Wondering why Microsoft’s search isn’t being promoted on Facebook? Greg
Sterling has noted this odd absence a couple of times, such as in his article
today on a possible
Microsoft purchase of Facebook. Others have as well. The answer is simple.
Last year’s big
Microsoft-Facebook ad deal didn’t include search. I asked Facebook about the
absence of a Microsoft search box today and got back the following:

It is not part of our deal–our deal is directly for MS running industry
standard banners in US and internationally.

The big picture? If Facebook does potentially offer a goldmine of search
traffic, it’s still up for grabs. The
exodus of Googlers
from there to Facebook could suggest that Facebookers wouldn’t want to fall
under the shadow of Google in any way, not to maintain its “next big thing”
position with some. Then again, those Googlers might still want to work with the
Big G. Or Yahoo. Or Microsoft, which already has an investment. We’ll see.