Spent a good part of the day today at SMX Advanced, first at the keynote/”fireside chat” with Yusuf Mehdi and Danny Sullivan, and then in a session on Bing’s upcoming new Webmaster Tools.  Just as we were writing this, it appears as if www.bing.com/social has gone live:

We were just preparing to let you know that we had checked, and a Microsoft spokesperson told us that:

Bing Social will begin rolling out today and will be available in the U.S. only.

We also called Bing Social a search vertical, so just to clarify the official terminology is “a social search beta”.  You should be able to get to Bing Social if you’re in the US (let us know if it works for the usual non-U.S. workarounds).

OK back to Webmaster tools.  Coming sometime “this summer”, and “very soon” according to Bing webmaster tools Group Program Manager Eric Gilmore, the tools have been completely revamped, utilizing Silverlight “where appropriate”:

· The Bing Webmaster Tools have been re-engineered from the ground up to offer more data, including enhanced charting functionality, through a modern, improved user interface. The new tools remain web-based, and basic functionality will be available through most web browsers.

· The tools assess performance in several key areas, including crawl, index and traffic. Each area will offer granular data going back as far as six months with enhanced, on-the-fly adjustable charting, enabling webmasters to focus on the timeline trends that are most meaningful to them.

· The update also includes a new experience built with Silverlight, featuring rich visual charts to help webmasters quickly analyze several months of data to identify trends and drive insights.

More info on the Bing Webmaster blog.

And it sounds like we’ll be hearing quite a bit more soon from Bing: Ina Fried at CNET posted on her invitation to an event in LA on June 22 to…

(…) announce new updates to Bing. Following the announcement, Bing will host a special event focused on the future of entertainment. The event, emceed by Ryan Seacrest, will feature a panel of distinguished guests from across the entertainment industry and provide a full night of entertainment— including performances by musical guests at an exclusive after party at BOA.

Unfortunately, while we were able to talk our way into an invite, too, as it turns out we won’t be able to make it, but of course we’ll still be bringing you all the news as it happens.