Microsoft and Klout have announced a new partnership between the two companies, which will see Klout's data get incorporated into the Bing search engine. At the same time, Klout scores will begin to take into account Bing search results and queries.
The exchange of data is part of a long-term "strategic investment" that Microsoft is investing in Klout. In a Bing blog post, Microsoft says the sharing of data between the two companies is just the beginning of the relationship. The exact terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Bing already incorporates social results into its search -- mainly data from Facebook, Quora, Foursquare and others. Now when you search for someone on Bing (and you have social search turned on), you'll also see that person's Klout score. On the Klout side, scores will take into account how often people search for that name and presumably which links are clicked on (in the case of people with the same name).
Also, experts who appear in Bing's "People Who Know" section of the sidebar will be recognized on Klout. The changes to Klout will come in the next few months, while Klout's data will begin appearing in Bing immediately, Microsoft says.