Microsoft ad is a failure…according to Youtube comments!

[Tiger]

While I was at University the students were constantly warned about quoting from unreliable sources such as Wikipedia.

We were not warned against quoting from comments left on Youtube presumably since only the most naive individuals would ever consider those comments to have any merit whatsoever.

You can imagine how amazed I was to discover that a fellow online Journalist based much of their article on selected comments from, you guessed it, Youtube!

“Comments on YouTube, where the ad has been posted several times, and watched hundreds of thousands of times already, are primarily negative, with examples like: “That is just stupid”, and “I don’t get it…” repeated a fair few times.

Some YouTube viewers have taken the time to write longer opinions, such as: “Pointless, nothing to do with Microsoft or its products. Just exercising the personality cult of Gates”.

There’s also: “Does it have a point? Just seems like a random weird conversation. Is it meant to make me like Microsoft? If so it hasn’t worked yet”.

As well as: “OK. This sucks. I am a big fan of Microsoft, but this really disappoints me. Mac vs PC ads are so much better”.”

Well, there we have it, I really hope Microsoft are sitting there taking notes!

Who am I kidding? Youtube comments make for a fantastic source while writing an article. In fact, I shall now do my bit to help out the author in question by posting two more examples of Youtube comments on this advert:

“i hate macs ther white i hate white ppl?”
“gay”

Youtube comments FTW!

If this is an indication of where online Journalism is heading I’ll just go and grab my coat.

http://www.teamteabag.com/author/tigervamp/

[Sheridan Passell]

YouTube can be useful for gauging the reaction of a particular demographic. It's clear that Obama is more popular with the young and that's certainly reflected on YouTube. It doesn't tell us what the broader reaction is, and with Microsoft they are certainly not thinking about appealing to one age group.

[Tyler Lovemark]

YouTube comments remain the most shining example of the idiocy that the internet has allowed to run amok.  4chan comes in at a close second.

Having said that, I must admit to posting a comment or two.