The chief financial officer of Twitter has apparently accidentally posted a private message to his news feed, disclosing behind-the-scenes information.
The DM, or direct message, looked like it was meant for one of his colleagues, although Anthony Noto made it public to his followers. Luckily for the CFO, it was quickly spotted by another Twitter user who informed him of his social media faux pas, and the misplaced tweet was deleted.
The post appeared to relate to an ongoing conversation about an upcoming meeting, although the recipient and subject of the gathering are not apparent. According to The New York Times, however, this has not stopped followers from trying to guess the possibly confidential company information. This means that any privacy Noto and his colleagues were trying to maintain over the issue could be shot.
Mistakes on Twitter can be common, especially when somebody is just getting used to the service. For example, MP and Shadow Chancellor Ed Balls famously tried to search Twitter for an article about himself, but ended up tweeting his own name to followers. The accident in fact spawned a new Internet meme, with ‘Ed Balls Day’ being celebrated by some netizens every year.
Other errors on social media have not ended as endearingly, however, with some losing their job over Twitter mistakes. This includes a US Congressman who accidentally tweeted a sexually suggestive picture, instead of it being a DM. Anthony Weiner was eventually forced to resign from public office over the resulting scandal, showing the importance of proper web and reputation management.
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