InternetMicrosoft Searches for Revenue With Facebook

Deal to power search deepens Microsoft's ties with popular social network.

The message from Microsoft's annual meeting with financial analysts couldn't have been clearer: We're serious about competing with Google in search. Part of Microsoft's (NASDAQ: MSFT) commitment to draw more ad dollars from search, what CEO Steve Ballmer called a trillion-dollar opportunity, the software giant is expanding its partnership with Facebook to power its Web search and serve up the related ads. Microsoft said that Facebook, which by some measures has overtaken MySpace to become the most popular social network in the world, will make its search API available in the fall. At Facebook's own developer conference this week, the company acknowledged that it needed to improve search on its site, which it recently treated to a substantial redesign. A deeper partnership with Facebook revisits one of the great questions kicking around the tech industry these days: Is there actually money in social networks? RELATED ARTICLES Facebook Wants to Power Web-Wide Apps Microsoft to Keep Spending Big on Search Google Deal Bails Out MySpace Rethinking Social Networking Is There Money in MySpace? For more stories on this topic: Microsoft did not announce terms of the deal, but it appears similar to the partnership between Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) and MySpace. Under that arrangement, reached in 2006, Google agreed to provide search and advertising to the site in exchange for a minimum revenue assurance of $900 million... [ Read more on www.internetnews.com ]

InternetChina says has more people surfing the Web than US (AP)

AP - China's booming Internet population has surpassed the United States to become the world's biggest, with 253 million people online despite government controls on Web use, according to government data reported Friday.

InternetThe Big Business of Tiny Widgets

Facebook developers' conference turns up plenty of business models.