Slashdot Mirror
Microsoft Taps Bloggers to Promote Longhorn
Tim writes "With Beta 1 of Longhorn less than two months away, Microsoft is looking at a new marketing tool to help promote its new Windows: bloggers. According to BetaNews, Microsoft's "Team 99" evangelism effort will be composed of bloggers that will become Microsoft's voice to the masses. Robert Scoble said Team 99 was once secret, but has been revived and Microsoft is now accepting nominations. It's nice to see Microsoft recognizing the power of blogs, but the move is likely going to draw accusations that Redmond is trying to buy off bloggers to hype Longhorn."
Microsoft doesn't have the best record in this area, having been caught astroturfing numerous times. At least when you read an 'official' blog, you are aware that you are getting cooperate propaganda.
To make laws that man cannot, and will not obey, serves to bring all law into contempt.
--E.C. Stanton
Whoever is part of this "Team 99" will be consider shills and rightly so. There's one thing using the Internet to express your point of view. It's quite another to extol a companies product for their backing.
If this group was treated as an unbiased reviewers, I'd have more sympathy but as it is, it seems just another corrupted media.
-Teiresias
It's a good idea to recruit bloggers to advertise your product.
It's not a good idea to publicize that you're doing it.
There was an article posted less than a week ago about PR companies harnessing bloggers.... Gee, maybe Microsoft DOES read Slashdot.
My little site.
... It's nice to see Microsoft recognizing the power of blogs, but the move is likely going to draw accusations that Redmond is trying to buy off bloggers to hype Longhorn."
;)
That's a safe bet - MS could release a patch for XP that cured cancer and they'd still be accused of doing something underhanded.
+5:offtopic,but anti-American
I move to nominate the Bile Blog.
signed the MaD HuNGaRIaN
Do I hear a second to that motion?
It's paid-for advertising maskerading as opinion. It's misleading and unethical, and incredibly stupid of them to admit they're going to do it.
I, for one, after reading this, wouldn't trust the opinion of anyone who says in their blog that they like Longhorn; who's to say whether they actually used it and thought it was good, or if Microsoft paid them to lie about it?
All this does is create an environment where you can assume that bad reviews are probably objective, and that good reviews are quite possibly just advertising.
Don't blame me; I'm never given mod points.
that just the other day was reported as threatening people who posted screenshots of Longhorn?
Which is it to be? Do they want it publicised or not?
No, let me guess; only favourable publicity.
... and how much more I prefer working on my Mac. I don't outright refuse to use Windows - I've used all three major platforms - I just honestly and simply do prefer OS X. Lack of security headaches is a large part of that. MS still hasn't been able to keep the crackers out. When they totally redo their OS to be more secure, I'll feel more comfortable about using it.
i am a soviet space shuttle
good god. another reason to despise blogs.
Am I the only one who thinks blogs and bloggers the most over-hyped thing to come along in years?
"It's nice to see Microsoft recognizing the power of blogs, but the move is likely going to draw accusations that Redmond is trying to buy off bloggers to hype Longhorn."
Blogging was nice while it lasted. Corporations are quickly going to flood the channel with paid content. If you think the PR machine is powerful in major media, which has lots of people looking for bias, has some regulation, and which does not see $10,000 as any more than pocket change, think what's going to happen to blogs over the next five years.
Suppose Coca-Cola offered to pay Joe Blogpack $2,500 to do a column talking about a dead rat found in a storage container at a Pepsi bottling facility, how quickly do you think he would jump? Do you think he would care if the story is true? And if he did, would he have access to the resources to find out if it's true? Suppose news.google.com is running 200 links to other bloggers who didn't take the time to fact check - our honorable Joe Blogpack checks his facts against the tainted stories and even thinks he's doing the right thing.
Stop-Prism.org: Opt Out of Surveillance
Funny that you assholes say, "IT'S COPYWRITE INFRINGEMENT, NOT STEALING!"; but are say quick to say "M$ STEALS IDEA FROM APPLE!", followed by "MOD PARENT UP!"
Fucking rashdots.
Shocking! Shocking! A blogger might have an agenda? Next thing you know, there will be gambling in the casino, and prayer in the church...
Imagine how much harder physics would be if electrons had feelings! -Feynman, maybe
They could well employ a million of them, but what good are they if I never read their prose (that is if you could call it that)
I may well be the only one doing it, but I seem to automatically tune out to anything mildly looking like a 'web log' - in the new age sense of the custom at least. CTRL-w.
Same old story really, if I want it, I'll look for objectivity, not the rational (or insane) ravings of an opinionated and payrolled microsoft voice. (or any other corporate entity)
How is paying bloggers to hype a product any different than paying a traditional advertising company (or companies) to hype a product. If anything, using bloggers *could* have backlash not usually induced by traditional advertisers.
/.?" Oh wait, its an open invitation for more Microsoft bashing. We at /. can be quite pitiful sometimes, really.
Day 1: Microsoft hires blogger x for Longhorn adverts/hype.
Day 8: Microsoft unsatisfied with blog commentary.
Day 12: Microsoft pulls funding citing services paid for not provided.
Day 15: Blogger now blogs to anti-hype Longhorn out of spite.
Now, I'm sure that Microsoft will be using the medium in a way that probably won't bite them in the butt later on, but the possibility still exists. With traditional advert companies, losing the client means simply losing an account. With blogging, losing the client means making an enemy in many cases.
All that to say, "Why is this even a story on
Slackware could be a reference to the pursuit of Slack, the central belief of the Church of the Subgenius.
Circumcision is child abuse.
... the fact that Slashdot hypes it up is hardly surprising. If anything burns Microsoft it is that Slahsdot, a ton of other geek sites on the net and an army of bloggers hyped up Apple's OS.X 'Tiger' a proprietary OS without Apple having to pay them off.
Only to idiots, are orders laws.
-- Henning von Tresckow
People are getting paid to hype up Linux on Slashdot? Funny, they must have forgotten to mail my check...
- Kevin B. McCarty
WTF!!!!! They won't do secret stuff, but they legally obligate their volunteer shills to do secret stuff!!!! That's very funny.
Remember, you can't spell propoganda without NDA.
You are doing it all wrong. YOu have to say something like this...
"I really like linux but lets face it it's not ready for grandma. Nobody wants to compile a kernel just to make a game work and besides gimp is not nearly good as photoshop. Oh and autocad doesn't run on linux.
Windows used suck but it's never crashed on me since 2000 came out and let's face it XP has solved all the security issues with windows.
I love linux and sometimes its fun to spend five hours messing with config files but I use windows when I just want to get things done. "
The trick is to pretend you like linux while saying bad things about it.
evil is as evil does
So, what are Microsoft thinking bloggers should write about?
"WOW I JUST SAW THIS NEW UI AND LONGHORN LOKS SO COL AND IT WIL KIK APLAS BUTT SO HARD!11!1!!1 WTF DID U HAAR ABOUT TEH NEW COOL DOT NET TECHS!!111!!1 WHAT F3ATURAS THERE PLANNIG?????!!?? OMG I HAEV NO IEDA YET BUT IMM SURA ITL B AEWSOM31111 OMG WTF"
Beware: In C++, your friends can see your privates!