Google and Bing Race to Search Social Media

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Bing Will Search Facebook Messages

Twitter results won't show up in Bing's main search engine—for now. But Qi Lu, president of Microsoft's Online Services Div., said at the Web 2.0 conference that the announcement "is just the beginning" of how social networking results will influence Bing.

Microsoft also announced a deal with Facebook on Oct. 21 that will eventually incorporate Facebook users' public messages into Bing search results. That capability isn't available yet, however. About 19% of Web users post or read status updates, according to the Pew Internet & American Life Project.

While helping search engines compete with social media, the new features may provide a way for Google and Microsoft to generate additional revenue by selling ads that appear alongside conversations as they take place. The transactions will give each search engine additional insights into user interests, which could in turn be used to better target advertising.

Search engines have attempted to capitalize on the social networking craze with their own sites for years, with varied degrees of success. Google's Orkut has taken off in such countries as Brazil, but never became popular in the U.S. Microsoft runs search on Facebook while Google is responsible for search on MySpace, another widely used social network.

In another move designed to give Google a competitive edge, the company next week is expected to announce a music service that lets consumers search for, listen to, and purchase songs from existing online music services, according to a person familiar with the matter. Google is also expected to introduce a new tab for music to supplement existing search tabs such as Images on its main search page. Google spokesman Gabriel Stricker declined to comment. The music service was reported earlier by The Wall Street Journal and TechCrunch.

Music Downloads Coming Via Google

Google had been working for months on ways to let searchers get the actual song—not just links to lyrics and entries about the musicians—when they search for a song by name. The company was in contact with song sites, including La La Media, and reached a breakthrough about three weeks back, thanks in part to Google's R.J. Pittman, according to the person. In some cases, the deal will let users play a song once for free and then choose to buy a "Websong" (playable only through a browser) for 10¢ or buy the MP3 for 99¢. In other cases, users will be able to hear a 30-second sample of the song and be given an option to buy it from other locations.

The music features will help Google compete with social networks such as MySpace, which has become increasingly popular for promoting artists, as well as Apple (AAPL), which sells music through its iTunes Web site. "Owning destination sites [such as those focused on music] is more valuable," and is a hit with advertisers, says Ned May, a director at consultant Outsell. Google's music venture has already proved popular in China, where Google has allowed users to search for free, legal music downloads since March.

What's more, Google has the technology to eventually make its music search even better. Its Google Audio Indexing tool already lets people search audio in YouTube videos—say, to fast-forward to a certain point in a long speech.

Google's move could also prove to be a boon for partner record labels and music and Web radio services. "Its partners will benefit from a lot of additional traffic," says James McQuivey, a vice-president at consultant Forrester Research (FORR). According to WSJ.com, current partners include iLike.

With Peter Burrows and Rob Hof in San Francisco. Kharif is a senior writer for BusinessWeek.com in Portland, Ore. Ricadela is a writer for BusinessWeek in Silicon Valley.

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