Community Affairs

So when researching community affairs within the Microsoft company, I naturally assumed that I would just find a lot of monetary donations. I did find this to be true - but it was interested in who they were donating to. The thing that really interested me about Microsoft's community relations was their dedication to Washington state. They have many different programs. First is the category of education.  The lead the Higher Education Funding Task force so this way more people have the opportunity to afford college.  With the K-12 programs in Washington state they support MathCounts - which is a middle school nation - wide program the gives students incentives to succeed in math.

Another branch of of support to Washington state by Microsoft is to their public transportation system.  They are giving money to rebuild bridges and support the public transportation system. They also provide charter buses, incentives for carpooling, guarantee ride high program which you get 6 free cab rides a year, as well as incentives for taking alternative transportation like biking.'

The last aspect of community relations of Microsoft to Washington State is the volunteering programs. I didn't except to see this because I figured Microsoft would just rather write a check than give up their time. "Team-based volunteering events expose employees to community needs and inspire a longer-term relationship through community-wide service opportunities, such as the United Way's annual Day of Caring, and Seattle Works Day, sponsored by the Hands On Network."

Media Relations with Microsoft

This week our assignment was to review our company's media relations. I found this to show a different side to Microsoft compared to the social media we studied last week. The social media is used to draw in a younger crowd - the media relations takes on the professionals and people in the field. The media relations done with the company tends to lean towards newspapers and trade publications. They shoot out a lot of stock information and new product lines in their press releases.  I also noticed that for their boiler plate they constantly have two - one for the part of Microsoft the press release is about (for instance Microsoft Office or Dynamics) and then they just have a two line boiler about the company as a whole.  The last thing I noticed about Microsoft was that for the past couple of months every press release was something positive. They haven't had a crisis lately; or if they have they just hadn't used the press release as a communication tool.

Social Networking with Microsoft

After doing some research on Microsoft I found that they have a pretty decent handle on the social media aspect. The first account I looked at was their twitter accounts. They have four "official" pages, they are: Microsoft News were they keep clients up-to-date on the latest with Microsoft; Microsoft Windows - here they seem to be tweeting back to a lot of people answering questions or concerns with this outreach; Microsoft this is where people learn fun tips (I just learned how to add my name to spell check so it stops saying I spelled my last name wrong!) and finally Microsoft Office - tips on working with the Office programs.

Second thing I looked at for social media was what they were doing Facebook wise. The very first page that pops up is the Microsoft Windows U College Tour 2010/11 - it directs you to a Microsoft student link were on the left is available for Windows 7 upgrade and on the right are tips of the day, free downloads, and tutorials. I thought that this was very strategic because college kids are constantly wanting to know the 'ins and outs' of their computer programs.  The official Microsoft Facebook page is done fantastically. They immediately showcase their top news and a viewer can clearly see their "likes" (all other Microsoft pages on Facebook).  I was really interested in their Wall though. It was interesting because it seemed like it was polluted with spam (hate post and people trying to advertise other products) while people who have questions went unanswered.

The last part of social media is their blogs. I think that they do a good job with them. They are very easy to find - going on their website they are right there. I'm not surprised that they do such a good job with their blogs - its been the part of social media that has been around the longest so they should be the most comfortable with them.