Shame on you Microsoft, for buying a Promoted Tweet for "Firefox".

twitpic.com

6 points·rbanffy··8 comments

Actually, that's kinda awesome. Talk about effective use of marketing.

Why is that shameful? Buying AdWords for competitor searches on Google is standard practice, why should Twitter be any different?

Competing aggressively against a non-profit? Classy!

How does Firefox's tax status have anything to do with Microsoft's business objectives? I hate IE as much as the next guy, but I don't see how Microsoft marketing their business is morally questionable just because their competitor gets tax breaks and doesn't pay dividends to shareholders.

What would you think of a paid-but-cheap clinic with shady methods and far-from-best care practices (let's say they kill or mutilate 2% of their patients) that targets search-advertisements towards people in need of free healthcare?

Oh, and according to Tom Warren, of Winrumors, "The company was quick to trash the marketing stunt after complaints started rolling-in on the social networking site." so, they probably realize it didn't get down well with the public.

I agree that IE is a bad product, and that this marketing campaign may even have been counter-effective. I still don't see how a bad product or a bad marketing campaign are "evil". That being said, my life as a web developer would be better if IE disappeared off the face of the earth, but I don't forecast that happening any time soon :(

How much would a "Try Fedora/Ubuntu/etc. Live CD for Free" promoted tweet cost when the next version of Windows ships?

I don't know. Kickstarter to the rescue?

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