facebook acquired photo service Divvyshot, and the company clarified its stance on third-party partnerships. The Winklevoss twins (founders of ConnectU) said they would be filing more lawsuits against Facebook.

Facebook redesigned its safety center, announced its first batch of Fellows, and entered the stickers-for-businesses game. A report came out claiming that more business Internet traffic was going to Facebook than to any other website.

Then, Facebook dropped the bomb at f8 – the Open Graph and social plugins that would tie the web to Facebook via like-buttons and various other ways for content publishers to draw traffic and encouage engagement from their users.

May

In May, Facebook was exciting publishers with increased referrals (courtesy of those social plugins). The company announced expansion in Seattle and hired a former FTC chairman. Facebook also announced that the social plugins had already appeared on 100,000 sites since launch. Facebook introduced new login security features and overtook Yahoo in Display ads.

As privacy concerns reached an all-time high (courtesy of the Open Graph), Diaspora started to gain a great deal of buzz as a possible alternative to Facebook. Yeah. Meanwhile, Microsoft previewed its hotmail upgrade with Facebook integration.

Facebook reached a fiver year deal with Zynga, and launched a new mobile site. The company gave people a way to turn off third-party service and scheduled a privacy briefing for Congress. Then it acquired Sharegrove and introduced new privacy settings.

The official Facebook SDK for Android was released, and Demand Media made a move which would greatly expand Facebook’s open graph. Facebook began calling for beta testers of a Q&A product.

June

After so many privacy stories about Facebook and discussion of account deleting permeating the media, it was looking like people were not so eager to delete their accounts after all. It was also revealed that Facebook had seen a 400% rise in advertisers since early the previous year.

As consumers continue to flock to social media websites, marketers recognize the importance of attracting and retaining those users. One of the challenges facing companies today is how to enhance their LinkedIn company profiles.

LinkedIn has grown from a startup company to over 33 million members in the United States and over 80 million registered users worldwide. The recent economic downturn has also boosted the amount of individuals and companies that have turned to LinkedIn for networking opportunities. LinkedIn company profiles now provide a wide variety of tools to help your organization improve business networking opportunities.

Here are a few tools and tips on how to get started:

Build a Business Profile

Setting up a business profile is relatively easy, you start by setting up your personal profile.

As a registered user you now have the option of creating your company profile. A LinkedIn company profile can help foster a network to support your company’s exposure online. LinkedIn developed company profiles initially to help boost the exposure of businesses looking to promote and recruit candidates. Initially, company profiles were designed as a way to receive an information stream from the company – today they provide a number of new and more powerful features. Users also have the ability to browse your online statistics, such as employee job functions, educational degrees and years of experience.

Another practical advantage of a company profile is that it will ultimately show up in your company’s organic search engine results. Users will be directed to a company profile page and can follow your company if they too are registered LinkedIn users.

Engage Users with Thought Leadership

As an expert in your field, you probably spend a good amount of time engaging friends, prospects, and colleagues in conversation. Take that conversation online by providing relevant, up-to-date information using LinkedIn Groups. LinkedIn Groups cover many topics with millions of members sharing stories or asking and answering questions. LinkedIn Groups are organized by specific topics and geographical areas and self moderated by members. In order to join a LinkedIn Group you must request access or be approved by the forum moderator. Forums give professionals the ability to interconnect on topics and provide focused networking opportunities.

Participating within a group is as easy as sharing a news story or responding to questions or authoring original content to share. Your involvement gives users a better understanding of your expertise in a particular area. The result is an ability to help members and expand your professional following.

Connect with Existing Users

Once you have a business profile completed, get found on LinkedIn by mining your existing connections and adding new members to your profile. One of the most effective tools is the free LinkedIn Outlook Toolbar which scans your Outlook files and imports your contacts automatically. The software easily installs into your Outlook email client and automatically scans your inboxes and folders for possible LinkedIn connections. After it completes running its search it gives you the option to connect with those users. The toolbar is free and is available on LinkedIn’s website.

Another easy way to promote your involvement is to enable the Twitter connection within your individual profile. (Currently company profiles don’t have ability to assign a company Twitter account) You can tweet your company profile from your individual profile to help build awareness and attract your Twitter followers.

