If you were a betting man (or woman), who do you think would win in a social media face-off between the two most widely used desktop/laptop operating systems? In one corner you have OS X, Apple's svelte and sexy OS that is adored by practically everyone who has tried it. In the opposite corner, you have the various flavors of Windows, which have a much larger home and enterprise userbase, but haven't gotten much positive press in recent years.
If you put your money behind OS X, you're out of luck. Apple's operating system may have a fanatical group of followers and a reality distortion field when it comes to press coverage, but in the social media sphere Apple Inc. lags. Comparing the two companies' efforts, it's clear that there are very different schools of thought at work in terms of using social media for customer outreach.
Take a look at Facebook. A Facebook page for OS X Leopard has 13,664 fans, several dozen photos, and a wordy company overview and mission, apparently scraped directly from Apple.com. By comparison, Microsoft's Windows page has 120,593 fans, lots of active (and critical) discussions, a collection of YouTube videos (mostly commercials for Windows 7), and a number of links, special offers, and connections to local Windows Facebook pages in Canada and Europe. The "info" page is blessedly short -- 37 words long, compared to Apple's 594.
Microsoft has a similarly strong presence on other networks. The @mswindows Twitter account has 51,715 followers and more than 2,000 tweets, including links to new resources, giveaways, and actual conversations with customers. On MySpace, the dedicated Windows product page leverages the social network's affinity for music.
Apple, of course, is also known for music, and indeed, it has an iTunes page on MySpace. But the "Apple Inc." user on MySpace is identified as a 33-year-old single female in Cupertino who has just 171 friends and hasn't updated the Apple Inc. MySpace profile for nearly a year. As for Twitter, there is a Mac OS X (Rumors) account, but it has only 13 tweets and 1,131 followers, and it's not even clear if it's official. Meanwhile, the Apple Inc. account is protected, with no visible tweets or followers.
Microsoft seldom bests Apple when it comes to comparing the performance or functionality of their respective operating systems. But in the social sphere, Microsoft wins, hands-down. Apple is known for being secretive (something which has been mercilessly parodied by Fake Steve Jobs), but the company's failure to effectively leverage these tools for basic marketing and customer outreach should be regarded as a staggering lapse.
Correction: An earlier version of this post overlooked the official iTunes MySpace page.
See also: Steve Jobs' greatest Macworld video hits, 1998-2008 and Web 2.0 face-off: British Airways vs. Virgin Atlantic
Sources and research: Apple.com, Facebook.com, Twitter.com, MySpace.com, FakeSteve.blogspot.com, TheStandard.com, CultOfMac.com, Bits.NYTimes.com
Image: Steve Jobs, Macworld 2003 video screenshot
Comment below, or email Ian at ian@thestandard.com. Follow Ian on Twitter at http://twitter.com/ilamont. Standard updates and asides are available at twitter.com/the_standard and in our newsletters, and you can join our Industry Standard Facebook page and LinkedIn group.
Comments
We do have a MySpace page, www.MySpace.com/Windows. Thanks for the article. We have a great time engaging with our customers and fans!
Thanks Marty. I have made the correction.
Ian Lamont
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Article is poorly conceived... Yes I would definitively expect Apple to have fewer web "hits" in social media / networking sites... The point is not to measure the # of hits. The right way to do is to measure the # of hits per sold copy of the software. So if apple has 13 k FB followers but with a total # of OSX sales/yr of X, then they may have 1 user per 300 OSX copies (this is just an example). Conversely, if window has 120 k FB fans (10 times as much as Apple), however, the # of windows copies out there is HUGE... and the # of FB fans per copy of Windows - I can guarantee - is going to be way smaller than Apple... Now, under this context, what does this mean? Well it may mean that more Apple users become fans of Apple than Windows users become fans of Windows, which really can not say anything about comparing both operating systems. In my case I use both for different things, however I must say that for most things, I am using more and more of MAC - and only because it is simpler, streamlined, faster and crash-free... Windows is doing better... but has so bad reputation over the years, that now, their improvements seem more like they are trying to copy Macs (or Linux) than doing their own thing... but they are delivering better, more stable operating systems - despite the bad rep on Vista...
