As bedfellows go, Microsoft and Facebook have had something of an open relationship; a knot of social / search entanglement that recently yielded Graph Search, among other crossovers. But, as of Wednesday, the two companies are looking to take things even further by building upon the work started with Bing Tags last summer. The integration, which previously allowed users to tag themselves or Facebook friends on sites and search queries for more personal feedback, will now extend beyond a user’s inner circle and be made available to a “broader audience.” Of course, privacy here is key (as we also learned from Facebook’s last press event) and Microsoft’s making it abundantly clear that this is opt-in. So, unless you give explicit approval for your tags to appear out-of-network, they won’t — only your friends will have access to those results.
About Shelly Palmer
Shelly Palmer is the Professor of Advanced Media in Residence at Syracuse University’s S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications and CEO of The Palmer Group, a consulting practice that helps Fortune 500 companies with AI strategy, implementation and governance, as well as technology, media and marketing. Named one of LinkedIn’s Top Voices in Technology, he is a bestselling author, covers tech and business for Fox 5’s Good Day New York, is a regular commentator on CNN, and writes the popular daily business blog Think About This. Follow @shellypalmer or visit shellypalmer.com.