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Twitter is a truly remarkable resource for everyone who spends any time at all on the Internet. There are so many reasons to be using Twitter 7 Reasons Why You Should Be Using Twitter 7 Reasons Why You Should Be Using Twitter Twitter has now been with us for seven years and counting. This was seven years to the day since Jack Dorsey sent out the first tweet in 2006, at a time when the micro-blogging social... Read More that to not do so is ignoring a powerful tool that could be added to your social networking arsenal.

Having said all of that, Twitter should be used with caution. Send a defamatory tweet and you could end up in court; say something outrageous and you could end up being publicly shamed. Hashtags are another source of possible faux pas, especially for brands using Twitter as a promotional platform More Than Updates - 5 Creative Twitter Marketing Campaigns More Than Updates - 5 Creative Twitter Marketing Campaigns Social media has a reputation for serving narcissistic purposes, encouraging users to share minute details about their day that no one really wants to know. The fact of the matter is that social media tools... Read More .

What follows is a list of seven rather embarrassing hashtag fails that demonstrate how this rather simple shorthand can go horribly wrong. Thankfully, there are lessons to be learned here. These brands, PR companies, and individuals made the mistakes so that you can avoid doing them too.

#McDstories

 

The Intention: To tag positive stories about McDonald’s
The Outcome: Negative stories were posted instead
The Lesson: Realize that not everybody will follow the script

McDonald’s had the very noble idea of asking people to relate stories about the company, obviously thinking that the #McDstories hashtag would only be used by fans of the fast food restaurant. Sadly this wasn’t the case, and the hashtag was instead used by Internet trolls eager to bash the brand.

#Nowthatchersdead

 

The Intention: Now Thatcher’s Dead
The Outcome: Now That Cher’s Dead
The Lesson: Use capital letters to separate words

Former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher was loved and hated in equal measure in the U.K., so when she died people took to Twitter to either mourn or celebrate her passing depending on their politics. In the U.S. “thatcher” became “that cher,” leading to false reports that the singer Cher has passed away instead.

#WTFF

 

The Intention: An acronym for ‘What The French Fry’
The Outcome: An acronym for ‘What The F**king F**k’
The Lesson: Make sure not to piggyback on existing Internet slang

WTF is a well-known acronym for “What the f**k,” so WTFF, for those moments when one f**k just isn’t enough, means “What the f**king f**k.” Unless you’re Burger King trying to promote a new healthier menu. Then it means “What the French fry.” Because people will obviously change a term because a brand told them to do so. Not.

#Hobbitch

 

The Intention: Advertising The Hobbit movie in Switzerland
The Outcome: Implying female Hobbits aren’t very nice people
The Lesson: Proofread hashtags to ensure they can’t be misread

The ISO code for Switzerland is, rather bizarrely, CH, referring to Confoederatio Helvetica, the Latin name for that region of the world. So, when The Hobbit was advertised in Switzerland it was labelled with the #Hobbitch hashtag. As if the movie wasn’t testosterone-fueled enough.

#Clitfest

 

The Intention: A simple shortening of Chester Literary Festival
The Outcome: Giving a wrong impression of what will take place at the festival
The Lesson: Shorter hashtags aren’t always better

When the people behind the Chester Literary Festival wanted to promote their event they could think of no better hashtag to do so than #Clitfest. Fair enough, it’s a grammatically correct and perfectly legitimate shortening of the name of the event, but you don’t have to be a gynecologist to know that it implies something altogether ruder.

#RIMJobs

 

The Intention: Advertising openings at Research in Motion
The Outcome: Advertising a niche sexual practice
The Lesson: Don’t be too literal with your hashtags

Research in Motion, now known simply as BlackBerry Limited, wanted to advertise some openings at the company. And what better way to do so than create a hashtag to apply to all tweets regarding job opportunities? Unfortunately Research in Motion is shortened to RiM, and rimjobs aren’t something most companies want to be associated. Unless they specialize in pornography.

#Susanalbumparty

 

The Intention: Susan Album Party
The Outcome: Su’s Anal Bum Party
The Lesson: Don’t use words which can be misappropriated

The Susan Boyle hashtag fail has to be the most comical of all the hashtag fails we’ve yet seen. Here is a woman who is proudly virginal and even once claimed to have never been kissed. In other words she’s the least likely person in the world to hold an “anal bum party,” if such a thing existed. Which I’m sure they don’t. Do they?!

Conclusions

There is a slight possibility that some of these hashtags aren’t fails at all. In fact, they could have been made the way they were intentionally, and therefore classed as huge success stories. After all, as the great Oscar Wilde once said, “There is only one thing in life worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about.

Do you use hashtags #Clueless? Everything You Need To Know About Twitter Hashtags #Clueless? Everything You Need To Know About Twitter Hashtags Some people #use #them #for #every #freaking #word; others ignore them altogether. It might leave you wondering: what are hashtags even for? Am I using Twitter wrong if I don't use them? And are people... Read More , on Twitter, Facebook, or elsewhere? Do you see the sense in using them or do you think the whole idea is bunkum? Have you ever witnessed a bizarre or just plain wrong hashtag trending? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.

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  1. Fred
    November 4, 2013 at 8:56 am

    The South African tax organisation (known as SA Revenue Service) has an e-filing site, so the website is http://www.sarsefiling.co.za, which reads as s- arse-filing ...
    Rather inappropriate (or maybe approriate, considering what they do to us ...)

  2. Matthew H
    November 1, 2013 at 7:17 pm

    "The ISO code for Switzerland is, rather bizarrely, CH,"

    Actually, not all that bizarre. Switzerland has four official languages (French, German, Italian and Rumansch). The decision to use the Latin name for Switzerland means that no languages are implicitly favored about others and it's something everyone can agree on.

    • Dave P
      November 3, 2013 at 5:59 pm

      I bow to your knowledge!

    • Jonathan Peel
      November 4, 2013 at 5:48 am

      I find that quite interesting as well.
      I live in South Africa, and out internet code thing is ZA, which I assume stands for Zuid Afrika, which was the Dutch name when the country was first "colonised".
      We have eleven official languages, but I would assume the main reason would be that SA was already taken (by Saudi Arabia I think).
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