Microsoft Bing is integrating more tightly with Twitter through a new feature that recommends users to follow on the service based on the subject of their searches. The feature was rolled out this afternoon in the specialized Bing Social interface, showing recommended Twitter users in the right-hand column of the search results page.

It's the latest effort by Microsoft to link the Bing search engine with Twitter, Facebook and other social networking services.

At first blush the new feature seems a bit quirky. For example, when searching for "Seattle Seahawks" on Bing Social, the feature recommends following the Twitter accounts of head coach Pete Carroll and QB Matt Hasselbeck. But searching for "Seahawks" alone brings back the official accounts of the Seahawks, 49ers, and Carroll ... but not Hasselbeck.

According to a blog post by the Bing team, the recommendations are made based on whether a person is influential -- defined as "helping shape the conversation" -- or popular, such as a celebrity. We've asked for more clarification on how exactly those two characteristics are measured.

Twitter itself has gone through multiple versions of recommending users, shifting from its previous (and at times controversial) Suggested Users List to a new method based on categories of interest.

Update: Microsoft confirmed, in response to our inquiry, that the recommendations are made based on algorithms, not hand-selected. Here's the company's explanation of "influential" and "popular":

Influential: for a given topic, the user’s tends to drive a lot of conversation, which often means the user’s tweets are retweeted quite a bit. Having a lot of followers help, but doesn’t necessarily mean the user drives a lot of conversation.

Popular: for a given topic, the user gets talked about a lot. For example, if you an Entourage fan, the HBO account is Influential, while Jeremy Piven is popular.