At least one component of the PR campaign for Microsoft's Windows Phone 7 reminds of me an Internet date. Let me explain.
The Windows Phone Facebook page has attracted thousands of people, much like free Internet dating sites do. At last look the page has over 385,000 fans, though it's unclear how many of these were acquired since Windows Phone launched in US stores on Monday. Numbers on how many people are interacting with the Facebook page were unavailable from the Windows Phone 7 PR team at Waggener Edstrom, Microsoft's PR agency.
The Facebook page encourages visitors to share their “Really” moment, a broad marketing catchphrase attempting to spark a discussion about the comical, rude, and outrageous smartphone behavior of people. The PR goal, in part, is seemingly to highlight Windows Phone 7 as a more polite-friendly smartphone.
But I have my own “Really” moment involving an Internet date, and I've decided to sidestep sharing on the Facebook page, losing a chance at winning the free Windows Phone 7 promoted on the Facebook page.
Our gourmet Pizza had just arrived to our table. So far the date was going alright, no sudden fireworks, but nothing disastrous either. As we began to eat she suddenly whipped a smartphone out of her purse and played with it for the next 15 minutes, totally ignoring her company. Really?
Talk about Jersey Shore, or the weather, or the trials of dating in an over-digitized Web 2.0 era or even selling rotary phones on eBay, anything, but don't pull out a smartphone during dinner.
We didn't go on a second date.