To give search engine giant Google a run for their money, Microsoft (News - Alert) has redesigned its search engine, Bing, with social networking features not likely to be found on Google.

According to Business Insider report, Microsoft is adding a new Sidebar to Bing search that shows user contacts and activity on all social networks, including Facebook (News - Alert), Twitter, and Google+.

Unlike Google, according to Business Insider reporter Matt Rosoff, the Sidebar separates social data from your main search results.  

“It also includes a real-time activity feed, and will suggest contacts who might be able to help you with a particular search query,” he said. “[For instance,] if you're looking for information on traveling to China, Bing might direct you to a set of Facebook photos from one of your friends who recently traveled there.”

The new feature can also recommend "experts" on particular topics based on their tweets, public Facebook posts, or public posts on other social networks like Quora.

Bing is also working on expanding its sidebar with information from other social networking services like LinkedIn (News - Alert), Facebook, Foursquare and Skype.

The changes were unwrapped on Thursday, according to Fox News, and represent Microsoft’s most dramatic shift in Internet search since the software maker introduced Bing as a search engine nearly three years ago.

Microsoft hopes the renovated Bing will loosen Google's (News - Alert) stranglehold on the lucrative Internet search market. In the process, Microsoft expects to turn a profit in its online division, which has lost more than $6.3 billion since Bing's debut in 2009.

Microsoft launched Bing as a Google alternative that would provide more meaningful results by helping people make important decisions, such as picking a doctor and finding the best time to buy an airline ticket.

In fact, for the last two years, Bing has exploited Microsoft's close relationship with Facebook to give search results a personalized touch. “It's an advantage Bing has over Google because its rival is shut out from the personal data Microsoft has access to on the world's largest network,” wrote Fox News. But, “Bing has failed to come up with an approach compelling enough to lure away most Web surfers from Google.”