Creativity in search

It feels like I've written a lot about search recently. It's been a lively few weeks with new launches and approaches making the field more interesting. I've been advocating to all sorts of people the merits of having a play with Bing. I like it.


In particular I like the big images they use on the home page. I have started dropping by every day just to see what the image of the day is. They make me smile and give me a nanosecond of escapism. For image search I find it more user friendly than Google.

But getting the apathetic masses to change their habits and switch from Google is a BIG task. So applause all round for Bing who've been pretty smart in twigging that:
a) people like the dramatic imagery
b) the image search is being warmly received and
c) putting that together in a way that will involve, engage and encourage people to participate:
The solution: The Bing Summer Travel Photo Contest app on Facebook. Brilliant.

Facebook is already the biggest photohosting platform on the planet. We're all armed 24/7 with at the very least a cameraphone, that these days will take half reasonable photos. Most of us respond to flattery and recognition. How cool would it be to have a picture you've taken as the Bing home page for a day? Wouldn't the chance of that encourage you to visit Bing on a regular basis just to see what sort of thing they use? Smart.