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Adrian Kingsley-Hughes
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Did Microsoft use the "Firefox' keyword on Twitter to promote IE9?

By | March 22, 2011, 12:19pm PDT

Summary: This is interesting … searches on Twitter for the term ‘Firefox’ were pointing to a ‘Promoted Tweet’ featuring IE9. Did Microsoft purchase the ‘Firefox’ keyword on Twitter to promote its own browser or was it just a happy accident for Microsoft?

This is interesting … searches on Twitter for the term ‘Firefox’ were pointing to a ‘Promoted Tweet’ featuring IE9. Did Microsoft purchase the ‘Firefox’ keyword on Twitter to promote its own browser or was it just a happy accident for Microsoft?

Here’s the link (the IE9 ‘Promoted tweet’ is no longer being displayed).

This was spotted by Paul Roget, Mozilla Tech Evangalist who pulled up the Redmond giant, calling on the company not to be ‘lame’.

Sneaky tactic or clever tactic or just a happy accident that just happened to benefit Microsoft? Does it matter if a competitor does this? Does anyone even pay attention to ‘Promoted Tweets’?

I’ve reached out to Microsoft for comment and will update the post if/when I receive a statement.

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Topics

Mozilla Firefox, Microsoft Internet Explorer 9, Twitter Inc., Microsoft Corp., Adrian Kingsley-Hughes, Web Browsers, Internet

Adrian Kingsley-Hughes is an internationally published technology author who has devoted over a decade to helping users get the most from technology.

Disclosure

Adrian Kingsley-Hughes

All opinions expressed on Hardware 2.0 are those of Adrian Kingsley-Hughes. Every effort is made to ensure that the information posted is accurate. If you have any comments, queries or corrections, please contact Adrian via the email link here. Any possible conflicts of interest will be posted below. [Updated: February 23, 2010] - Adrian Kingsley-Hughes has no business relationships, affiliations, investments, or other actual/potential conflicts of interest relating to the content posted so far on this blog.

Biography

Adrian Kingsley-Hughes

Adrian Kingsley-Hughes is an internationally published technology author who has devoted over a decade to helping users get the most from technology -- whether that be by learning to program, building a PC from a pile of parts, or helping them get the most from their new MP3 player or digital camera.

Adrian has authored/co-authored technical books on a variety of topics, ranging from programming to building and maintaining PCs. His most recent books include "Build the Ultimate Custom PC", "Beginning Programming" and "The PC Doctor's Fix It Yourself Guide". He has also written training manuals that have been used by a number of Fortune 500 companies.

Adrian also runs a popular blog under the name The PC Doctor, where he covers a range of computer-related topics -- from security to repairing and upgrading.

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RE: Did Microsoft use the
upinson 28th Sep
@Return_of_the_jedi
Deal Special dari KrisKros.com
Deal Special dari KrisKros.com
Deal Special dari KrisKros.com
View in thread
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RE: Did Microsoft use the
Return_of_the_jedi Updated - 22nd Mar 2011
It's hard to say. But one thing is possible (twitter is full of XP, Mac, and some Linux), it may have helped FF4 to a record breaking "downloads in a day", by days end. Just wait til China wakes up and hit the dln button -- with all those XP boxes.

I see IE9 for XP in the near future.
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RE: Did Microsoft use the
upinson 28th Sep
@Return_of_the_jedi
Deal Special dari KrisKros.com
Deal Special dari KrisKros.com
Deal Special dari KrisKros.com
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Does it Matter?
ccrockett@... 22nd Mar 2011
Shouldn't Microsoft be able to purchase any keyword it would like, especially when they are clearly marked as such. If anything this was clever marketing on the part of Microsoft.

Microsoft is allowed advertise and promote its products, even if YOU don't want to use them, it is called consumer choice. Just like I CHOOSE not to purchase any Apple products, however, that does not mean Apple or anyone else shouldn't be able to promote said products.
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RE: Did Microsoft use the
Return_of_the_jedi Updated - 22nd Mar 2011
@ccrockett@... NO it doesn't. Just make them looks bad and cheap. And cheap they're not.
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RE: Did Microsoft use the
hvakrg 22nd Mar 2011
@Return_of_the_jedi

Sorry that's BS. Microsoft bought an add space plain and simple. It's no worse then any other add that shows up if you search for Internet Explorer on Google.
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RE: Did Microsoft use the
ian.aldrighetti 22nd Mar 2011
@Return_of_the_jedi Why doesn't Mozilla buy an ad for searches about IE or Internet Explorer?

It's just an ad, chill out. This is no worse than what *every other* company does. You can search for a specific brand and yet see ads for another brand that makes the same product, all in hopes you will buy from them and not who you were going for originally.
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RE: Did Microsoft use the
LTV10 26th Mar 2011
Sorry that's BS. Microsoft bought an add space plain and simple. It's no worse then any other add that shows up if you search for Internet Explorer on Google.

When I click on Firefox, I expect Firefox to be shown. Given that Firefox had a 2.5 to 1 download ratio this week, I'd expect no less desperately cheap tactic coming from Micro$oft.
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RE: Did Microsoft use the
jeverettk 23rd Mar 2011
@ccrockett@...
Agreed. I sort of vaguely hate MS, sort of vaguely love Firefox, and I for one don't give a rip.
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RE: Did Microsoft use the
Loverock Davidson 22nd Mar 2011
Not sure what the problem is with this except they are using twitter.
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RE: Did Microsoft use the
nomorebs Updated - 22nd Mar 2011
@Rick_K L and why don't you change yours to stevejobsa$$licker? That would fit like a glove to your personality.

