Microsoft Gets the Blogging Community

Interesting article (Official: Microsoft Buys ME Lunch, Gives ME Private Tour!) over at the blog "Save the Intern" from some guy named Ben about a recent run in the blogger had with Microsoft (MSFT).

So this is kind of crazy. I don’t know if you guys have been following the comments over on my post here but a couple people from Microsoft have contacted me because of this blog! Apparently they’ve been following my posts about my tech troubles at work and through their commenting have offered some helpful solutions. In particular like their free online training site which includes training videos. Pretty helpful stuff. I really didn’t expect Microsoft of all companies to reach out like that. I guess they figure it’d be good PR for them or something. But, what I REALLY didn’t expect was their offer to take my buddy Josh and I out to lunch and give us a private tour of their office in Irvine! Kinda badass right? Needless to say I’m pretty excited about it.

I'm not sure when exactly or if it's ever been an official sort of thing, but it seems like Microsoft of all of the companies that I've seen out there interacting with bloggers consistently gets it right. Part of me thinks that early on when Scoble was still at Microsoft that he worked with their PR firm to see the light early, but I've been continously amazed at how open, welcoming and responsive Microsoft is to bloggers.

My first real experience interacting with Microsoft was back when Scoble was still there and he'd arranged for a group of us to have dinner with Windows Chief Jim Allchin a few years back. Allchin was in town for a press briefing with all the mainstream media types and Scoble and Waggener Edstrom had arranged for the dinner to give bloggers the same kind of access.

Since that time I've interacted with Microsoft and various Microsoft employees, visited their campus and have regularly been kept abreast at what they are up to.

And I read random stories and blog posts like the one above where it just seems like some Microsoft employee is hanging out reading some blog at random and takes the initiative to interact very personally with a blogger. Sometimes big blogs, sometimes small blogs, but interaction in personal ways.

In addition to Microsoft employees interacting directly with bloggers, Microsoft of course has many employee bloggers out there talking about Microsoft and what they do there. This is smart.

On the other hand I look at a lot of the other technology companies that I'm familiar with. Apple (AAPL), Google (GOOG), Yahoo! (YHOO), and rarely do I see this same level of interaction with bloggers. How many Apple employees do you know who blog? I personally can't think of a single one right now. I'm sure that they are out there, but a company like Apple seems far less visible.

I think what Microsoft is doing by engaging bloggers is a good thing. From a PR perspective, blogs are difficult animals and in some ways they are like herding cats, but the influence of blogs is here to stay. And frequently what starts out as some small blog post by some small blogger turns into some big viral internet thing promoted by the amplification systems like digg or reddit or stumbleupon and then the next thing you know the New York Times or CNN is quoting a blogger somewhere.

I don't know if Microsoft's blogger outreach efforts are part of some larger more deliberate and organized directed PR effort or if Microsoft employees are simply encouraged to interact where they see fit, but I do think it's smart PR and I think a lot of other companies could benefit from more blogger interaction.

I do think some other tech companies are starting to get blogging and the whole social media space as well.  Just yesterday I saw that Seagate (STX) had subscribed to my FriendFeed account (it also sponsored the Bloghaus at CES in Las Vegas which was a very cool thing to do) and Fred Johnson over at Adobe (ADBE) was very helpful in getting me early access to information about the most recent Lightroom upgrade. In fact I hope to visit Adobe's San Jose office very soon at Fred's invitation and will have more to blog about this in the future.

Comments

[top_tier:]

"I don't know if Microsoft's blogger outreach efforts are part of some larger more deliberate and organized directed PR effort"

Yes deliberate, you can start with yourself. The charade will never end.

Company's should listen to their customers, that is the only thing relevant to discourse to improve performance. Now, since you use these two companies as example, no one can say Microsoft listens to its customers more than Apple does.

The blogger world is fraught with agenda, both institutionally with the investment world and the technology companies competing. It's just a cloak and dagger chess game. And Mr. Hawk, you're right at the top of the A-list as a surgical tool for special interests.

2008 Aug 08 08:30 AM

[BMWTwisty:]

top_tier sez: "no one can say Microsoft listens to its customers more than Apple does." I realized my MacBook bettery life was getting pretty low for being a year old and with about a hundred fifty charge cycles. I have AppleCare and thought I check into what battery replacement would cost. I had a fee battery on my doorstep the next day. I've had probably four other hardware issues over the past five years and Apple responded immediately and to my complete satisfaction. Apple makes superb products that run on a rock-solid OS. The iPhone is just the beginning of yet another Apple revolution. They're not going to overtake Mister Softy but Apple will surely continue to gain market share for years to come. Mister Softy is a Yugo competing against a 3-Series BMW.

2008 Aug 08 10:20 AM

[mollytjm:]

microsoft has to blog to help people get through the mess of Vista. Apple just has great tech support just a call away AND physical stores where you can talk to 20 Apple people any time you want. Apples reputation as #1 in innovation is topped only by it's reputation as being #1 in tech support, which is topped only by the fact that it's OS is #1 for ease of use.
in a nutshell... Apple gave the world the iPod and Leopard, with Time Machine. Microsoft gave us the Zune and Vista. but who knows, in another 7 years, maybe they'll come out with something else. and maybe it'll actually work well.

