For months now, it has been easy to dismiss Twitter — the massively popular micro-blogging website — as just another internet fad. From the rampant oversharing to the B-celebrity feuding, some dismissed Twitter as megalomania 140 characters at a time. But not for long.

Yesterday, as it was gearing up for the launch of Windows 7, Microsoft announced that its new search engine Bing would include Twitter and Facebook posts in its topic searches. (Get the full rundown here.) And while this has been brewing for Microsoft for some time now, the additional searches, links, and finds for Bing users will increase Twitter’s already astronomical traffic.

Traffic is all well and good, but there’s the Gates factor. Just as the 800-pound gorilla sits wherever he wants, Microsoft’s approval of Twitter forces naysayers to respect it. Don’t believe us? Just ask Mark Zuckerberg. The creator of Facebook made headlines across the country when Microsoft invested $2.7 million into the social networking site back in 2007. Since then, the tech giant has signed numerous advertising and search deals, and Facebook has seen its stock rise, blowing past MySpace as the social network of choice.

As for Bing’s advantage over Google, the deals with Twitter and Facebook are non-exclusive and both sites have stated that they have spoken with Google, who plans to add live Twitter updates in the coming months. But Microsoft’s first strike signals positive things to come for all you twits out there — and an interesting twist in the Bing-Google rivalry for our hearts.