Monday, March 23, 2009

AMD versus Intel: social media wars

"Feud" is a term which evokes imagery of Gallic warriors engaged in a ferocious battle to conquer the opponent's territory and eventual world domination.

The historical 'feud' between AMD & Intel needs no introduction for some one clued into processor wars. [Check out this white paper for further information]. AMD's VP, Advanced Marketing, Patrick Moorhead, took the battle pitch a notch higher by publicly calling:
Intel's refusal to deal with issues like battery life on blogs and Twitter "offensive and derogatory to consumers" as reported by The Inquirer at SXSW 09 this week.




The new turf cleverly chosen by Patrick, is an indication of things to come in the social media space. Intel largely, has been a reference point for technology companies looking to engage audiences with social media initiatives [see: Intel SM Guidelines, 2, 3]. Although, the effectiveness of these efforts and their nature may be a topic of broader debate, it is likely that being the market leader in both perception, social media and valuation it is an easier target.

My techie friends tell me, that AMD has much better processors than Intel, and both have their own pros and cons. In India AMD's footprint has been limited and has not been able to breach the tech-fanatic barrier. For most users Intel brand recall is much higher and is often associated with trust and performance. Most are oblivious to what processor their PC manufacturer has set up to them. I have my doubts that "AMD inside" will evoke a sense of relief amongst Indian PC users.

A localized social media campaign may help them in creating buzz on the burgeoning social media platforms here in India. May be AMD India ought to take notice of this fact in order to tap developing markets.

Meanwhile, Moorhead, has hit the spot when he says

"Neutering people from the corporate brand was the worst mistake a firm could make...social media is social because it's about people".

Help yourself to the twitter accounts of AMD_Unprocessed and Intel to make an educated guess on who scores on personality!!

This is a chronicle of my experiments with social media, web 2.0 and digital communications which details industry updates and analysis from India and around the world

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