Last week saw Tottenham Hotspur goalkeeper Joe Hart compound the misery of his team’s dismal exit from European football with a seemingly oblivious Instagram post, which he explained as an error from his social media team.
The former England goalkeeper simply posted the words “job done” followed by the tick emoji after his team’s Europa League tie against Dinamo Zagreb on Thursday, the only problem being that Spurs had just been beaten 3-0 by their unfancied Croatian opponent and were ousted from the competition.
The only job that might be “done” is that of whoever is responsible for Hart’s social media posts, who seemingly either misunderstood the score in Zagreb or, I suspect more likely, scheduled the post in advance thinking Tottenham’s progress was certain thanks to their 2-0 lead from the first leg.
To cheer Hart up, here are three similar examples of when scheduling posts in advance has gone badly wrong.
1. Tesco
When the Twitter account for Tesco Customer Care decided to sign off one day in January 2013 by saying it was “off to hit the hay”, it must have seemed fairly innocuous at the time of scheduling. However, you may remember that at the time, the supermarket was embroiled in controversy over horsemeat being found in some of its products. On realising Tesco had stuck its hoof in it, the tweet was deleted with an apology.
2. LiveNation Ontario
In 2012 in Toronto, Canada, a roof collapsed prior to an outdoor concert from the band Radiohead, tragically killing a member of the stage crew.
Organiser LiveNation Ontario was quick to tweet that the event had been cancelled and advised people not to make the journey, but unfortunately didn’t check the tweets it had scheduled. Half an hour later, it was calling for Radiohead fans to share pictures on Instagram of what was supposed to be the band’s final stop of its North American tour that year, but had turned into a disaster scene.
3. Several companies on December 31, 2015
In preparation for the start of 2016, several brands took to Twitter to wish followers a happy new year, but a scheduling error meant they did it a day early.
Highland Spring, Papa John’s Pizza, Nottingham Castle and the Irish Computer Society were among those who made the mistake of scheduling their posts at 12:00 am on December 31, which was the start of New Year’s Eve rather than New Year’s Day. This wonky start to the year set the tone for an odd 2016 littered with celebrity deaths and political turmoil. Just as well we’ve never had a year that strange since…
The ability to schedule social media posts in advance is certainly useful, but it’s important to keep them time-neutral and double check them, especially in the event of a major incident. For more advice on social media management, speak to Engage Web.
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[…] Joe Hart was put in an uncomfortable position by his social media team with a “job done” Instagram post after his team’s surprise exit from the UEFA Europa League at the hands of Dinamo […]