Feb
26
Bing Loves Puppies
NOTE: Video of what I talk about is at GeekBrief.TV. 
We’ve all poked fun at Microsoft’s CEO, Steve Ballmer, for running across the stage at an event screaming (video) what I imagine are meant to be motivational words. The last such event was the CES Keynote, where Ballmer talked about the success of Microsoft’s search engine, Bing, and said something to the effect of “We Bing! And we Bing! We Bing! Bing! Bing!” While most people I know think his tactics are silly and goofy, and a bit embarrassing, you have to admit…they’re memorable.
I tried Bing when it first came out, and I liked it. But that was it for me. Most of us are in the habit of Googling. “Google it” is the default phrase when talking about a search engine. I use the Google Chrome web browser, and googling something is as easy as typing in a web address. Before Chrome, I was using Firefox, where Google is the default search engine. Firefox offers users a choice of search engines by clicking on a drop down box, but Bing doesn’t even show up in those options. You have to choose “Manage Search Engines”, scroll through four pages of search engines you’ve never heard of in order to find and install Bing. It’s not easy to use Bing, and habits are hard to break. Bing’s biggest challenge to overcome is converting those habits.
This week, I went to a dinner at Central 214 in Dallas hosted by Bing to find out what they’re up to and where they’re headed. It’s part of my job, but I must say, I love my job when it involves delicious food! 
I learned a couple things about Bing, and got a better understanding of why someone would want to use it. Bing is all about discovery. I’ve heard that sales pitch before from Microsoft, but I didn’t quite get it. Let me explain.
If you go to Bing.com, you’ll see a different background picture every day. Think of this like Google’s changing logo, but with Bing, you can hover over parts of the photo to get more information. One day it was a picture of an Olympic snow skier, and Bing was sharing information about why skiers wear the pants they do…how the pants make them faster and better. Today, the picture is a line up of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. Hovering over parts of the photo, I discovered videos of past Olympic events and got 2 minutes, 29 seconds of smile-on-my-face entertainment with the video below, called Canadian, Please.
Visual Search was the thing that stood out to the most when I tried Bing originally, and I was struck again at how useful it could be when you don’t know exactly what you’re looking for. Imagine you saw someone using a camera while you were out shopping, and you were interested in buying it yourself, but you had no idea what it was. Bing’s visual search engine is intended to help you search for it by browsing photos of it, then clicking for more information. I gave it a try with a search for a dog I saw when I was in Atlanta last week. It was the cutest dog I’d ever seen (with the exception of my own, of course!), but I can’t remember what breed it is. Unfortunately, Bing left me hanging in this particular search.
While I was at the event, I asked you guys on Twitter for questions, and had Melissa Powell from the Bing team answer them on video. (Please forgive the background noise!) These are the questions you had:
- Will Bing app be any different on the coming iPad? –@alainbosse
- How can I set up a network for kids so they can use Bing but get safe results? Can it be done with a domain black/white list? –@MichaelAskew
- What is Bing’s social search strategy? –@bceverly
- Ask them about how they handle their users search results and how long they keep them? –@robbmcmahan
- How will they integrate Bing, Windows Mobile 7, Hotmail search on the phone & web all at the same time/same search? –@mbl4889
- Are the rumors true about Bing being the default on the iPhone?
- Do they like puppies? –@RadioConelrad
Will I use Bing? I will from time to time, when I want to discover, but I can’t see it replacing my daily habits on Google. What about you? Do you Bing? Do you Bing, Bing, Bing?
