Microsoft to power Facebook search ads

Updated at 12:30 p.m. PDT with more details on the search deal.

In the coming months, Facebook will begin powering its Web search and related sponsored text links with Microsoft's technology, in an expansion of a strategic relationship between the two companies.

Microsoft's search unit head Satya Nadella said Thursday that Microsoft will deliver an API (application programming interface) that Facebook can use to integrate both Microsoft's Web search and its paid search results into the social network's U.S. site. Facebook currently uses a homegrown search engine for its social network, and it does not include results from the Web. The deal with Microsoft will be exclusive for the United States only.

"That's something they will launch in the fall," Nadella said at Microsoft's financial analyst meeting in Redmond, Wash.

Last October, Microsoft invested $240 million in Facebook, giving the social network a reported valuation of $15 billion. At the time, the two companies signed an ad deal under which Microsoft would sell and serve contextual brand ads for Facebook.

Microsoft rival Google provides search and sponsored search listings to Facebook competitor MySpace.

CNET News' Ina Fried contributed to this report.

[Kwasiowusu]

Microsoft search head Satya Nadella had better concentrate on making Live search a heck of a lot better than it is right now, before he starts peddling it off to other sites, at(probably) great cost to Microsoft to make Facebook switch over. Let's face it, Microsoft Live serach resultss really suck big time, and that is after Microsoft has wasted billions of dollars of our(shareholders) money on paying idiots like this Satya Nadella trying to develop a viable search engine. Are these programmers who work for Microsoft search, just plain stupid, or just incompetent at their jobs? Why is that after wasting billions of dollars on search tecnology, they stil can't come up witha decent search engine?. Its time for Ballmer to deliver for a change.

[rapier1]

Actually in terms of results Live and Google are about on par in terms of accuracy now. Heck, for a lot of search the top results are nearly identical. A couple of years ago I would have agreed with you. Now though? The differences are minor.

[08Rabbit]

Ballmer won't deliver change.
MSFT would be better without him.

I go agree though, Google > Live big time.

[Kwasiowusu]

@rapier1, you think Live and Google search results are on par huh? Now why don?t we just compare a search of ?XBOX 360? on Live and Google, and see exactly how they stack up?
?XBOX 360? search on Live : http://search.live.com/news/results.aspx?q=xbox+360&FORM=BNRE

?XBOX 360? search on Google : http://news.google.com/news?hl=en&q=xbox+360&oe=UTF-8&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wn&oi=property_suggestions&resnum=0&ct=property-revision&cd=1
@rapier1, you think Live and Google search results are on par huh? Now why don?t we just compare a search of ?XBOX 360? on Live and Google, and see exactly how they stack up?
?XBOX 360? search on Live : http://search.live.com/news/results.aspx?q=xbox+360&FORM=BNRE

?XBOX 360? search on Google : http://news.google.com/news?hl=en&q=xbox+360&oe=UTF-8&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wn&oi=property_suggestions&resnum=0&ct=property-revision&cd=1

They are not even close.
Live has a very long way to go.

[igl00lgi]

MS couldn't innovate something usefull and at the same time functional if it was already half baked by a smaller tech company. Let them continue spending their tresure on hair brain Ballmer led ideas. I no longer own the stock I could care less.

[CoolArsh]

To Kwasiowusu
When did you last try Live Search. I have seen lot of improvement in their results whlie google accuracy has gone down because of all the loop holes advertisers know to put their results on top

[Kwasiowusu]

@CoolArsh, I use Live all the time. It's my default search in my search button in my browser. The trouble is, more often than not, I am forced to use google as backup, because the reults I get from Live are simply inadquate. it's like Live and google are seraching in 2 different internets sometimes. google is able to mine deep, and come up with results from everywhere, while Live's results are often shallow and suprficial, and seem to miss a big chunk of relevant reluts out there. just don't get it. Don't these people at Microsoft do any comparisons with Google in house, and then set out to make Live better?

[bwvla]

I wonder what the value of that deal was.