Wednesday, February 16, 2011

Introducing the Twitter twits

There's a middle aged guy who used to work at the office who occasionally shares his not so enlightened views on life on Facebook.

I'm not sure if he drinks and updates but it certainly appears that way. During the Golden Globes, for example, he spouted off dozens of incoherent sounding updates full of typos on the state of Lady Gaga's bottom and the like.

At other times these comments have been embittered and included personal attacks.

While nobody really takes the rantings of a former employee very seriously, social networking gaffes have already landed some well known figures in cyber hell.

Twitter, in particular, seems to land people in trouble.

Although I signed up to Twitter some years ago and was surprised to be able to secure @davidmacaulay before my beardy namesake who writes illustrated books got there, the attraction wore off after I tired of the competition to see how many random strangers I could get to follow me back.

Now I can't see a lot of uses for Twitter unless you want to overthrow a Middle Eastern despot.

There's an academic called Nir Rosen who may be wishing he never discovered Twitter after Tweeting about how Lara Logan, the TV reporter who was subjected to a sex attack in Egypt was "trying to outdo" rival news correspondent Anderson Cooper.

Rosen quit his job but not before issuing a half-hearted apology of a Tweet that read.

He wrote: 'Ah f*** it, I apologize for being insensitive, it's always wrong, that's obvious, but I'm rolling my eyes at all the attention she will get.'

One of the most expensive gaffes on Twitter was that of footballer Darren Bent of Tottenham who berated his boss Daniel Levy on Twitter – putting him in line for an £80,000 fine.

Fashion designer Kenneth Cole didn't fire himself for his twittish tweet but I imagine he was left with more color in his face than in his outfits.

During the demonstrations in Egypt, Cole sent out a  tweet from @KennethCole reading "Millions are in an uproar in #Cairo. Rumor is they heard our new spring collection is now available online."

The tweet went on to provide a link to the collection, but it was taken down about five hours later, when Cole said he was sorry on Facebook.

The gaffe led to a satirical fake Twitter feed that attracted thousands of followers called (at)KennethColePR.


Tweets on this site included "Rolling through Germany? Gestapo by our new Berlin store!" and "Jeffrey Dahmer would have eaten up our spring collection!"

Social networking is a scary new world. I'm sure I'm not alone in posting something after a few glasses of Pinot Noir, only to see it the next morning and to think.....hmmmmmm.

But while it's tempting after a bad day at the office to post something humorous about your boss being a blood sucking maniac with buck teeth, small man syndrome and a blonde mullet the size of a mulberry bush, the rule of thumb on social networks has to be 'if in doubt, don't be a bird brain - just leave it out.'

20 comments:

  1. I'm fairly new to twitter, because I hated the idea of it. Now I'm starting to really love it. I've gotten to know some new and interesting people on there, and I'm usually the first person to hear every random bit of news that comes across. I have had to unfollow some people though because their tweets were just so annoying. You just have to take the good with the bad.

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  2. Australian comedian Adam Hills integrates Twitter into some of his shows. Really worth seeing if ever you get a chance. Brilliant!

    I'm not a convert, life is busy enough and has enough traps inviting me to fall in without adding another one, especially when I'm cheesed off with work/politics/politicians/...

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  3. I can see why the other tweets are horrible, but Cole's? I actually find that very witty. I hope it's okay to admit this and then click "post comment." I haven't been drinking.
    xoRobyn
    PS I like twitter more than facebook, but that's not saying a whole lot.

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  4. Me too, I loved KCole's tweet. It was on reddit. Redditors thought him clever = KCole can do no wrong.

    I had a twitter once upon a time. And a facebook. And I have no love for either.

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  5. I find Twitter a bit boring too. I send the odd tweet but I really can't be bothered.

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  6. Some people have no business being allowed to use social media in any way, shape or form. That jerk Rosen had no business putting tweets out there like he did as what he said was beyond disgusting. Personally I generally only use the 'twatter' to pimp out my blog.

    http://rantersbox.blogspot.com/

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  7. Interesting post. Thanks for this.

    All the best, Boonie

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  8. We take everything everyone says way too seriously. Sometimes peeps are stupid.

    I personally love drunken twitting, blogging, shopping, and dancing. All are looked on with horror the following day.

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  9. Great Twitter faux pas examples! As I've said before (and I've written about this in Why I Don't Tweet): it's too easy to instantaneously shoot off every random, banal, unfiltered, uncensored thought in one's head to the entire world. The whole World. I don't think, under any circumstance, this is ever a good idea.
    Though I must confess, I have a Twitter account but never use it. ;)

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  10. I really enjoyed your post. Was thinking about doing one similar but you have said it all much better then I could so thank you! I'm really new to Twitter. Sometimes I like it, other times not so much. I will stick with it for now though.

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  11. I think it best that I stay away from Twitter.

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  12. I try to twitter, but I just get so bored with it. I honestly don't really care what my friends are having for lunch or that they are listening to the new Lady Gaga CD at the moment. I mean, if they tweeted about news or interesting things, that would be different...

    I agree. Social media is kinda scary. The stuff we say on FB and twitter will come back to haunt us in the future. It never goes away, it just disappears into cyber space even after you hit delete.

    I actually got in huge trouble for a status update once. You can read my post here: http://jenniferfabulous.blogspot.com/2010/01/my-big-brother.html.

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  13. All very good points. I personally save my drunk posts to texting and instant messaging....then it is restricted to only those that I want to read it......lol.

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  14. crap - I just spent ages crafting personal replies and lost them all. Please excuse my laziness, but thanks for your great comments, everyone.

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  15. I've never really understood why Twitter became popular. I think it's best to just assume anything you put on Facebook or Twitter could possibly be seen by the whole world and then post only that which would be safe to post under those circumstances. Posting while under the influence of anything would probably not be a good idea. :)

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  16. I really dislike facebook. It just feels way too intrusive, I like my privacy. Twitter I've been using for a couple months now and I have to say I actually really enjoy it. But then again I'm one of those people that thinks he's incredibly witty and every random thought I have should be recorded for posterity. Which is silly, but I still have fun with it.

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  17. I love twitter of course if u overlook some of those Justin trends or the trends in general....moving into a town where I know no one makes me cling to it unless I desire a Titantic sink...I found some nice friends specially bloggers that way....celeb unfollow makes twitter so much fine....

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  18. I would have thought you'd like Twitter what with you being a Bieber fan - it's the best way for you to find out what is going on with him!

    (I'm sorry but it's your own fault for writing about him. I now think of you whenever I hear about him, which is far too much at the moment!)

    Rapunzel x
    *Tales from the Tower*

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  19. ps I'm on Twitter (@TowerTales) but I'm not a massive fan. Only cause it sometimes makes me feel like I'm talking to myself which isn't good for my ego!

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  20. I know Daisy, I have loads of Twitter followers so posted this post on there, but nobody's read it, so I doubt if people see Tweets much unless they happen to be on at that split second. For sure it outs them Ryan. Yeah but if you liked your privacy so much, I doubt if you'd have a blog, Christopher. I'm glas it's worked for you, Rek, I have made a few friends, but my blog friends are better. Funny Rapunzel; I know that entry gets thousands of hits, I can't rid myself of him and he seems to be everywhere suddenly. I thought I was following Tales from the Tower, maybe that's on FB.

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On Blog PTSD

Now then. What the heck. It seems I had forgotten about my blog completely rather than just neglecting it this time. To return after so long...