Bing and Facebook announced a partnership yesterday that I found pretty exciting. When you search your results will include things your Facebook friends have liked. What does that mean? If your friend liked Texas Roadhouse and you search restaurants using Bing, Texas Roadhouse will appear in the results saying - Johnny D. likes Texas Roadhouse.It's all part of Facebook's grand plan for you to surf the web with your network of friends. Now when you navigate the internet you can take your friends with you. It is already happening on brand sites like Levi's - take your friends jeans shopping, and hundreds of thousands more sites. Some may say - what if my friends have bad tastes? Well it is possible, but really would all of your friends have bad tastes? I'm going to make the assumption that a lot of your friends have things in common, that's why you are friends. And for those friends with really bad tastes - a la Johnny and Texas Roadhouse, well it is a good warning sign to steer clear. Nothing against Texas Roadhouse, I just have a peanut allergy and can't stand the deadly shells strewn about the floor.
So what? If this catches on, this is going to force companies to include the "like" button on their sites. The more likes, the better chances for the search results. This will also allow companies who have done a good job pleasing customers to rise to the top - you are more likely to "like" a product or place that you are happy with than unhappy.
It is personalizing the web in a way that I find both exciting and useful. Are you on board?