After getting annoyed at how internet provider RCN kept tweeting about a Chicago-based promotion that he didn’t feel was relevant to people like himself who are outside Chicago, Mark sent a grumpy tweet to RCN. It was replied to with a robotic response that makes it look like the person didn’t even read his tweet, they just wanted him to take the conversation off Twitter. This is in the vein of what I talked about with “Twitter Company Reps Who Talk Big But Can’t Actually Do Anything” and it is a total Twitter fail. [More]
How (And Why) A Pack Of Twitter Vigilantes Recovered A Stranger's Stolen Laptop
By 5.13.11
A guy was able to hunt down his laptop after he lost it by using a program that gave him remote access to it, tracking its location and taking screenshots of the person who was using it. He even got the guys name after watching him log into Skype. Problem was the laptop was in New York City and the owner was traveling in Canada. So he began live-tweeting his predicament and the Twitterverse rose up and rescued his laptop. [More]
Twitter Company Reps Who Talk Big But Can't Actually Do Anything
By 5.2.11
After a few bad experiences by their writers, TechCrunch is calling out this “scandal of toothless social media representatives” and demanding that it ends “now.” Seems some companies have figured out that rather than use Twitter to solve people’s customer service complaints, they can just use it to get you to shut up. Here’s how it works. [More]
Playing Fun Name Games Could Jeopardize Your Secure Info
By 5.2.11
It could be funny and adorable when you join in on the “What’s your royal name?” or “Your porn star name would be…” shenanigans, adding your pet’s name or street name to your real moniker to achieve humorous ends. But by doing so, you could be giving up the goods to thieves. [More]
DHS Ditches Color-Coded Terror Alert System, Joins The Facebook & Twitter Crowd
By 4.21.11
I know all of you have gotten used to checking to see if it was an orange, yellow, or red day according to the Department of Homeland Security’s color-coded terror alert system. But now that’s all gone, and you can check Facebook or Twitter to see whether or not the world is going to blow up today. [More]
Revolt Over GoDaddy CEO's Elephant Kill Video Makes 20,433 Domains Flee, Rival Claims
By 4.8.11
Rival domain name registrar Namecheap says they’ve raised over $20,000 for an elephant charity and poached thousands of customers who switched 20,433 domain names from GoDaddy following an uproar over a video their CEO posted of himself killing a pachyderm. Bob Parsons is unapologetic, saying he did it to feed the hungry villagers and save their crops. But that’s just a moral fig leaf. In another video, Bob hunts and kills a leopard. I don’t think it ended up as steaks for hungry villagers. [More]
Seattle Mariners Beer Guy Now Taking Orders Over Twitter
By 4.5.11
After five seasons of scaling the steps of Safeco Field, home of the Seattle Mariners baseball team, selling beers to fans in their seats, one suds vendor is giving customers the chance to notify him directly of their beer needs via Twitter. [More]
Guy Who Tweeted Chrysler F-Bomb Blames Tweetdeck
By 3.17.11
The social media marketer whose f-bomb tweet on Chrysler’s official Twitter account cost him his job and his firm the car maker’s account blames his screwup on Tweetdeck, reports WXYZ. [More]
Gilbert Gottfried Loses Aflac Duck Gig Because He Thinks The Japan Tsunami Is Hilarious
By 3.14.11
After several years of squawking about supplemental insurance in TV commercials, loud actor Gilbert Gottfried is without his cushy job as the Aflac duck. Why, you ask? Because he decided that it was time to crack wise on Twitter about the ongoing earthquake/tsunami catastrophe in Japan. [More]
Chrysler Fires Social Media Firm After Tweeting F-Bomb
By 3.10.11
Chrysler “will not renew” the contract of the social media firm whose employee sent out a cranky tweet ragging on Detroit drivers and using the f-word, AdAge reports. Why didn’t they just make fun of it? Perhaps give out a coupon code for discounts on driving lessons for Detroit motorists? Because that would denigrate the serious hard work Detroit residents and the car industry in general have been putting into rebuilding, said Chrysler’s Manager of Electronic Communications, Ed Garsten, on their blog: [More]
Twitter: Google Isn't Trying To Buy Us For $10 Billion
By 2.14.11
It was recently reported that Google is in the market to buy Twitter and that the price tag floating around for the company was somewhere in the $8-10 billion range. But today, Twitter’s CEO denied those reports — sort of. [More]
Is Twitter Worth $10 Billion?
By 2.10.11
A lot of people expressed surprise at the $315 million purchase of Huffington Post by AOL. But that’s nothing compared to the figures Facebook and Google are reportedly considering ponying up to acquire Twitter. [More]
Sony's "Kevin Butler" Retweets PS3 Jailbreak Code
By 2.9.11
“Kevin Butler” is the fictional Sony VP who is the face of its recent PlayStation ads, so of course he has a Twitter account. It looks like whoever is running the account hasn’t been reading the news much. When a Twitter user tweeted at him the code used to jailbreak PS3’s, the entity misinterpreted the series of letters and numbers and made a Battleship joke, retweeting the code in the process, reports Engadget. This is ironic because Sony has been cracking down with legal threats and attacks on anyone they can find disseminating the jailbreak information. I wonder if Kevin Butler will be getting one of these C&D’s… [More]
Follow Consumerist On Twitter, RSS, Facebook
By 2.8.11
Did you know you can follow Consumerist on Twitter and get all our headlines that way? Or read us in RSS? Or fan us on Facebook and only get a selection of our most popular stories? Yep, it’s true! Take our hand and jump on in, the water is nice. [More]
Tweeting Disney's President Over Missed BOGO Nets Free Gift Card
By 2.4.11
Jonathan was at first stoked to get two Oswald the Lucky Rabbit plushies for $28, usually $16.50 each. He was going to give one to his sister and keep the other one. Then a week later buyer’s remorse struck like a piano dropped from 30 stories above, squashing his hopes into the size of a quarter. There was a new deal – buy one get one free! So he reached out and Tweeted someone, Disney Store President Jim Fielding. [More]
Kenneth Cole Thinks Egyptian Turmoil Is Hilarious Way To Sell Clothes
By 2.3.11
When you think of Kenneth Cole, you probably don’t associate the apparel brand with edgy, topical humor. And you probably won’t ever again, after the company stuck its shiny leather shoe in its mouth with a Tweet referencing the current political upheaval in Egypt. [More]
Reader's 323,000 Hilton Points Zapped Out Of Existence
By 12.2.10
Due to the nature of Craig’s work, he spends about half of his nights sleeping in hotels. If you’re a hotel chain, he’s the kind of customer you would want to work hard to keep. However, Hilton doesn’t think so: since his work didn’t bring him near any Hilton properties in the last year, they canceled his rewards account and purged all 323,000 of his HHonors points. [More]
Comcast Outage Hits Parts Of East Coast
By 11.29.10
A Comcast TV and internet outage hit Boston and parts across the eastern seaboard yesterday, with a fix still pending this Cyber Monday. [More]
