Bing Integrates Qwiki Videos Into Search Results

Bing’s search results are getting a bit more interactive with the integration of machine-generated videos from Qwiki. The companies have just announced that some search results — currently those where a Wikipedia page appears — will offer searchers a chance to see and hear a Qwiki video about the search topic. The integration shows up […]

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qwiki-logoBing’s search results are getting a bit more interactive with the integration of machine-generated videos from Qwiki.

The companies have just announced that some search results — currently those where a Wikipedia page appears — will offer searchers a chance to see and hear a Qwiki video about the search topic.

The integration shows up as a single line below the main search result with a small “play” icon and a “Watch the Qwiki” call to action.

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Clicking that launches Qwiki’s machine-generated video right in the search result. Various elements that appear in the video are clickable; some will launch new Bing searches, some will take users to the Wikipedia page and others will lead to a video on YouTube, for example.

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As best I can tell, the videos lean very heavily on Wikipedia content, but Qwiki’s announcement says videos and even tweets might show up. The Qwiki for M.I.A. includes the computer-generated voice reading the first two paragraphs of the artist’s Wikipedia page word-for-word while many images from the page are displayed, but there’s also a YouTube video clip inside the Qwiki video. (A Qwiki for Mount Rushmore similarly recites the first two paragraphs of its Wikipedia page, and includes photos and a map of the area.)

The Qwiki videos, with their computer-like voice, take a little getting used to. I’m not sure how many people want to see and hear their search results, but those who aren’t interested in the additional content can easily skip it — the integration is very unobtrusive.

While the Qwiki videos are currently only attached to Wikipedia pages in Bing’s search results, the two companies say the integration will expand to other results in the future.

You may also recall that Qwiki is one of the sites that Bing is linking to in its recently-announced Britannica Online Encyclopedia Answers feature.


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About the author

Matt McGee
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Matt McGee joined Third Door Media as a writer/reporter/editor in September 2008. He served as Editor-In-Chief from January 2013 until his departure in July 2017. He can be found on Twitter at @MattMcGee.

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