This afternoon Facebook launched the web search tool that’s powered by Microsoft Live. When you search for items within Facebook’s global search box at the top of the site, you receive the option to “Search the Web” if no results show up immediately for contacts in your contact list. This is a big moment for Facebook. One thing I noticed is that the ads displayed are relevant to the keywords entered and not to your profile data.

I assume that’s because the advertisements in search are being powered by Microsoft. I’ve been writing consistently about how search is the future of Facebook. This is a huge step in that direction. While the search doesn’t appear to integrate Facebook and general web results, at least you can now search the web from withing Facebook.

I have a feeling that Facebook’s revenue just got a serious boost from this new search integration. I think the tool will need some refining over the coming days but this is a huge step forward for Facebook. Hat tip to Harshil Karia for giving us a heads up.