Microsoft emerged as the most hated 'big tech' brand across the globe in a study that analyzed Twitter interactions on a worldwide scale, and was followed by Facebook and Google. It should be noted that the number of hateful Tweets about a company doesn’t accurately reflect the true perception of a brand on the ground. Instead, this often depends on a number of factors, such as the kind of services a company offers and how it engages with its customer base.
For example, one will find fewer angry Tweets about a company, like Apple, that sells hardware a customer might only buy once or every two years than a company, like Uber, which provides hundreds of thousands of rides each day. However, a survey of hate Tweets can be an indicator of the current consumer mood relating to the public image and recent activities of a company. Not to mention, how the conversation is shaping up on Twitter.
That is where a recent study from Rave Reviews comes into the play and provides an idea of how much hate is being courted by the major tech brands on Twitter. Rave Reviews used a research tool called SentiStrength to analyze more than one million brand-related Tweets and calculated the percentage of negative Tweets each company received out of the sum total of engagement on a nationwide basis. Microsoft, which recently received a ton of heat for very limiting Windows 11 system requirements, topped the global charts. Based on Twitter interactions, the company was ranked as the most-hated Big Tech brand in no less than twenty-two countries.
Twitter Chatter Is Not Always Good
In the US, roughly 41-percent of Tweets analyzed in the study expressed negative sentiments about the software giant, with the share reaching as high as 50-percent in Australia. Microsoft, which recently eclipsed the $2 trillion market cap, was followed by Google and Facebook. Google was voted as the most hated Big Tech name in thirteen countries, while Facebook took the third spot with eleven countries where it accounted for the highest number of Tweets with negative sentiments. Google is often in the news for various reasons, while Facebook is continually on the receiving end of criticism from users (as well as the government) over questionable policies relating to its social media platforms.
Apple won the undesirable title in six countries. Interestingly, Amazon equaled that tally despite a significantly smaller market presence. Amazon has been in the news lately over the treatment of its wage workers, while Apple is staring at anti-trust investigations in multiple countries over its App Store policies and recently settled a class-action lawsuit over the alleged inferior quality of its AppleCare remanufactured devices. In the United States, Uber was crowned as the most hated brand overall, likely due to controversies over its labor policies, exorbitant pricing during the pandemic, and just the ride-hailing experience some users have encountered in general.
Source: Rave Reviews