14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft has turned attacking Google into some sort of hobby, as the company can’t stop criticizing its Mountain View-based rival on a daily basis.
This time, the whole dispute has been triggered by a New York Times article that explains how Mark Penn, Microsoft head of strategic and special projects, is trying to help his company make millions in the ad industry using some pretty controversial strategies.
Jill Hazelbaker, one of Google’s PR officials, was quoted in the article as saying that Google likes to spend its money on lobbying, while emphasizing, “our focus is on Google and the positive impact our industry has on society, not the competition.”
What she was actually trying to say was that Google isn’t evil. Microsoft is.
Microsoft’s PR boss Frank X. Shaw was outraged with these comments, so he moved the whole dispute on Twitter.
“Well, this is a fun kettle of fish. Could take a few tweets to unpack it all. Like a top 10 list only better,” he initially said. “So, @jillhazelbaker how about a little light? So far this year, Google has outspent Microsoft by a factor 2.3 to 1 lobbying,” he continued, trying to “force” Jill Hazelbaker to post a reply.
He then went on to saying that Eric Schmidt is actually blaming Microsoft for all Google’s problems, although it’s hard, if not impossible, to find an official statement of Google’s chairman that would confirm this. Here are his next tweets in chronological order:
And don’t make me laugh w/ another silly NYT quote about “Our focus is on Google and ….not the competition.” Really?
@jillhazelbaker says Google not focused on competitors. She better let @ericschmidt know so he stops blaming us for all their problems.
We’re happy to be quoted in this story, and @jillhazelbaker was not, but Google has been out pitching the story.
Turns out if you shine a light on Google like we did via Scroogled, Gmail man, putting privacy first, they run for the shadows.
Yes, @jillhazelbaker, that would be you. You may want to talk to @mattcutts for social media advice. Pretty easy to uncloak.
Want to talk about privacy? Name the time and place. And don’t sent the NYT next time. Or BusinessWeek. Use your own voice.
In the end, it all proved to be nothing more than a monologue, as Hazelbaker has never replied on Twitter. Maybe she’s playing hard to get or she’s simply adopting the same strategy as her employer, which refused to comment on Microsoft’s recent accusations in the Scroogled campaign.