Bing Rewards Search Queries with Prizes!

Bing have introduced a new rewards system similar to a credit card or airline loyalty program that offers users credits that can be exchanged for prizes, such as; products, gift cards or charitable donations.

How does this work I hear you ask? Well, first of all you need to install the Bing toolbar, have a Windows live ID, be on a Windows machine and use internet explorer. No Chrome, Firefox or Macs.

Once you have completed that process you will be rewarded with 250 credits. Additional ways to stack up your points after that will have to be done by taking desired Bing actions or conducting search queries. According to Bing’s FAQ: “You can take advantage of offers to earn credits. Offers may include earning credits for conducting searches on Bing, setting your browser search defaults to Bing, or trying out new Bing features.”

Apparently 5 searches are worth the equivalent of 1 credit point and you can receive a maximum of 8 points per day. Below is a list of things you could potentially win if you choose to stay loyal to Bing:

So if you save up your credits for just under a year, you can qualify for a Scrabble game (8 credits per day X 359 days = 2872 credits). Yippee!

Apparently Bing have released this new feature to get casual users to become more engaged and have conversations with them about Bing’s functions and capabilities. The Bing toolbar will unobtrusively push suggestions, messages and new features to their users.

Microsoft say that they would love to gain as many new users as possible from a direct result of Bing Rewards, this is not their primary objective and they know it will be a hard task to break the Google habit.

Personally I think that the Salad utensil set has sealed the deal for me, its just too good to resist! (I’m joking of course).