Bing Offers Schools a Safe, Advertising-Free Search Experience
Microsoft wants schools to use Bing as the default search engine. The Bing for Schools program, announced earlier this week, is offering U.S. based schools a tailor-made search experience using Bing.
The program is open to K-12 schools and will:
- Remove all advertising from search result pages.
- Filter out adult content.
- Use SafeSearch by default and remove the ability to change it.
- Offer additional content to enhance digital literacy skills.
Bing for Schools is expected to augment the work Microsoft has done through their Partners in Learning network. The service will not require any additional software, but the announcement suggests Bing will “enable the experience across all searches from within the school’s network.”
Admittedly, Bing isn’t being very forthcoming with more details of the program. In fact, the Bing team still has yet to determine the details of how exactly the service will work out of the gate.
Bing for Schools will be a voluntary service that schools will need to sign up to use. However, it is a free service for those schools choosing to opt-in.
Matt Wallaert, Bing Behavioral Scientist, stated in the release that more information will be made available once the new school year draws closer.
“We see the program as something we can build alongside teachers, parents, and visionaries to create the best possible search experience for our children, and will continue to update you with new information as we work towards our launch later this year,” he wrote.
The value proposition is certainly there. Putting the product front-and-center in schools where students are forced to use them every day is certainly a strategy that ultimately worked for Apple. But with missing details the question of whether schools will sign up is important.
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