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Meg Whitman Campaign Shows How Not To Use Twitter

Posted by samzenpus on from the type-slower dept.

tsamsoniw writes "California gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman's campaign team attempted to share with her Twitter followers an endorsement from a police association. Unfortunately, the campaign press secretary entered an incorrect or incomplete Bit.ly URL in the Tweet, which took clickers to a YouTube video featuring a bespectacled, long-haired Japanese man in a tutu and leggings rocking out on a bass guitar. And for whatever reason, the Tweet, which went out on the 18th, has remained active through today."

16 of 147 comments (clear)

  1. Wow... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    Awesome guitaring...

    Sorry, what were we discussing?

  2. Re:well, it looks like we just got... by Tackhead · · Score: 5, Funny

    Whitrolled

    "Whitrolled? That's not a meme!"
    "It is now."

  3. It's not "for whatever reason" by tomhudson · · Score: 4, Insightful
    > "And for whatever reason, the Tweet, which went out on the 18th, has remained active through today."

    It remained active because nobody reads tweets. Just like nobody reads facebook.

    All you "internet marketers", forget it - people's eyes glaze over after the 1,000th message - it doesn't even stay in short-term memory.

    1. Re:It's not "for whatever reason" by blair1q · · Score: 4, Insightful

      The vastness of that opportunity has to be compared in size with the vastness of the negative wave of press this has already gotten her.

      Her staff are incompetent. They proved it not once, but twice. First by posting the link without double-checking it after pasting it, and second by not deleting the tweet and posting the correct link.

      I'm sure they will probably prove that they are incompetent a third time, by taking your advice to use spin instead of action to resolve their failure.

    2. Re:It's not "for whatever reason" by Dahamma · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Really?

      A YouTube video of a cross-dressing Japanese man playing the guitar now has over 950,000 views.

      I think people have been reading this one.

    3. Re:It's not "for whatever reason" by MightyMartian · · Score: 3, Funny

      Knowing politicians, she'll probably sue the bass player and send out DMCA takedown over it.

      --
      The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
  4. Missing Character by Reason58 · · Score: 4, Informative
    This resulted from missing the last character when she was copying. From the reddit article 13 hours ago:

    Intended link:

    http://bit.ly/bNCAVr

    Posted link by the retweeter:

    http://bit.ly/bNCAV

    What a difference a character can make.

    1. Re:Missing Character by EdIII · · Score: 4, Insightful

      What a difference a character can make.

      While a really talented cross-dressing Japanese 8-string bass player is a pretty good result, it could have been much, much worse.

      Are you kidding? Considering how unbelievably perverted the Japanese can be with what they put online (not trolling, but sincere admiration) the fact they linked to a video from Japan with just cross-dressing involved and no pixelated areas was like winning the lottery.

    2. Re:Missing Character by Arthur+Grumbine · · Score: 4, Funny

      What a difference a character can make.

      Especially when that character is wearing a tutu!

      --
      Now that I think about it, I'm pretty sure everything I just said is completely wrong.
  5. If I was a Politician by Basehart · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I'd rather be endorsed by a bespectacled, long-haired Japanese man in a tutu and leggings rocking out on a bass guitar than a police association any day.

  6. Seems like the best thing that could have happened by h4rr4r · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Seems like the best thing that could have happened, if the police support them you know they are scumbags.

  7. Wrong country? by Etrigoth · · Score: 3, Informative

    According to his You-tube profile, this guy is from South Korea, not Japan ?

    --
    When we remember we are all mad, the mysteries disappear and life stands explained.
  8. You think it was an accident? by LoudMusic · · Score: 3, Insightful

    You think it was an accident? Shit, they've even got Slashdot putting her name in lights. Looks like a rather well played marketing tactic to me.

    And probably picked up thousands of new Twitter followers in the process.

    --
    No sig for you. YOU GET NO SIG!
  9. Prop 19? by krray · · Score: 4, Funny

    Looks more like an endorsement for proposition 19.
    I want what he's smoking!

  10. Re:Computer illiterate? by Nocuous · · Score: 4, Funny

    Could it be that former eBay CEO Meg Whitman is computer illiterate?

    Yes, because she of course typed in the url. And was responsible for QA, and for fixing any problems that show up.

    She does all her own technical and scut work. Yesterday, she got her own coffee and collated those new defamatory fliers. Tomorrow she's going to run the cabling under the server room floor in her campaign headquarters.

    --
    Don't take it personally, but I'm not going to read your pithy response to my post.
  11. I'm just going to quote djdavetrouble... by seyyah · · Score: 4, Funny

    ... word for word:

    I want to thank fairy bassist, Meg Whitman and the rest of the whole fucking internet for making my day over 9000 times more awesome. I'd also like to thank Japan for mastering how to take some regular ass shit and make it bizarre. also 8 string bass ftw!