Big disclaimer: Mac user
The headline should be "When it comes to social media, Apple Inc.takes a thrashing".
I looked up Web 2.0 in Wikipedia and found a description of web design that make the Web more interactive and immersive. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_2.0
So I was expecting a technical review of, say, Safari 4 versus IE 8. I'm not an expert in Web standards or Web design, so I would respect an Industry Standard article about how much better MS products were than Apple ones if backed up with the kind of evidence you give for Apple's social media failings. But that's not what I got. Think about changing that title, please. You risk a storm of flames from Apple fanpeople if you don't. (I'm afraid you'll get some of that storm even if you do change the title. Some people think Apple can do no wrong. I'm not one of them.)
Ned You're right. I changed the headline. Thanks.
Regarding the storm of flames from Apple fans: I'm used to it :)
Ian Lamont
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Alex No one disagrees that OS X is a superior operating system to Vista or XP. I've been using OS X at home for more than six years.
But in the social media sphere, Apple is totally throwing away an opportunity to engage and help its customers. The company has a pretty good support forum on Apple.com, and has a marketing machine that's second to none -- at least when it comes to traditional campaigns and tactics. So why can't it get its act together with social media? Microsoft and the Windows team are doing all the right things (well, most of the time). Why can't Apple at least give Twitter a try, or improve its Facebook page for OS X?
Ian Lamont
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So this is essentially a piece about who would win in a MySpace/Twitter/Facebook popularity contest?
I consider myself a pretty easy going guy with a good group of friends on FB and a nice number of followers on Twitter ( @DarthSpacegrass ) - I am pretty reliable and seldom make any really stupid comments.
But I bet I can find a multitude of morons and ditzy chicks with quadruple the friends and followers on the respective social networking sites who continually spew nothing but inane garbage. That doesn't raise their IQ or their value - nor does it negate mine.
Just a side note - my home mac has been running for two years with no issues at all.
My brand spanking new work computer (7 months old) running windows XP pro had an issue when I logged on after lunch. My whole user profile seems to just have malfunctioned and I couldn't open any of my programs (paychex, chrome, navigation) which forced me to migrate all my files and blah blah blah - Windows is a pile of horse crap and should continue to celebrate how great its myspace page is because its browser, OS and search engine are tremendous piles of fail.
Joe: It's a piece about which company is engaging their customers more effectively using social media tools. Follower counts is only part of the picture (and, considering the small Mac market size, you could argue that Apple's OS X page on Facebook has relatively more followers). I also looked at the way the two companies are using the tools. Apple doesn't come close on Facebook. Its Twitter and MySpace efforts are a joke. They're letting down customers who use those services, and missing an opportunity to gain new customers -- in my opinion, MySpace could make Apple's iPod/iTunes dynasty even more strong if used properly.
My own side note: I've been using an iMac at home for six, and the same XP laptop at work for two. Both computers have had complete wipe/reinstalls in the past three months. Nevertheless, I still think OS X is the superior operating system by far. But that doesn't mean I'm blind to Apple's other failings.
Ian Lamont
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This article's claim is preposterous. Apple leverages what it needs to in it's own way and does just fine. Companies like MSFT need to play the social media game because it has major ground to make up on the innovation front and it has to aggressively market itself in every way possible because it has so much to prove. Apple can be more selective, and has the media eating out of it's hand because it has cooler products everyone wants. If Apple did these things, it would have a negative effect on it's image, and it's just plain not on strategy for them to do what everyone else is doing. Apple has it's own course, always has. Adding noise to the twitter/facebook/myspace -phere is not one of it's core necessities. People come to Apple, notsomuch the other way around.
