Microsoft’s Bing beats Google to emoji search

Monday, October 27, 2014
microsoft today added emoji support to Bing, allowing users to search using the characters and get back results based on the semantic meaning of the emoji. The feature has been added to Bing search in all English markets, both on desktop and mobile. For those who have never used emoji before, they are small pictures used to express an idea or emotion. They started being used in Japanese electronic messages and webpages, but their use is spreading outside of Japan. You can search for individual emoji: You can also search using a combination of multiple emoji characters, or even emoji and words: Searching for individual emoji usually returns results helping you understand the meaning of certain characters. This can be useful if you're not sure what someone just sent you. It can also be a quick way to find more information about a term if you simply prefer using the emoji rather than typing out the full word. Combination searches just show how much effort microsoft put in to get this feature right. If you're going to add emoji support, you might as well implement it in a way that lets users do anything they would normally do with any other search. So yes, you can string emoji characters together to create new meanings. The whole is greater than the sum of its parts: More to follow. Mobile developer or publisher? VentureBeat is studying mobile marketing automation. Fill out our 5-minute survey , and we'll share the data with you. Mic ...

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