Microsoft introduced msnNOW, a new multi-platform service that scours real-time sources like Facebook, Twitter, Bing and BreakingNews.com to identify the subjects and trends trending across the social media landscape.

Available across mobile phones, tablets and PCs, msnNOW embraces all facets of the social media dialogue, including celebrities, sports, politics and technology. MSN editors summarize each trend in 100 words or less, arming users with the basic details of the subject to keep them in the loop on what their friends are talking about. msnNOW also features icons indicating which social platform the topic is dominating.

Users can share msnNOW content via Facebook, Twitter and email, or sort specific areas of interest like Fame (celebrity gossip and entertainment reports), Soul (lifestyle trends, parenting tips and romantic advice), Sweat (sports updates), Wire (breaking news and headlines) and Cash (finance and business trends). In addition, msnNOW touts Demand Dashboard, which analyzes millions of Facebook posts, tweets, shared URLs and Bing searches to identify the major trends of the last 24 hours.

The introduction of msnNOW follows a week after Microsoft rolled out MSN for iPad, promising Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) tablet users a magazine-like experience featuring content assembled from sites and services across the MSN digital network. The free, swipe-enabled MSN for iPad is highlighted by news and video from MSNBC.com and FoxSports.com, alongside entertainment news and celebrity gossip from Wonderwall, lifestyle updates from MSN Living, and car information and advice from MSN Autos. All content is handpicked by the MSN editorial team and set up for sharing via Facebook, Twitter, Hotmail and Windows Live Messenger.