Mixmasterdsr Thanks for your response. I have a few questions for you, which I hope you can answer.
First, how would using social media have a "negative effect" on Apple's image?
Second, no one thinks that social networks are a core necessity for Apple (or, for that matter, any of its competitors) but many of its customers (and potential customers) are using these tools. What potential downside would outweigh the benefits of incorporating them into Apple's marketing and product support functions?
Ian Lamont
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HI Ian,
Interesting article - must say that as a non Apple user (but super fanboy) this is sopmething I have not actually picked up on. I am aware of Windows' efforts though and I think it is really awesome.
The other comments and your responses just add to the 'interestingness factor' of the article.
Thanks,
Dries.
@Yaarik
First, social media is a new way for people to interact and exchange information. Corporations are not people, I don't care what the legal fiction is. Their presence in social media is largely pollution rather than a positive contribution. What I expect computer platform vendors to do is create and support tools than enable developers to deliver products for an entire spectrum of uses for their platform, including social media. Your headline when viewed by itself might imply that using social media on a Mac is a vastly inferior experience to what is available on Windows.
You may get more click throughs with you distorted and basically untrue headlines but you also get viewed as belonging to the tabloid school of journalism and dismissed as frivolous.
Steven You're absolutely right -- social media are a new way for people to interact. And, unsurprisingly, people at companies and other organizations also want to communicate, and some of their customers want to communicate with them. Look at the groups you belong to on Facebook, or the Twitter accounts you are following. Do any of them belong to companies or other organizations such as nonprofits or universities that you want to be associated with or get updates from? On the OS X Facebook page, there are many active discussions and most of them are positive about the operating system. Should Apple just shut these down because they are "pollution"?
Regarding the headline: I already changed it in response to reader feedback, but want to make it clear to everyone that I am talking about the two companies' social media efforts around their respective operating systems, as opposed to Apple and Microsoft's social media strategies in general. If you have a suggestion for another headline, I am willing to consider it.
Thanks,
Ian Lamont
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You failed to mention that Apple's iTunes page on Facebook has over 2 million fans.
http://www.facebook.com/iTunes
Hahaha, are you pushing your own agenda Ian? Social Media is not the Holy Grail, Apple has really nothing to gain wasting resources in such places. Moreover, the company thrives on secrecy, when they announce a new product there are tens of thousands of people following the events through dozens of sites in multiple languages in real time.
You want to be in touch with the company? Go to an Apple store and talk with a Genie or take a course, now THAT'S being in touch with the people. Yes, that involves the real world.. maybe that's what's causing your discomfort.
Jason Thanks for the link. Clearly, people want to connect with Apple products, as this effort shows. But it makes me wonder why its OS X presence is relatively limited on Facebook and elsewhere.
Ian Lamont
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Jeremy: If Apple has nothing to gain with social media, then why is it wasting resources building such a huge, popular iTunes presence, as noted by Jason? Should Apple Inc. tell these 2,000,000+ people to take a hike?
Ian Lamont
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There is also an iTunes MySpace page. I have made a correction in the text of the blog to reflect that.
Ian Lamont
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Woah, OK... that's very different, your article and my comment is based upon Mac OS X social media presence. Now iTunes, it's a whole other story. It's very nature, music, is much more natural to interact with. It makes more sense to post on FB the songs you just bought, your best playlists, what podcasts you're subscribed to with links that point to the iTunes store for immediate availability should a FB friend wants them to. It makes business sense.
Who cares about social media and fan clubs???
As soon apple is getting more sales is a moving target.
The article only shows that apple represents a minory (its true) but is better
being a strong minory with a nice laptop , than a frustaded and unhappy windows user.
"i think different"
Okay. It's = it is. Its = possessive form of "it" you are seeking to use.
Please. "It's = it is."
Thank you.
Quite honestly, I'm tired of being lured into blogs with ridiculous headlines and spin-centered information.
