Although this partnership has been announced as early as July this year, it is only now that Facebook has finally integrated the Live Search service onto its website. While I fail to see how this may enrich users' social networking experience, the collaboration is obviously a big deal for Microsoft, with Facebook now the biggest social network in the world and quickly catching up to MySpace in the US.
Starting today, Facebook users typing in the search bar on Facebook will notice that a drop-down menu appears with a new option to "search the Web." Results will appear on a new Facebook page, with advertisements placed on the right of the screen.
Live Search usage is likely to increase and media buyers will get added inventory to serve up ads within the social network - which of course means more revenue for Microsoft. In its current form, however, the deal probably won't do much to help the Live Search brand, seeing that there's virtually indication that you are using Microsoft's search engine besides a tiny "Advanced search on Live.com" text link on the results page.