Bing is about to get more user friendly thanks to a Facebook-inspired makeover. The new three-column results layout, set to debut over the next few weeks, is Microsoft's first foray into social search-results. The main column will still emphasize core web results, while a center "Snapshot" section provides instant access to services like restaurant rankings or hotel comparisons. On the far right is the most notable addition, a grey-colored "Sidebar" that allows a searcher to scour Facebook and other social networks for answers. (To see examples, click here.) The new Bing has a clear philosophical difference from Google's contentious take on social search, which obtrusively mixes Google Plus search results in with a user's main feed. "We're honoring the purity of the core web results making it easier to focus on the links you need to get things done," writes Bing in a blog post. Could the savvy new redesign snag a few Googlers away?
This relaunch comes at the perfect time: In January, many felt that Google's "Search Plus Your World" feature "shoved too much personal information and too much Google+ification into the listings," says Danny Sullivan at Search Engine Land. Now here's Bing, with a "clean redesign that looks like the Google of old, with social shoved off to the side where it's around if you want it, but not in your face."
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