Last week Microsoft unveiled a ton of new features for Bing, and from what we saw, it was interesting and should slowly propel Bing to compete better with Google Search. Now after the excitement has died down a little bit, Microsoft has gone ahead and made the new redesign and features available to all users in the United States.

Unlike Google+ addition to Google Search that was forced on everyone, Microsoft did the right thing here by making the new Bing and its social network features an option-in affair. The new social features which utilizes Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and a variety of other social networks is Microsoft big plan to take on Google, and so far, it works a lot better than what Google has done with its Google+ addition to search.

On the right side of the new Bing design, users will notice a sidebar that wasn't there before. This sidebar is devoted to all the social networks you belong to; Microsoft calls this "Friends Know." The sidebar's main feature is to suggest search results based on what Bing thinks is relevant to your friends, which in turn could be more relevant to you. We have been testing out the new Bing and all its features and the "Friends Know" sidebar works really well, plus, it gives Bing a sleek new look.

We are curious to see how Google responds to this, and if anyone who uses Google Search a lot will make the difficult decision to jump ship and give the new Bing and its social networking features a try. If you're having a hard time deciding, we say, go for it. You either like it or you don't, but you will not know for sure until you give it a try.

No word yet when Microsoft will unleash the new Bing outside of the United States. Hopefully it won't be for too long.

(reported by Vamien McKalin, edited by Surojit Chatterjee)