When it comes to the blog world, Google is king. Whenever the search engine giant makes a move of any kind, bloggers (like the media) are quick to echo their praises, or their rebukes. All this free advertising makes Google one of the most popular names on planet Earth, with one father naming his kid after the company (how weird is that?)

If there is one company with the desire (and ability) to dethrone Google as the topic of the century, it would be Microsoft. Having lost important employees, and business deals, not to mention threats against its bread and butter–twice, Microsoft is probably eager to gain the eyeballs to show the world what it can do.

And what better way to do this than to get some positive attention from the blogosphere (for a change)? So, without further delay, here are seven tips for the software juggernaut.

1) Avoid buying Facebook: Huh? Why would anyone avoid purchasing a company that even Google feels threatened by? Aside from the fact that Mark Zuckerburg is not interested in selling it (which must tick Google off), it would be much easier for Microsoft to maintain its ad presence on Facebook than to shell out $10 billion for the social network.

Not to mention the fact that they would avoid the legal messes of running a social network, something both Google and MySpace are all too familiar with.

2) Purchase Digg: With Google launching its own social linking service and Yahoo! purchasing Del.icio.us two years ago, Microsoft may find itself with its pants down if they waste too much time deciding what to do in this field. Digg is already popular with many (if not most) bloggers, and an early buyout could ensure Microsoft’s dominance in this arena.

Since they are already running Microsoft Ads, why not add it to the family?
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It looks as if everyone’s favorite company (unless you are into open source, Linux and that whole “freeware” thing) has decided to take on Google in the realm of web analytics.

Code named Gatineau (which ironically is the name of a city in Canada), Microsoft hopes to be able to compete against the new version of Google Analytics.

But while Microsoft admits that its software is very similar to Google’s, they boast that their new analytics tool will be able to break down visitor stats by age as well as gender.
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We don’t appear to have written about this worthy cause before, and now there’s just over one week remaining to get Microsoft to donate a bit more of its wealth to the global good.

For those who haven’t already heard, Microsoft teamed up with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), and has promised to donate money to the ninemillion.org project, which helps the estimated 9 million refugee children and youth around the world, for every search made at click4thecause.live.com.

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When it comes to marketing your companies image as “good,” Microsoft seems to fail miserably within this department. It seems that Microsoft, upset about certain inaccuracies within Wikipedia, is paying blogger Rick Jelliffe to sift through and correct the “technical errors” that appear on everyone’s favorite Wiki. Is it me, or does anybody sense a potential conflict of interest here?
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