Microsoft attempts to start an anti-Android Twitter trend, plan backfires
Microsoft has an interesting (and lengthy) history with viral and crowd sourced advertising and PR, with some hits and some misses. However, its latest stunt, where the @windowsphone Twitter account attempted to start a Twitter trend about Android malware, seems to have backfired and failed quite humorously.
I don’t have anything against Windows Phone, as it is a fairly decent mobile OS, but it just isn’t my style. Still, after the message that started this trend, I think that Microsoft deserves the kind of response it got. The message that started it all was first posted earlier today by the @windowsphone Twitter account, and asks people to share their “Android malware horror” stories, and include the #DroidRage tag. The message even suggests that the best responses might get a new Windows Phone device.
While obviously intended to spread horror stories about Android, the #DroidRage tag was quickly filled with unhappy Android fans praising Android and taking digs at Microsoft’s Windows Phone 8 and Surface devices. Many of the responses are quite humorous, although few look favorably on Microsoft’s actions or operating systems. There were a few serious answers, but these are by far the minority, and the tag page is filled with the responses of dedicated Android users.
All of the claims made by the Android crowd here may not be true, and as I said before Windows Phone isn’t all that bad. Still, without debating the actual points of either side, I find it quite humorous that Microsoft’s plan for viral advertising went so far awry. If anything, this is just a case of the internet applying its own justice system to Microsoft after the WP8 team tried to call out Android.
[Twitter]
