SocialChorus, an ad firm hired by Microsoft, has been sending out emails offering to pay bloggers and journalists to write articles praising Internet Explorer.
Paul Stamatiou, a guest contributor for the site TechCrunch, tweeted out the following: “Today Microsoft offered to pay me to blog about Internet Explorer. There’s not enough bitcoin in the world.” TechCrunch founder Michael Arrington then shared an email he’d been sent by SocialChorus, which offered compensation, “fun prizes” and “rewards” if Arrington chose to cooperate. Arrington responded to the email with “Is this real?” before the unnamed sender claimed that he had been put on the mailing list by mistake.
Microsoft has since stated that it was nothing to do with the campaign, which SocialChorus has now pulled, though its effects linger on through the #IEBloggers hashtag on Twitter. The hashtag was set up by SocialChorus in a misguided attempt to advertise the campaign, though it’s now inevitably been hijacked by people mocking Microsoft and those who accepted the offer.
[Via TechSpot]
