Eh…hmmmmmm…
So I use Spotify free most of the time. I’ve paid for a month here and there, but mostly it’s just not in the budget right now, and that’s fine. I don’t mind the ads.
HOWEVER! That does mean that I get to see how hard Microsoft is pushing with their new ad campaign. Use IE! It’s SHINEY! NEW! Use Bing Search! It’s a social search!
…it’s the second one we’re talking about here today.
I use Google. I use a lot of Google products in fact. I have an Android phone, I use Chrome to browse, I use Google for search, Gmail, Gtalk, G+, Google Hangout, Google Calendar. Seriously, I loves me some Google. And therefore, I know something that Microsoft is apparently unaware of.
Google was doing the social search thing like six months ago, folks. The instant you signed up for Google Plus and agreed to the terms, your searches got “personal” results. You can turn ’em off at any time, though. Which is kinda the thing. You can’t with Bing.
Now, I did use Bing for a bit, because for a half second, they had the size-specific image searches and Google didn’t. I give ’em that. They were a step ahead there. But then Google picked that up and all was well again.
That said, there WAS a short stint during which I used the engine. I came away very happy to go back to Google. It’s not that there’s anything WRONG with Bing, but it felt clunky and rarely found the sites I was specifically looking for. The algorithms weren’t as clean, I guess.
Then again, it could just be that I’m USED to Google now.
However, I can’t help but notice that GOOGLE is not ADVERTISING their services. They just figure you’ll use ’em if you like ’em.
And that’s always been a big thing for me. It’s refreshing. Yes, they have ads ON their site, but they’re still, after all these years, unobtrusive, quiet, off to the side. The sponsored search results are actually often helpful. And I never have once had to sit through a Hulu or Spotify ad for them.
That pretty much does it for me.
