14 DAY TRIAL // Bing launched a new program yesterday, that offers Bing users the opportunity to earn credits convertible into merchandise rewards or a chance to donate these credits to education charities, all for their online searches.
The program is called Bing Rewards (completely different from Bing Cashback which was stopped last June) and it is launched only in the United States for now, but Bing is “looking forward to collecting user feedback to help shape and improve the program,” so if you are in the US and you want to use the Bing Bar, you can sign up.
The principle is simple and a lot like all other loyalty programs for credit cards, grocery stores or travel programs: you perform all your online searches on Bing and you get rewarded for it.
After joining Bing Rewards users will receive offers available via the Bing Bar, including trying Bing features, searching on Bing or just learning new stuff about the world.
Because by searching on Bing you earn credits, you can go to the Rewards redemption center and turn your credits into rewards like Microsoft Point - Xbox, Zune, and Games for Windows users -, gifts cards, electronics, music, games, Bing gear, or make charitable donations to DonorsChoose.org ,Teach For America, and Summer Search - among others, and much more.
The choice of the rewards will be regularly updated, and the current Bing Rewards catalogue can be seen here.
Prizes are redeemable at any time, and the shipping is free, but only possible within the 50 United States.
The Bing Rewards program is free to sign up, and users will receive 250 credits after registering.
You need to register for Bing Rewards, download the Bing Toolbar and log in with your Windows Live ID.
Keep in mind that the reward program only supports Internet Explorer 7 or higher on Windows XP SP2, Vista or Windows 7.