Skype has launched a new ad campaign that advocates face-to-face interaction over text-based communication. The “It’s time for Skype” campaign is apparently meant to emphasize the ways that technology has de-personalized the way we communicate with one another. The ads ask questions like “When did LOL replace the sound of laughter?” and “When did it become okay to text Mum Happy Birthday?”

All well and good, right? A couple of the ads, though, are drawing attention for the way they take aim at services that are not really Skype’s competitors: Facebook and Twitter. In two ads, Skype takes shots at the social networks for the role they play in removing the personal element from communication.

Here’s the Twitter ad:

And here’s the (much larger) Facebook one:

Now, Skype’s apparent goal of getting people to have more face-to-face communication (using Skype’s service, naturally) is certainly laudable. The choice of target for these two ads, however, is a little peculiar. For one thing, Twitter is not a direct competitor for Skype; nor is it an indirect competitor, really. So it’s hard to see how taking shots at Twitter does Skype any good.

Facebook is an even stranger choice, though. You see, last year Facebook and Skype actually teamed up to offer Skype-powered video calling within Facebook’s chat feature. So by taking a jab at Facebook, Skype is picking on a company that is not only not a competitor, but a partner whose users use Skype’s service. It’s definitely an odd choice.

What do you think of Skype’s ad campaign? Is picking on Twitter and Facebook a smart move, or a bad one? Let us know int he comments.