Search Shift - March 2012 'Net Briefs

Move over, Yahoo, there’s a new No. 2 in the U.S. search market. And while Google may not have to worry about losing the top spot just yet, a recent move may eventually jeopardize its longstanding dominance. Microsoft’s Bing (15.1 percent) officially knocked the faltering Yahoo (14.5 percent) down a peg in December 2011, and now trails only Google in overall market share. Google, however, which still accounts for nearly 66 percent of the market share, alienated many users in January 2012 by integrating its social network Google+ into search results. Many believe that Bing is poised to earn an even larger share as a result, making the next several search reports worth watching.