'You at Microsoft' Campaign Folly?

While no conspiracy theorist, I simply don't believe in coincidence. Did Mini-Microsoft trump Microsoft PR?

Strange happenings: Yesterday, insider Mini-Microsoft posted about problems with the company's India operations. He culled the post from months of comments. It's fascinating reading. This morning, Microsoft dropped a press release about "The Changing Face of IT—A Web Conference" a mere three hours before it starts. Three hours?

For a company that announces so many events so far in advance, why would Microsoft give such short notice for a Web conference on diversity in IT? I can think of some reasons:

• Oversight; somebody forgot
• Attitude; management doesn't care
• Damage control; response to Mini and others
• Proactive blogging: Mini knew about the diversity program

My guess: Either of the last reasons, or a combination of both. If so, there is some real irony here. Microsoft makes so many announcements through employee blogs rather than issuing press releases. Here, the company could be responding to an employee blog with a last-minute press release. Or, the blogger took the offensive by posting something potentially negative before a major announcement—and it's much bigger than a mere canned Webcast.

Microsoft also dropped a diversity press release and two others about its work in China. Related: There is a new diversity Web site: The Changing Face of Microsoft. All this work was clearly planned ahead of Mini's blog post. The new Web site is simply too sophisticated and contains too many testimonies to have been created overnight. Besides, according to Whois records, Microsoft registered the youatmicrosoft.com domain on March 13.

The real question: Who responded to whom? Did Mini know about the diversity announcements and decide to post about the alleged problems with Microsoft India? Or did Microsoft execs see the Mini blog and decide to launch the new diversity Web site early, which would explain the short notice about the Webcast?

The answer is one reason for this post: the power of employee blogging and its potential impact on a company's initiatives. Diversity is a hot-button topic for any kind of controversy.

Still, I must ask: Could it be coincidence that Mini posted less than a day before Microsoft's big diversity splash? You tell me. Comments are open for your responses.