14 DAY TRIAL // An incentive program that allows users to take advantage of rewards for leveraging Microsoft’s search / decision engine has been expanded to cover browsers and platforms beyond Internet Explorer and Windows. Bing Rewards is now available to the largest audience since its introduction in September 2010.
In order to broaden access to Bing Rewards, Microsoft is no longer limiting participation into the program to IE and Bing Bar users.
Instead, customers running browsers such as Firefox, Chrome, and Safari can also take advantage of a plethora of rewards, provided that they use Bing.
“With Bing Rewards, members are exposed to all the great features Bing has to offer while earning credits that are redeemable for rewards,” revealed Rafael Grijalva, Bing Rewards.
“Offers notify members about free ways to earn credits, which could include searching on Bing, checking out new features, or learning about ways that Bing can help you make faster and more informed decisions.
“Offers and the number of credits you receive for completing them change regularly so make sure to click the Rewards button in the header to check out your latest earning opportunities.”
According to Grijalva, this step in the evolution of Bing Rewards was catalyzed by feedback from users which wanted to get access to the incentives even though they weren’t running IE or the Bing Bar.
It was user input that catalyzed the integration of Bing Rewards right into the Bing header, as well as the expansion of support to rival browsers and platforms.
But not only are the Bing incentives available to a broader audience, Microsoft also introduced new rewards and ways to redeem them.
The main caveat of Bing Rewards remains the fact that the program is restricted to users in the United States. The Redmond company provided no indication of plans to internationalize the incentive program.
“Rewards include a wide selection of gift cards (Amazon, Starbucks, Crate & Barrel and more), Microsoft Points for Xbox LIVE Marketplace, Xbox LIVE Gold subscriptions, charitable donations, Facebook Credits, Farm Cash for FarmVille, and sweepstakes entries for a trip to Hawaii, Xbox Kinect bundle and cash,” Grijalvaadded.
“In the coming months we’ll be adding digital subscriptions for Zune Pass, Slacker Radio, and Gamefly.”