Twitter Exec Accidentally Reveals Potential Acquisition in Epic Twitter Fail How meta.
By Laura Entis •
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
Twitter is a fruitful breeding ground for epic social media fails. It can be a confusing platform to use, tweets are often dashed off from smartphones, hashtags can be hijacked and humor doesn't always translate in 140 characters or less -- all of which can lead to fiascos like these.
If you weren't already convinced that a Twitter fail can happen to anyone, perhaps this will do the trick: Yesterday, Twitter's own CFO Anthony Noto made an embarrassing blunder on the platform.
Noto appears to have mixed up Twitter's tweet and direct messaging features, unintentionally tweeting out a public missive about a potential acquisition that he meant to send privately.
"I still think we should buy them. He is on your schedule for Dec 15 or 16 -- we will need to sell him. i have a plan," the message read.
Related: Don't Make These Social-Media Blunders That Businesses Keep Repeating
The tweet was quickly deleted, but not before reporters took screenshots, including Fusion's Kevin Roose.
Looks like Twitter's CFO just had the first-ever M&A DM fail. pic.twitter.com/AuLxVOBJED
— Kevin Roose (@kevinroose) November 24, 2014Already, outlets have rushed to decipher the company referenced in the above tweet (Check out Re/code's list of possibilities here).
While the incident highlights what many see as Twitter's confusing direct messaging feature (and its hard-to-navigate user interface in general), it also serves as a warning for brands and, actually, anyone who uses the platform: If Twitter's own CFO can mess up on Twitter, so can you. Vigilance is a must when it comes to social media, especially since a botched tweet can live on long after it's been deleted.
Related: 'Dear Mr. Human': United Airlines Suffers Another Embarrassing Customer Service Blunder