2008 Aug 08 10:20 AM

[peter02l:]

Paying off bloggers for favourable opinion is good pr!

Of course, the same is true for paying off bloggers for bashing competitors.

2008 Aug 08 10:27 AM

[AlphaNumeric#1:]

"On the other hand I look at a lot of the other technology companies that I'm familiar with. Apple (AAPL), Google (GOOG), Yahoo! (YHOO), and rarely do I see this same level of interaction with bloggers. "

I recommend mattlillig.blogspot.co... (a Yahoo! employee blog)

Many times I'll take the keywords my readers use to find my site (using web analytics) and I'll build a blog post around them.

Using a Google service (like Blogger) to teach people about Yahoo products.....priceless...

2008 Aug 08 11:05 AM

[David B.:]

wow, really great point about how good cr-apple products are; so you're sying when they released garbage batteries hey actually replaced them after you pai for an called them and also fixed 4 more problems with the same lme overpriced junk? rght, super impressve case you make little fanboy. go home and watch some anime and let us adults work with te wonderful tools microsof provides for real business.

2008 Aug 08 12:28 PM

[FreeRange:]

David B. - you're an idiotic blogger who once again has no clue. Paid shill maybe? You never ever hear MSFT users being passionate about the MSFT products... Why, because they don't play well with others, and are overpriced, defective bloatware! Meanwhile, Apple has the highest levels of customer satisfaction, highest ratings for customer service, the highest rated products in the trade press, a significantly lower cost of ownership, and sales increasing faster than the rest of the industry by several factors. (By the way, Apple doesn't make batteries! Defective batteries came from Sony! Get a life...)

2008 Aug 08 12:47 PM

[Sam Stokes:]

I am one of the responders to the "save the intern" blog from Microsoft. Is there an organized PR approach to working the blogosphere at Microsoft? There is no organized effort at Microsoft.

The blogger (Ben) is a student, and my job is to interact with students. I have an open schedule next week so I have time to meet with him. When I work with student bloggers, they are always ask to report the truth.

So now I am having fun with this.

But nooo, I have to goof off at work by answering blogs. It is all about personal choice right? Now I have to get back to work.
Hope this helps out.

Other student bloggers from last year, that used Microsoft products, and some were negative, take a look:
a-team-george.spaces.l.../
rickpaniagua.spaces.li...
a-team-min.spaces.live.../
a-team-erin.spaces.liv.../
a-team-jon.spaces.live.../

2008 Aug 08 12:51 PM

[brewer:]

Microsoft are simply desperate. Everyone knows that by now.

2008 Aug 08 01:28 PM

[Doug, Mtn. ...:]

There's a good reason why "no known bloggers work at Apple." Jobs insists on lsecrecy for everything he does. That is indisputable. All of his employees are cloaked under a similar veil of secrecy. If they openly blogged, I think, they'd be gone pretty quickly. You or I may not like it, but that's just the way it is. SJ's attitude is to let his products and service do the talking, not some loose-lipped employee who might let some internal secrets go out the door.

2008 Aug 08 01:37 PM

[mythreecents:]

Hey Hawk
Since u just bot (and complained about on yesterday's blog) your second iphone (you hated it so much u bot another to replace the one you threw to the ground and stepped on), why don't you test out Apple's CS by calling them and asking them y it is you can't get more than 6 hours of nonstop and simultaneous internet/email/music/g... on a 3g network on a single charge? Maybe they can help you!! Or maybe you can just buy some MS products (since ur so enamored with their services) that will fill the void: a pocket windows based cell phone, a zune, an xbox and a vista based notebook (make sure you keep the notebook plugged in; max battery life is 3 hours with the best of batteries).

Problem solved Hawk!! No, really! Don't mention it!

2008 Aug 08 03:08 PM

[Toni +:]

Short term top today.

2008 Aug 08 03:09 PM

[Sam Stokes:]

As to Brewer's comment: "Microsoft are simply desperate. Everyone knows that by now." what do you mean by that? Microsoft is doing quite well and has a breadth of products that are very successful. For instance Vista is an excellent product, with proven security tracked by non-bias government agencies such as the NIST. Not to knock Apple, they make a fine product, but so does Microsoft.

For example security, go to the NIST Site: nvd.nist.gov/nvd.cfm, Mac OS X, 54 vunerabilities will show up for 2008 through August, do the same for Vista and 1 vunerability will show up. The page is tricky to use.

That is quite a bit of difference between the two Operarting Systems, in this case a smaller number is good. Although it doesn't prove Vista is more secure, I think that a conclusion that Vista has less vunerabilities than Apple's Mac OS X could be drawn. NIST is a US government organization, and performs this effort in a hopefully unbiased manner. Let me know if the data I wrote here is incorrect.

It is unfortunate that the conversation had to shift from the concept of corporate blogging to Apple versus Microsoft. In a competitive marketplace it is fun to have a lot passion around technologies. Apple, Microsoft, Linux, Joey's O/S, makes the world more interesting.

2008 Aug 09 11:54 AM

[kmca1989:]

i'll take a Billion cap corporation going into a contract for networking the entire firm w/ microsoft rather than sold-out malls with kids buying the latest gadgets.

then again, i'd take either, too.

disclosure: thoroughly satisfied vista/microsoft customer.

2008 Aug 10 12:12 PM