MSN Redesigned

The most significant update to the MSN Web portal since 2000 reduces clutter on the home page, provides more video and local information, and lets users add information feeds from popular social-networking sites Facebook and Twitter. The redesign may maintain user and advertiser interest in MSN by highlighting content in high-growth online categories, such as video and social-networking, and drive more users to Bing, Microsoft’s search engine.

Why MSN?

Since its introduction in 1995, the MSN brand has encompassed a wide range of online services for consumers, including dial-up Internet access, fee-based content, and desktop software applications with some connection to the Internet.

Since late 2005, however, MSN has referred exclusively to a group of advertising-supported Web sites for consumers, including the MSN.com home page and various informational and content sites, such as MSN Autos and Video. (Microsoft’s online communication and productivity services for consumers, including Hotmail and Messenger, were rebranded Windows Live in late 2005, and its search engine was most recently rebranded as Bing in spring 2009.) Microsoft licenses most of the content for MSN from partners such as Fox Sports, National Geographic, and Hearst.