Twitter alliance to spice up searches

SAN FRANCISCO: Microsoft Corp has picked up a new weapon in its Internet search duel with Google - full access to Twitter's communications hotbed.

The partnership represents a coup for Microsoft as it tries to spice up its Internet search engine, Bing, in its long-running attempts to lure traffic from Google. A test version of Bing's Twitter feature debuted on Wednesday (local time).

If the alliance pans out the way Microsoft envisions, Bing will become the best way outside of Twitter's own website to find out what people are saying in their Twitter messages, or "tweets".