Microsoft unveiled Bing Boards today, a new feature for its search site that offers a slideshow of content centered around a specific interest.
These “visual collections” include a mixture of images, videos and links that can cover any sort of search query, from an area of pop culture to a political issue, which have been created and curated by a specific individual.
Microsoft is working with a small group of food and lifestyle bloggers, as well as relevant “experts and social influencers” to create Bing Boards to ensure that they’re relatively authentic. The firm is keen to drive home that the feature isn’t being led by “companies of algorithms”, as is so often the case with other contextual or promoted search features.
Bing Boards complements existing search results and resides in the middle column of Bing, or the first sidebar. It’s an interesting idea that seems to take cues from Pin it Forward, a campaign created by photo-sharing site Pinterest to give its users new, compelling content from a source that they respect or trust.
“This is the first of several upcoming social and community experiments,” Chen Fang, Program Manager for Bing Experiences said. “If you see something new, play with it and see what happens – your interest might help make it a permanent part of Bing.”
Bing Boards will be tested with a limited number of people over the next few months. There’s no way to opt-in, however, so if you’re not one of the lucky few you’ll just have to hope that Microsoft eventually green-lights it as a permanent feature.
Top Image Credit: Getty Images
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