And stealing the thunder from a competitor? Hey fool, don't you remember the advertisements from Apple saying untrue things about Windows 7 just prior to its launch? Where were you then? Let me guess, behind Jobs doing your job
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RE: Did Microsoft use the
Rick_K 22nd Mar 2011
@nomorebs
Maybe you should change your moniker to FullofBS. Microsoft bought the name Firefox to redirect people to their inferior product. OF all the browsers, only one is artificially limited to Two versions of One OS. That would be Internet Exploder. Plain and simple: this is a tactic to steal the thunder from a competitor. If any other company did this, you?d be up in arms over it.
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RE: Did Microsoft use the
nomorebs 22nd Mar 2011
@Rick_K And why don't you change yours to stevejobsa$$licker? That would fit like a glove to your personality.

And stealing the thunder from a competitor? Hey fool, don't you remember the advertisements from Apple saying untrue things about Windows 7 just prior to its launch? Where were you then? Let me guess, behind Jobs doing your job
  • Flagged
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RE: Did Microsoft use the
Rick_K Updated - 23rd Mar 2011
@nomorebs
Aww you do not like being called out for your Microsoft bias? IE 9 is the most limited browser there is available. You can only use it on One OS (Windows 7 is really just a service pack for Vista). Or has the time spent behind Monkeyboy clouded your judgement?
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Is Google not the only sneaky tactician on the net?
iPad-awan 22nd Mar 2011
"Sneaky tactic or clever tactic or just a happy accident that just happened to benefit Microsoft?"

This is really not sneaky in the Google sort of way -- it's not evil or underhanded at least. I wouldn't call it clever either because it's not unusual. I would say it number 3. Microsoft has been lucky in the past. All you have to do is watch the Pirate of Silicon Valley and see how the idiots at IBM gave MS the OS market.
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RE: Did Microsoft use the
phil.eldridge@... 22nd Mar 2011
Whats twitter anyway. Life in 140 chars.
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MS is innocent
davidr69 22nd Mar 2011
MS would never do something like this. Everything it does is fair, it doesn't use FUD, and it innovates.
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You owe me screen wipes...
NickNielsen 22nd Mar 2011
grin
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RE: Did Microsoft use the
xcallejas 22nd Mar 2011
@davidr69 jajaja sure
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RE: Did Microsoft use the
jhaksch 23rd Mar 2011
@davidr69

Thanks for making my day. Glad to see someone out there has a sense of humor.
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RE: Did Microsoft use the
fatman65535 23rd Mar 2011
@davidr69

Did you forget your <sarcasm> tags????
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RE: Did Microsoft use the
ditkazbearz 22nd Mar 2011
There's nothing wrong with it, At least they didnt run a "let's set the record for downloads " extravaganza like ffox did for 3.0 and then release a turd unready browser lol
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A Paid Accident?
ksarkies@... 22nd Mar 2011
Many search engines seem to display the results of a search not in order of relevance, but in order of the amount of dollars paid out to promote the client's site. Would Twitter be any different?
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RE: Did Microsoft use the
ian.aldrighetti 22nd Mar 2011
@ksarkies@... I would think with Twitter you set specific terms that cause the ad to show up. So unless Twitter just says "Tell us the product you are advertising, give us the money, and we will do the rest" and "the rest" being deciding when to display it, it is Microsoft's direct doing wink
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RE: Did Microsoft use the
jorjitop 22nd Mar 2011
If they did, it was an act of desperation.
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RE: Did Microsoft use the
hungryjoe 22nd Mar 2011
The worst part is that through their actions Microsoft is helping keep the completely free service that twitter provides completely free.

Unless you like twitter of course, in which case: Thanks, Microsoft, for helping keep twitter's completely free service completely free!
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Blogging for mudslinging Microsoft...
transposeIT Updated - 23rd Mar 2011
Adrian, why not search for IE9 in Google and tell me if Chrome doesn't come up at the top of the list...Why don't you blog about that...
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RE: Did Microsoft use the
FlatbushE21 23rd Mar 2011
@transposeIT Because it wouldn't give the notion that Microsoft is doing something bad, plain and simple.
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I Just Tried That, and Saw No Mention of Chrome
CFWhitman 24th Mar 2011
@transposeIT
Did they change it since you posted so that it doesn't come up? I tried the terms "ie9" and "internet explorer 9" and didn't find any links to Chrome.
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Lol ...
Ludovit 23rd Mar 2011
This reminds me of a very funny situation here in Canada. We have two main Beer manufacturers, Molsons, and Labatts (plus several others, but they are by far the biggest) ... Labatts best selling beer is called "Blue", oddly enough, Molsons back in the 30s had a beer called Blue, and never released the name ... so now, Molsons makes money on every bottle of Blue that Labatts sells ...

Ludo
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RE: Did Microsoft use the
pjdiller 23rd Mar 2011
not sure I care. Seems like this topic invites the kind of comments we see today.
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RE: Did Microsoft use the
ejhonda 23rd Mar 2011
Dear ZDNet - please send me information on how I can give you $$$ and in return you place any comment I make on an article appear at the top. Because as we all know, it shouldn't be dependent on who first made a comment, or who has the most relevant content that dictates placement: it should be about the Benjamins. Thank you.
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RE: Did Microsoft use the
NZJester 6th Apr 2011
This very short article does tend to look a bit like troll bait to me. I'm sure it popping up was more to do with twitter wanting to get future advertising money from Microsoft by them making it pop up on a search for any web browser. Most of these sort of decisions tend to be made by those receiving the advertising money rater than at the request of the advertiser. After all Microsoft would be reluctant to do to much more advertising with twitter if there promoted tweet did not pop up very often due to few people actually searching for the terms relating to IE9.

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