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The 18 Biggest Social Media Fails Of 2013

There have been a lot of them this year. Trust me.

1. The person who tweeted this announcement when the Royal Baby was born.

2. Whoever thought it would be a great idea to use the Royal Baby birth to flog a Samsung Galaxy.

And some coffee.

And then there were three. Congratulations!

Starbucks UK

@StarbucksUK

And then there were three. Congratulations!

/ Via

And some pizza.

Introducing our very own royal #bundleofjoy: free side or dessert to any medium or large pizza through 7/25. Code: ROYALOFFER

Pizza Hut

@pizzahut

Introducing our very own royal #bundleofjoy: free side or dessert to any medium or large pizza through 7/25. Code: ROYALOFFER

/ Via

And some toilet roll.

Get the throne ready! There's a new cub in the Royal family. #RoyalBaby

Charmin

@Charmin

Get the throne ready! There's a new cub in the Royal family. #RoyalBaby

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3. Whoever thought this Facebook poll would be a good idea.

4. Whoever thought up this stimulating content for their Facebook fans.

5. Whoever thought that doing a 'promoted tweet' campaign about immigration would be a good idea.

6. And the person who fact-checked this tweet.

7. This wasn't a good idea by the Home Office...

Because it was likely to offend quite a few people.

Good lord, that @ukhomeoffice feed requires a punch in the face.

Justin Lewis

@Mumbler3

Good lord, that @ukhomeoffice feed requires a punch in the face.

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Hey @ukhomeoffice why not make your tweet-a-long-a-stormtroop gallery of brown folk thrown in vans even more dystopian by using cattleprods?

Charlie Brooker

@charltonbrooker

Hey @ukhomeoffice why not make your tweet-a-long-a-stormtroop gallery of brown folk thrown in vans even more dystopian by using cattleprods?

/ Via

Although it did lead to quite a few good parodies.

8. This tweet didn't go down well either.

It really didn't go down well.

@KelloggsUK sick bastards, if you have the capability to feed vulnerable children then do so. This is sickening.

Perry

@AdamDanielPerry

@KelloggsUK sick bastards, if you have the capability to feed vulnerable children then do so. This is sickening.

/ Via

Snap, Crackle and Pop. That's the sound of the @KelloggsUK social media manager's bones being rearranged by their boss this morning.

cluedont

@cluedont

Snap, Crackle and Pop. That's the sound of the @KelloggsUK social media manager's bones being rearranged by their boss this morning.

/ Via

Then there was the time that the Head Chef took over the Twitter feed of a pub he was just fired from.

The Plough

@ploughpub

Happy Christmas everyone

/ Via

We'd like to inform you that we've just fired our head chef.

The Plough

@ploughpub

We'd like to inform you that we've just fired our head chef.

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Unfortunately he wanted to have a weekend off this month and Christmas Day this year for family commitments so we thought we'd sack him

The Plough

@ploughpub

Unfortunately he wanted to have a weekend off this month and Christmas Day this year for family commitments so we thought we'd sack him

/ Via

The Plough

@ploughpub

Yeah a week before Christmas!

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We don't care that he has a 7 1/2 month old baby daughter.

The Plough

@ploughpub

We don't care that he has a 7 1/2 month old baby daughter.

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So anyway come on down and continue to pay a premium for Australian sirloins, New Zealand lamb and everything else that is bought from asda.

The Plough

@ploughpub

So anyway come on down and continue to pay a premium for Australian sirloins, New Zealand lamb and everything else that is bought from asda.

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9. Then there's the time that HMV had a meltdown.

10. An award goes to the person who thought of the Benadryl Social Pollen Count, which allowed users to mark on a map where they had sneezed.

Why? Well because a lot of people on social media got word of this and started to make their own maps. Like this one.

And this one.

11. British Gas announced that they were raising prices by 9.2%. A few days later they did this.

Their social media manager got ready.

But then it all went a little bit wrong.

Can't see this going horribly wrong! < @BritishGas: Customer Services Director Q&A about price rise at 1-2pm. Tweet questions to #AskBG

tom jamieson

@jamiesont

Can't see this going horribly wrong! < @BritishGas: Customer Services Director Q&A about price rise at 1-2pm. Tweet questions to #AskBG

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British Gas social media team arrive for Twitter Q&amp;A #AskBG

Stephen Hull

@stephenbhull

British Gas social media team arrive for Twitter Q&A #AskBG

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#AskBG would it be ok to burn the corpses of your board of directors when I can&#39;t afford heating?

Matt Kelly

@Matt_Dot_Com

#AskBG would it be ok to burn the corpses of your board of directors when I can't afford heating?

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#AskBG My office has a window where the sun comes in and makes the side of my head really hot. How much do I owe you?

Dean Burnett

@garwboy

#AskBG My office has a window where the sun comes in and makes the side of my head really hot. How much do I owe you?

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#AskBG Have you considered changing your corporate slogan to something a bit more honest?

Lisa

@BiscuitAhoy

#AskBG Have you considered changing your corporate slogan to something a bit more honest?

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12. Remember when Sky News broke this story?

Colin then trended.

Some people got very confused by this incident.

Pretty sure coming back from lunch I walked through a portal into a parallel universe where you&#39;ve all gone mental &amp; can&#39;t stop saying Colin

B to A to the R R Y

@QuantumPirate

Pretty sure coming back from lunch I walked through a portal into a parallel universe where you've all gone mental & can't stop saying Colin

/ Via

People took the piss.

And now, an important update from the Sky News channel! #obviousgag #bandwagon #colinwashere

Tom Scott

@tomscott

And now, an important update from the Sky News channel! #obviousgag #bandwagon #colinwashere

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But it wasn't a Syrian Cyber Attack or anything of the sort. This was the reason behind it.

13. Remember the horsemeat scandal, during which Tesco famously tweeted..?

Well this happened soon after.

14. But brands weren't the only failures. All of those on Twitter who confused EDF Energy with EDL, the far-right movement, should get some blame too.

15. So should all the people who constantly confuse @WHSmith with @WHSmithcouk with their complaints.

16. So should all of the people who keep mixing up @JohnLewis with @JohnLewisRetail.

17. And then there are the people who constantly ask Radio 4 and similar stations to play commercial pop.

STOP. IT.