Partnership with Microsoft expands

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has blasted Google over privacy concerns, claiming the search giant would not agree to certain terms demanded by the social network for its new search tools. Facebook also has dodged questions surrounding the backbone of its new Search Graph feature, however Zuckerberg explained that Microsoft will remain a close partner for web search via Bing integration.

"We want to work with any company as long as they'll honor the privacy of the folks on Facebook," Zuckerberg said during a Q&A session following the Graph Search announcement. "We want to give [Facebook users] the ability to take down content after they share, for example. That takes a lot of commitment from our partner, and Microsoft was willing in a way that Google was not."

The comments could be interpreted as an indication that Bing is powering the Graph Search algorithms that relate user content, such as photos and likes. Zuckerberg has maintained that both technologies merely "complement" each other, bringing a unified search experience, however the company has not formally disclosed if Bing is actually driving the internal Facebook search system.

Zuckerberg promised that Graph Search does not expose any user information beyond its current reach, though he did admit that the company faces challenges in explaining the privacy terms.

Despite the increasing awareness over content privacy, and ongoing criticism of the company's privacy policies, the executive suggests users will "fill out more information" now that the search tool exists.

"There are so many people on Facebook that you can get good signals very quickly," he added.

By Electronista Staff

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industry, Microsoft, Google, Facebook, Bing, Mark Zuckerberg, Search Graph