In mid-October, author Savannah Monroe shared a photo of her engagement ring on X (formerly Twitter). But instead of congratulatory messages from her followers, Ms Monroe faced numerous comments from Internet strangers who mocked the size of her gemstone. That’s because Amazon Prime Video India’s X account retweeted his picture along with a screengrab from the show I became beautiful in summer, In which a character proposes with a ridiculously small ring.
The tweet went viral and many other X users took the joke further, while others defended Ms Monroe. The author described Amazon’s retweet as “inviting a large amount of harassment.” The company later apologized and removed the tweet.
This incident is just one example of how tech brands have changed their advertising strategy on social media – and how easily things can go wrong.
As more brands join Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram, they start posting like a human user to make themselves more appealing rather than posting dry, administrative updates about their products and services.
For example, Uber’s official account posted a photo of Norwegian artist Edvard Munch’s painting ‘The Scream’ for Halloween and added a text overlay on Instagram: “When my friend hasn’t heard of Uber One yet.” The company also urged users to “pay up” their additional fees, citing a slang term used during dating.
Are brands adopting human personalities?
This is called brand anthropomorphism – the act of giving human characteristics to a corporate brand. The character lets brands depict cravings for junk food, boast about celebrities, celebrate victories in sports, promote their products, express emotions, make fun of their customers, and even inspire them to take some action.
However, technology companies operating in international markets face a unique challenge as they need to market their digital product to people of different cultures and economic backgrounds. This is where a dedicated social media presence with a customized approach for each significant userbase becomes indispensable. Displaying a sense of playfulness is also important as many brands adopt what they imagine to be the language of audiences in their 20s and 30s, with Gen Z filled with slang and pop culture references.
For example: Netflix, on X, maintains a mainstream Netflix account that promoted the final season of stranger thingsA Netflix India account that displayed its Hindi-language content while claiming to be “simping” for Emraan Hashmi; And a Netflix India South account that described Silambarasan TR as its “boyfriend”.
In response to Netflix stranger things “I never want this world to end,” the official Walmart
Amazon has several India-focused channels on both X and Instagram where it promotes its offerings with a mix of corporate and human-like captions.
Why are brands doing this?
The most important reason is for global brands to connect personally with their users. For example, Spotify announced on October 20th that lossless audio has arrived for Premium users. The company also asked users to name the first song they listened to with lossless audio to increase engagement. However, Spotify was criticized by users who complained that lossless audio only came in select countries.
Apart from the farming connection, brands are also looking to build trust, especially with younger consumers who spend more time on their devices.
Microsoft, which has plenty of social media accounts for its offerings, posted on The account readily agreed with others who joked about their computer fans, but ignored those who blamed Microsoft products and software for their own loud PC fans.
Google’s Gemini account on Instagram has posted an AI-generated video of different birth months visualized as scary jack-in-the-box animations ahead of Halloween. The ‘birth-month-as-bespoke-content’ format is popular on Instagram and forces users to watch the video for a long time until they see their birth month result. Google used this trend to promote its Veo AI video generator, sharing prompts that users could borrow, and even responding to a user for referencing a famous horror film franchise.
Many companies use social media to reinforce the line separating organic content from advertisements. Instagram now shows its users sponsored posts, Stories, accounts, and even suggested content – all unsolicited – making it harder for them to immediately distinguish between posts from friends and posts from companies.
On the other hand, brands use social media to further accentuate the gap between their attractive online reputation and their serious offline flaws.
For example, in real life OpenAI faces a lawsuit over the death of 16-year-old Adam Raine, whose parents claimed that ChatGPT had helped their struggling son figure out how to commit suicide. However, the company posted a light-hearted story on Instagram that showed ChatGPIT’s scathing reaction to a man’s ex-partner.
Why does the shift to digital advertising strategies matter to you?
A well-implemented social media strategy can help a brand better connect with users, convert them into customers, maintain positive relationships with this user base, and make it easier to integrate your ads into the online world of your audience and more natural for them to re-share. These branding strategies encourage users to reach out to official social media channels for immediate assistance or answers, rather than calling a customer service line and expecting a human employee to document and resolve a problem.
However, more unconventional social media tactics can sometimes backfire. A case in point is Meta’s WhatsApp, which tried to tease users who often add the phrase ‘lol’ at the end of their texts. WhatsApp’s post on X received millions of views as many users questioned whether WhatsApp was spying on their messages. This brought back memories of the company’s negative encounters with international law over privacy violations.
Finally, Meta repeatedly told users that WhatsApp messages had end-to-end encryption and used the trending phrase “we see you” jokingly.
Naturally, some brands choose to go the other route, which is less likely to cause controversy. For example, Apple largely maintains a restrained and mature tone on its social media channels, opting for short photo captions or text that focuses on the formal context of the post rather than rambling.
Another example is Palantir, which mostly posts on X about its employees and the company’s own accomplishments. The company’s official It doesn’t need to pander to everyday users or extreme audiences.
published – November 08, 2025 08:00 AM IST