The 10 most disastrous Tweets of all time

The world of social media might seem to be one giant disaster waiting to happen - just take Kim Kardashian’s recent Tweet, “Not easy to take a selfie while jet-skiiing.”

But even in the world where stupid people are kings - just take Paris Hilton’s recent assertion, “No, no, I didn’t go to England; I went to London,” - it’s possible to get things BADLY wrong.

In fact, it’s possible to get things so badly wrong you lose your job, get arrested, and - for businesses - offend people so badly you have to apologize in public, fire employees, and lose sales.

Below are some of the most disastrous social media errors of all time - but feel free to add your own favourites in the commments.

Death, damages - but one GREAT sale!

Hurricane Sandy was among the most destructive hurricanes in American history, which caused billions of dollars worth of damage - and left 268 people dead as it tore through seven countries.

But for one Urban Outfitters employee, it was the perfect opportunity to promote a sale:

The chain apologized publicly, and the Washington Post branded it “appalling.”

Good morning, shooters!

As a greeting, a rifle magazine might well addresss its’ readers as shooters - but the timing of a Tweet from a magazine affiliated with America’s pro-gun National Rifle Association was unfortunate.

As it hit the internet, a massacre was unfolding in Aurora Colorado, where a masked gunman, wearing tactical clothing, threw tear gas grenades into a cinema, and killed 12 with shotguns and automatic weapons.

"A single individual, unaware of events in Colorado, tweeted a comment that is being completely taken out of context," an NRA spokesman said.

The selfie that went wrong

For a politician, selfies are serious business, especially if you are on the phone to President Barack Obama.

But David Cameron’s went a little wrong - inspiring a storm of mockery not only at the time, but long after.

A report claims that, statistically, his official account has the highest perccentage of insults, including such creative terms as ''ham-faced c*ckwomble''.


Is that kind of party even legal?

Susan Boyle might have an impressive vocal range, but her command of the hashtag left fans wondering exactly what sort of part was in store after she used the hashtag #susanalbumparty

The letters were rapidly rearranged, and the party turned out to be entirely normal.

What not to post when you’re a teacher

Many people have private and corporate accounts - but most take great care to ensure the private one remains so.

Not so a 23-year-old teacher from Detroit, Carly McKinney, who posted selfies that many educators might have chosen not to, plus witticisms such as, “Just got called Ms. McCutie,” she tweeted. “Point for being clever, however you are still jailbait.”


Laughed ourselves horse

Social media managers are often expected to give their firm a light touch - but perhaps the timing of Tesco’s joke was a touch off.

At the time, the firm was engulfed in the century’s worst food-contamination scandal - central to which was the fact that its beefburgers were 29% horsemeat.

The Tweet was scheduled, it turned out - and the timing was bad luck. “I'm terribly sorry. That tweet was scheduled before we knew of the current situation,” a spokesman said.

Hello, police? I’m committing a crime!

Rapper Bow Wow ticked a lot of boxes with this Tweet - hot nightstpot, big party, expensive car.

One problem: the police can read Twitter, too, and Tweets have been factors in cases in the U.S. In this case, Bow Wow and his Lambo survived intact.

"Face numb im whippin the lambo. Tispy as f*k. Just left @livmiami. “Im f**ked up!!! Ohhhh damn. Y i drive the lambo. Chris might have to drive after next spot."

Give me an A… for Apartheid

Ed Milliband is never the most eloquent of Twitterers, but his tribute to Bob Holness was spectacular.

Not only was the typo reported by every national paper, it became a trending topic on Twitter - despite an alert aide deleting it as the meltdown began.


Revenge of the fat nerds

When McDonalds attempted to ignite a wave of nostalgia with the hashtag #McDStories, it went horribly wrong.

Not only did employees chime in with horror stories - others berated the corporation for marketing to children. Still others claimed to have actually been harmed.

The firm rapidly withdrew the campaign. Other large corporations have found to their cost that Twitter can be rather unkind - such as bank JP Morgan.

How not to get into politics

Stuart MacLennan, a prospective candidate for Labour in the Moray seat was dropped rapidly after a personal Twitter account became public.

Stuart MacLennan, who described old people as "coffin dodgers", branded one woman a "boot" and joked about slavery, said sorry for distracting the Labour campaign.

One of his Tweets included a racist 'joke': "God this fairtrade, organic banana is shit. Can I have a slave-grown, chemically enhanced, genetically modified one please?"

MacLennan described himself as "stupid" and said "I am sorry to anyone I offended but I am specially sorry for having distracted from what should have been quite a good day for Labour."