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Twitter conversations that backfired horribly: 2015 edition

Rappler Social Media Team

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Twitter conversations that backfired horribly: 2015 edition
When public figures do Twitter convos, not everything could go according to plan

MANILA, Philippines – Twitter conversations can be gold mines of insight, and are a great way for just about anyone to speak directly with celebrities, CEOs, and other public figures. 

But as with any effort on social media, it can be a double-edged sword. Giving the public complete freedom to say whatever they want can lead to an enormous PR nightmare. 

In 2015, the Twitterverse was quite active in hijacking Twitter conversations with famous people, steering the topics to the less savory aspects of these personalities.

Here are the most notable conversations that backfired this year:

#AskELJames

EL James, the author of the novel Fifty Shades of Grey, has received a ton of flak for many aspects of her book, from the campy language to the shallow portrayal of BDSM culture. The tome continued to be a best-seller, however, and James decided to jump into the fray and do a Twitter conversation. Judging from the Twitterverse’s response, it looks like James’ decision was a very masochistic one. 




#AskTrump

Business mogul-turned-US presidential candidate Donald Trump has always been a magnet for controversy, so it comes as absolutely no surprise that his Twitter conversation exploded into a stream of insults. You have to hand it to some Twitter users though; Trump may have been an easy target, but they exerted a lot of effort coming up with creative questions.




#myNYPD

The #myNYPD campaign was meant to boost the New York Police Department’s image by encouraging New Yorkers to share pictures of their cops on the job. In light of incidents like the Ferguson shootings, however, popular opinion on the police weren’t exactly favorable, and the Twitterverse dug up photos of police brutality and shared those using the hashtag. Looks like hijacking Twitter conversations can get very political really fast. 


 



#AskHamas

Speaking of political, no Twitter conversation was as inviting of extreme opinions as #AskHamas. A Palestinian Islamic organization often dubbed fundamentalist and terrorist, their Twitter conversation was bound to be heated and polarizing. If this was the group’s attempt at trying to soften their image, they may have miscalculated the medium they chose – or was this all part of their strategy? 




#AskSeaWorld

With animal rights becoming more and more mainstream, thanks to social media, it was a tricky move for marine theme park Sea World to hold a Twitter conversation as a PR stunt. Some members of the Twitterverse were quite learned about the issues of animal abuse and mistreatment that hound the company, and were all too eager to ask the hard questions. 




 Who would you love to see do a Twitter conversation? And would you ever participate in hijacking convos and campaigns? Share your thoughts with us on X, or in the comments section below! – Rappler.com

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