Promote your Company’s Services

One of the newest features in LinkedIn’s company profiles is Services. The Services tab allows businesses to promote products or services by completing a questionnaire for each item with the option of uploading a corresponding image. Users within your network can also recommend and share your services with others.

In addition to free profiles, LinkedIn also offers DirectAds, paid advertising that is displayed on the LinkedIn website as rectangular advertisements or text link advertisements. Similar to search engine pay-per-click advertising, you select the word or phrase you want your ad to correspond to and your budget for each word or campaign.

Market Your Involvement

Market your involvement on LinkedIn by including links, logos, and commentary to highlight your company’s activity. A visitor browsing your website may not be interested in filling out a contact form, but a well-placed LinkedIn logo may give that visitor a more appealing way to follow your company.

In addition to offering the company’s badges, consider incorporating your company’s recent job openings to take advantage of the sites job seekers. Adding a job position isn’t free but if you’re looking to attract high quality candidates, LinkedIn offers a number of tools to help target your prospects in real-time.

Getting a good LinkedIn company profile is essential for anyone who desires to have a successful social media strategy. Hence, it is important to take advantage of all the best tools available.

Bing introduced a handful of new features. The one that will likely catch the most interest is the extension of its recent announcement regarding Facebook. Now, Bing will start showing you which of your Facebook friends have liked search results as they appear in your searches.

Social (Facebook)

“Starting today, if your search results include a specific link that has also been ‘liked’ by someone in your Facebook network the link will be highlighted as ‘Liked’ within Bing,” Microsoft’s Bing team explains. “This gets especially interesting for a query like ‘Xbox’ where my friend ‘Liked’ the ‘Kinect’ site and while our algorithms didn’t feel it was relevant enough to make it the ‘answer’ we reference above, we are still able to indicate that my friend liked that link that happened to show up within the results.”

This will be one clear advantage that Bing has over Google in terms of regular web search. Google has done a lot involving delivering social results, but Facebook data are THE social results that matter most – at least as long as Facebook is the dominant social site that it is today. With people constantly “liking” content all over the web, this can be a great indicator of relevance on a personalized level. It’s going to catch your attention when you notice your friend appear in the search results.

Bing has been running a similar feature in search results for several weeks, including likes from places like CitySearch, but there should be a much more broad set of potential results that will include “like” info now. It appears the feature may still be rolling out, so if you don’t see the “liked” results, you’re not the only one. I do get a message about it when I search with Bing, but after some testing, I’m clearly not getting these results.

For example, as illustrated by Bing here, I should see when my friend has “liked” a movie on IMDB underneath the IMDB result for that movie on Bing. I have tested this with a specific movie that I made sure one of my friends had “liked” and that “like” did not appear under the result.

Sports Tickets

Bing has also added sports ticket info from FanSnap directly into the search experience, so users can view ticket results from 57 ticket companies, see ticket selection and price ranges, find the best ticket prices, and access a “view-from-seat” feature.

Image Search

Bing has also made changes to how it presents and organizes image search results. “The first thing you will notice is our new Instant Answer that organizes a rich collage of images directly into the main results page,” Bing explains. “Once you click through to the ‘images’ page you will notice that we’ve populated the tabs with the most common search queries associated with a given image.”

“Instead of making you qualify that you’re looking for (Casablanca, Morocco or Casablanca, the movie), we have organized the tabs so that one simple click gets you to what you’re looking for,” Bing adds.

Local

For local search, Bing has added interior views, enhanced OpenTable integration for restaurants, real-time transit and Streetside for Mobile. Bing has partnered with EveryScape Eats, which provides imagery of restaurant interiors. These can be accessed by clicking “step inside” on Bing Local details pages (it utilzes Microsoft’s Silverlight). For now, it includes about 5,000 restaurants, mostly in Boston, but the company will add locations and cities over time. We’ll see if they expand beyond restaurants. Google has already been experimenting with taking pictures inside businesses.

Additionally, Bing users can access local details pages for restaurants that are signed up with OpenTable and search for available reservations from Bing itself.

Bing Mobile on the iPhone now has “up-to-the-minute” data for transit agencies (in Seattle, Boston, and San Francisco so far), and Streetside – Bing’s eqivalent of Google’s Streetview is available on Bing Mobile now. Bing has also made adjustments to its map style and a bunch of other updates to its iPhone and Andriod apps