Ba-Da Bing: All a Matter of Perspective
By Taryn Cooper, at 11:55 am on July 15th, 2009I found this quite interesting, but it all goes to show that the saying three types of lies exist: lies, damned lies and statistics. But I digress.
This posting has to do within five minutes of going through some RakedIn feeds, three articles came up regarding Microsoft’s (MSFT) new search engine, Bing.
The first one that caught my eye was from Dan Frommer of Silicon Valley Insider. In Bing’s First Month a Bust, the statistic from comScore (SCOR) that has been repeated today was that in the month of June, MSFT’s search market was up 8.4% from 8.0% in May. Frommer suggests that this represents a “bust” for Microsoft and Bing, regarding all the advertising and marketing we’ve seen behind the newly vamped search engine.
The second article made me chuckle, as it basically used the same statistic of 8.4% growth in June as a positive spin. This one, from All Things Digital and titled Another Bing Boost: ComScore says Microsoft Search Share Up in June. While possibly correctly assuming that this modest boost in market share might not bump Microsoft’s shares right away, compared to that of Google (GOOG), IAC Interactive (IACI) and Time Warner’s (TWX) AOL, this is the harbinger of positive things to come.
Possibly the most correct assumption out there is the third and final article I was able to read – the “Goldilocks-Juuuuuust-Right” theory that Bing Reverses Microsoft’s Decline, but Actual Gain Is Modest from The Puget Sound Business Journal. Ah, yes, perhaps one month of data won’t tell us exactly what Bing is going to do for Microsoft, but a bump is a bump, yes?
