Cool New Search Engine Capabilities

The two online search giants - Google and Bing (Microsoft) - have each announced signficant upgrades that promise to take searching to a whole new level.   Bing was first off the mark with what they're calling the "most significant update to Bing since we launched three years ago".   Simply put, they're integrating search results with information provided by your friends via Facebook and other online services.   They believe that most people consult with friends or experts before making a decision so Bing is trying to integrate that into their search engine.  Search results will now complemented by information gleaned from your friends in connected social networking services.  There will even be an "Ask Friends" box where you can directly post a query to a friend.   While it's not completely out there yet, you can try it at www.bing.com/new and see the Microsoft announcement here.

Google was next with their announcement via a blog post by Amit Singhal, SVP, Engineering.   You can find the full post here but the gist of it is a new "Knowledge Graph" feature that uses a database of more than 500 million people, places, and things to refine the searches.   Quoting Singhal: "The Knowledge Graph enables you to search for things, people, or places that Google knows about—landmarks, celebrities, cities, sports teams, buildings, geographical features, movies, celestial objects, works of art, and more—and instantly get information that’s relevant to your query.  This is a critical first step towards building the next generation of search, which taps into the collective intelligence of the web and understands the world a bit more like people do.”   

Wow!  Suffice to say that "search" is changing and it's improving quickly.  This is a great example of what gets imagined and created when there is healthy competition.   Which one to choose?  The best part is that you can use both.   Bing will still likely be stronger when you need a decision engine to help you decide on one thing or another.  Google might be stonger if you just looking for information.    Time will tell, of course.  Stay tuned for further developments.