Careless Twits

While one cocky scholar ruminates over the consequences of his online exhibitionism, he is seems confident he has the National University of Singapore (NUS) authorities caught by their short hairs: "Of course I intend to keep my scholarship and place in the university so I will apologise to the university.” Rather than admit their folly on investing substantial sums in a potential lawyer who has declared he has no intention of becoming a legal eagle, they may just put their blinkers on and ignore his interest in beavers.

Other folks are less fortunate, and Bloomberg Businessweek has a list of careless individuals who lost their day jobs over lesser indiscretions at the keyboard. Some samples of Tweets gone horribly wrong:

Road Rage
“I find it ironic that Detroit is known as the #motorcity,” tweeted Scott Bartosiewicz, a social media manager for New Media Strategies, “and yet no one here knows how to f--king drive.” Bartosiewicz sent the tweet from the corporate account of one of his clients, Chrysler Group. Chrysler apologized, explaining that “our account was compromised.... We are taking steps to resolve it.” They resolved it by firing Bartosiewicz and his agency.

Bored to Death
Gene Morphis was dumped as CFO of women’s clothing retailer Francesca’s Holdings, explained his former company, for “improperly communicat[ing] company information through social media.” Closer scrutiny of his innocuous Twitter account suggests he may have been fired for posting dull tweets. Using the handle “@theoldcfo,” he shared such insights as, “Board meeting. Good numbers=Happy Board.”

Tweeting for Tyrants
After Marc Jacobs CEO Robert Duffy linked to a photo of a nude male pole dancer on the company’s official account, the label hired an intern to temporarily take over tweeting duties. The pressure proved too much. “I hate this job,” he tweeted, calling Duffy a “tyrant.” Also: “Don’t judge me! I’m alone in this office having to try and entertain you all.” He was fired, and the company apologized, adding, “Twitter is a crazy place. Protect your passwords.”

The Not-So-Secret Secret Sex Blog
By day, Kendra Holliday worked part-time at a St. Louis nonprofit. At night she shared intimate details about her sex life on a blog called The Beautiful Kind, a self-described “safe haven for perverts.” When the nonprofit (which Holliday won’t name) googled its employees and found links to her NSFW blog from her Twitter account, she was immediately fired, despite dressing (in Holliday’s words) “like a freaking Mormon” at the office.

Okay, maybe they weren't too harsh on the NTUC assistant director after all.