Some people in Seattle are warming up to the big blue beam of light that has been promoting Microsoft's new search engine for the past few nights. Among other things, it has resulted in some remarkable photos of the skyline, such as this one submitted by TechFlash reader John Murphy.

"I think we should keep the beacon," Murphy writes.

Meanwhile, there are new signs that Bing itself is winning fans in the market, or at least benefiting from media coverage and Microsoft's advertising campaign. Numbers from StatCounter show Bing edging out Yahoo for the No. 2 position in market share, as reported earlier today by TechCrunch.

Of course, the real test will be whether Bing can maintain or build on that position for the full month of June and beyond.

Microsoft is doing its best to make the trend permanent by keeping the buzz going. The New York Times has an interesting story on the ways the company is integrating promotions for Bing into shows on television and online.

In the coming weeks, the company will be following up its inital Bing television ad with new one that focus on Bing's specific capabilities in areas such as travel and shopping, said Adam Sohn, a Microsoft marketing and communications director working on the Bing initiative.

"Over time, the advertising will continue to evolve and get really deep into highlighting and showcasing the product features," Sohn said. "So it's a super-long-term campaign. We'll have TV for several months but we're not going to do the launch-and-drop approach here.

"We need to set up a problem, we need to introduce people to the brand, we need to show them why we think it can be helpful in core areas. That's a big challenge to do any of those things on their own, so this will be a big and comprehensive campaign."