For instance, a user might search for a great local bike shop. Along with the usual search results, there will be a "people you know who may know" social sidebar that offers up bike shops that friends have "liked" or commented on.

The social sidebar also is designed to let users ask their friends questions about their query topic, and those friends can respond either through Bing or Facebook, Microsoft said.

"Contrary to their history of unnecessarily overcomplicating software, Microsoft has shown a knack with Bing for boiling down functionality to a useful level," said Brad Shimmin, an analyst at CurrentAnalysis. "I think if anything, it will entice consumers to try Microsoft Bing."

Since in the summer of 2009, the company faced a daunting task in taking on Google's dominant search engine.

Since then, Google has remained dominant. Despite all of Microsoft's efforts, including an upgrade in 2011, Bing simply hasn't been able to take a significant bite out of Google's share.