Facebook takes over Bing search results with an overload of social recommendations

Microsoft is pumping its search engine Bing full of social recommendations in a bid to "help you make faster, more informed decisions."

In a direct hit on Google's +1 initiative, Bing is placing more emphasis on content and sites that Facebook friends have "liked," helping these sites bubble to the top of search results.

"Research tells us that 90% of people seek advice from family and friends as part of the decision making process. This 'Friend Effect' is apparent in most of our decisions and often outweighs other facts because people feel more confident, smarter and safer with the wisdom of their trusted circle," said Yusuf Mehdi, corporate vice president of Microsoft in a May 16 blog post announcing the more social results.

Facebook "likes" will be integrated across the board on Bing, furthering Microsoft's partnership with the social networking site and helping searchers find news stories, movies, music, brands and videos that people in their circle of friends have given the stamp of approval to.

Microsoft has created a new, downloadable universal "like" button that adorns the Bing Toolbar, enabling users to give the thumbs-up to any page on the web, irrespective of whether it has a built-in Facebook "like" button or not.

Google announced plans to implement a similar feature across the web back in March, but the web and search giant has yet to completey roll out its "+1" button.

While Microsoft's first goal is to deliver search results that are more relevant to individuals, the company will also be using Facebook likes to enhance its search algorithms. Using what Microsoft calls "collective IQ," top results on Bing will now be influenced by "the larger brain trust of the Web" (or more specifically the number of likes web content has received on Facebook).

The opinions of large brands and companies will also carry weight in Bing's new search algorithms.

"For example, when you search for Avis, the answer on Bing will integrate any recent Facebook posts alerting you to a new deal," explained Mehdi.

Facebook integration doesn't stop there. Bing users will be able to engage in "conversational search," calling on integrated real-time chats with their friends to help them decide which search result(s) to pick.

Additional search features that take advantage of the Facebook-Bing partnership include travel recommendations from friends who live in the area, flight deals to cities users have liked, and shared shopping lists.

To get personalized search recommendations from your friends, you will have to be signed into Facebook when you visit http://www.bing.com.