As a consumer of information, I find that Search Engine Optimization is beginning to hurt the relevancy of my results. For example, when I do a search on a Microsoft product, I expect to see Microsoft at the top of my search results. Unfortunately, many websites have figured out how to “game” the system so that their results appear first.  When I search for a movie, I will be led into buying something rather than getting information about the movie.

No longer!

Thanks to Bing & Facebook integration, you can now see what your friends have to say about a particular product or brand. For example, if I do a Bing search on Iron Man, I see what my friends have to say directly blended into to my search results. You’ll notice a new Facebook icon on the top right of Bing. Once you sign in, you now have results from hopefully people your trust.  (Assuming your Facebook friends are really friends whose opinions you trust. Another reason not to think of Facebook as a popularity contest).

Just like the Bosporus, the Microsoft sign in the Istanbul office is an ever changing backdrop, resetting the scene every second.

We are bringing 5 WebCamps to Saudi Arabia. Registration links will be posted on the Web Campsite.  Enjoy an interactive day with experts!  Each WebCamp is a 1 day session with 30-50 attendees, we recommend participants bring their own laptop. These provide a great way to learn about ASP.NET MVC, WebMatrix, Visual Studio 2010, Web Apps, IE9/HTML5, jQuery and more. Register now, as spots are limited due to the very hands-on nature of the camps.

• December 27th. 9am – 4pm Riyadh. ASP.NET MVC.  Register now!
• February 22nd 9am-4pm – Riyadh. Web Matrix (males). Register now!
• February 23rd 9am-4pm – Riyadh. Web Matrix (females). Register now!
• Feb 15th 9am-4pm – Jeddah. Web Matrix (males) Register now!
• Feb 16th 9am-4pm – Jeddah. Web Matrix (females) Register now!

The momentum continues across the region. Over the next few weeks Microsoft is sponsoring over 20 free Web Camp Training Events, Content and a Channel 9 TV Show around the Middle East and Africa. 

The camps are designed to be interactive with focus on learning through presentations that are heavy on coding demos. The objective is to help you build real applications using what you’ve learned, including hands-on labs, where you join small development teams with other attendees and work on a project together.