BusinessWeek reported a possible interesting development in a story it published April 14: “Microsoft is in talks to buy or forge a partnership with two-year-old startup Eurekster.com, specializing in social-network search, BusinessWeek Online has learned from people familiar with the matter. A Microsoft spokesman declined to comment.”

BusinessWeek said one of the many ways that search sites, MSN included, are trying to set themselves apart is with social search, “a targeted pursuit of information that’s influenced by the preferences of a person’s peer group.” It’s a method whose time has come, according to BW.

The piece quoted Eurekster CEO Steve Marder, the subject of an interview I did at PC Forum (see my previous post): “If our technology were in the hands of one of [the search engines or a huge media company], it would be a competitive advantage.” BusinessWeek added that he would only say his firm is negotiating potential partnerships with a number of portals and media companies.