I came here via your Twitter, where you were bragging about how poorly reviewed this piece was.
Reading the comments – it's clear your logic and writing folds in and contradicts itself in various ways.
Where's the real research? Where are the analytics? Are you even qualified to write "news" about tech? (Sorry but "owning a Mac for six years" doesn't really count).
Trollism is the new standard for most tech blogs these days I suppose. Good work.
Johnson: The data is real -- I didn't make it up. I presented what was readily available to me on the main social media sites used by consumers. Were you expecting something else? And what are the contradictions?
I have actually been using Macs since junior high the early 1980s (started programming on an Apple II+ and IIe in my junior high computer lab) and have been writing about technology since the late 1990s. In that time, I've learned that whenever one writes about Apple and its products, some fans will attack any negative information or analysis, even if it's based on fact. It's reached the point where I've learned to take it in stride -- hence the snarky tweet.
Ian Lamont
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Ian, differences in the use of social media for Apple and Microsoft seem to show the differences in the cultures of both organizations. Microsoft seems to build their culture from within and spreading it outward - hence the large fanbase in FB and MySpace - and Apple seems to build their culture externally from itself - sort of like "let our customers do our talking". At least that is the impression I am getting from your article. I do agree that Apple is losing an important opportunity to engage with its community, but then if it is letting its fanbase/customers do their talking, then perhaps they don't see the need to build from within?
Am I way off base?
Apple is BS and before you act all silly, yes I am a Microsoft fan boy, yes I have both Microsoft and Apple products. Regardless all this jargon I see flushed all over the net, to a real analyst doing half a decent job comparing two very different world views. What it really comes down to is history, if you don't understand the history behind both Microsoft and Apple its probably best not to write an article regarding the two. Albeit there were some good points covered. However, I hope some intelligent readers realize Microsoft is a software company and they do a damn good job of it, Apple has always been a hardware company thus their hatred of Microsoft.
Reality in the big leagues is Apple in all its awe and fame, at the production level employs Microsofts assistance for many of its technology break throughs. Yes Apple needs Hitler to produce its babies, that might come as a shock to some but as I stated before it comes down to the history that you either know it or you don't. Fact is Apple hates both PC's and Windows, two elements it seems to iterate allot via its multimillion $ anti PC campaigns.
Now the reason why I like Microsoft, its simple really if we cant have Apple or Microsoft as a choice what else is there?......Linux? What it comes down to is choosing between the two lesser evils of society!
The point of this article being...? Apple does not believe in using the so-called social media. Er...so? All the positive word of mouth for them is anyway being done by Apple fans.
Mario: I agree -- the differences in the two companies' approaches to social media reflect their internal corporate cultures. I would go a step further with Microsoft -- it is compelled to leverage these tools and reach out to customers in more positive ways, after being badly burned by the first wave of online commentary and experiencing ongoing problems with its public image thanks to lawsuits, bad reviews in the press, and legitimate complaints with its products.
As for Apple, letting customers do the talking is certainly helpful considering the high regard its customers have for its products. But why not extend that loyalty and support network through social media? It's already proven it can do so with iTunes, why not OS X or other products?
Ian Lamont
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bhatnaturaly I would say it goes beyond positive word of mouth. Social media can extend that, attract new customers, help with support, and build more revenue through existing customers.
Ian Lamont
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I'm a big movie fan and you clearly missed the 1.1M+ followers for the Apple Movie Trailers section of apple.com and iTunes with daily tweets-
http://www.twitter.com/itunestrailers/
HUgh
I'm a big movie fan and you clearly missed the 1.1M+ followers for the Apple Movie Trailers section of apple.com and iTunes with daily tweets-
http://www.twitter.com/itunestrailers/
Hugh
There is a new follow-up post based on the many reader reactions above, plus a long email that one reader sent me:
Readers respond: Apple Inc. and the "unpleasant odor" of social media
Ian Lamont
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