Microsoft Searches for Revenue With Facebook

Deal to power search deepens Microsoft’s ties with popular social network.

The message from Microsoft’s annual meeting with financial analysts couldn’t have been clearer: We’re serious about competing with Google in search.

Part of Microsoft’s (NASDAQ: MSFT) commitment to draw more ad dollars from search, what CEO Steve Ballmer called a trillion-dollar opportunity, the software giant is expanding its partnership with Facebook to power its Web search and serve up the related ads.

Microsoft said that Facebook, which by some measures has overtaken MySpace to become the most popular social network in the world, will make its search API available in the fall. At Facebook’s own developer conference this week, the company acknowledged that it needed to improve search on its site, which it recently treated to a substantial redesign.

Full article: internetnews.com