Introducing Microsoft’s Newest Search Engine: Bing

This morning at the D7 Conference in Carlsbad, California, Microsoft unveiled “Bing,” the latest iteration of its long-suffering search engine brand. Marketed as a “Decision Engine”, Bing promises to provide, “a new approach to user experience and intuitive tools to help customers make better decisions.” For the full text of Microsoft’s Official Press Release, click here.

With only an 8% share of Internet searches, Microsoft has long been relegated to third place behind competitors Yahoo (20% market share) and Google (60% market share). Needless to say, the company has been looking to shake things up for some time now, but will Bing do the trick? According to early reports, there are a number of positive aspects to Bing, including a clean and intuitive design as well as a logical way of grouping information, but will it be enough to draw users away from Yahoo and Google?

While Microsoft certainly hopes Bing will draw users on its own, the company is hedging its bets with a massive advertising blitz. As reported in ZDNet last month, Microsoft entered a 0M agreement with the prestigious advertising agency, JWT, to  market Bing to the world.

From an Online Reputation Management perspective, Microsoft’s reentry into the search market underlies a greater point about information access in the digital age. As more and more people turn to the Internet for their information, and the tools they use to find that information improve, individuals and businesses will find that their reputations online will come to define their real world success. This is why it’s important that individuals gain control over their online reputations now so they can better adapt to changes in the future.