The top 5 all-time Twitter #dmfails
Twitter has lifted the 140 character-limit for DM posts in a move to bolster engagement with users, and placate Wall Street no doubt. So what better time to re-examine some of the most high-profile reputational suicide notes ever to be penned in 140 characters or less? Read on for tales of celebrities, sports stars and leaders of business falling foul of the #dmfail.
#5 – Bret Easton Ellis
The American Psycho and Less Than Zero author posted the below tweet to his over half-a-million Twitter followers and, well, the world back in 2012, causing as much of a stir as the antics of the characters in his aforementioned novels. In it, he requests “coke” - the popular name(s) for both a certain Class A drug, as well as a popular cola-flavored beverage. This begs the question: was he guilty of publicly ordering drugs in #dmfail, or forgetting to post #ad?
#4 - Charlie Sheen
No stranger to one of the aforementioned versions of ‘coke’, Hollywood actor Charlie Sheen is also a goliath of the Twitterati, so why wouldn’t the Two and a Half Men star want to reach out to fellow Twitter juggernaut Justin Bieber (Twitter following of 60 million-plus)? However, the hell raiser’s social media overtures to the aspirant bad boy Bieber were plain for all to see when Sheen accidentally posted his cell number publicly to his millions of Twitter followers back in 2011. Although, it was quickly deleted, the #DMfail led to the superstar receiving 1,800 text messages within minutes, according to reports. Whether or not any of them were from Bieber himself has yet to be confirmed.
#3 – Lance Armstrong
Snap! Except for this time, there remains some debate as to whether this #dmfail actually contained his own number, or that of a random person, but it’s not as if the disgraced ex-cyclist hasn’t got other things to worry about.
#2 – Ben Smith
Buzzfeed’s editor-in-chief last week drew fire after inadvertently publicly posting a screengrab of an exchange between himself and a reporter at a rival title, over potential job opportunities. Although the #dmfail was quickly deleted the more eagle-eyed of his 200,000 Twitter followers were extremely critical, see below.
Well, if you’re going to commit a #dmfail, you may as well be ‘drinking the koolaid’ while you’re at it, and Twitter CFO did just that when he accidentally publicly tweeted plans over a potential takeover of another company, in a post that had been intended as a DM (see below).
The offending content was promptly deleted, and although he has a (comparatively) small number of under 10,000 Twitter followers to other high-profile tweeter, the move made major headlines across the business world. Maybe next time he’ll wait for an IRL meeting before making such business-sensitive disclosures?
Yes, of course, The Drum purposely shied away from instances such as #Weinergate, this is a family-friendly business publication after all, but please feel free to suggest some of your favorite #dmfail suggestions.