Monday, February 18, 2013

Burger King Twitter meltdown

This is why companies need to take their social media seriously, both in terms of having professionals handle their online presence and making sure they take steps to protect the security of the accounts.

Burger King's official Twitter account (@BurgerKing) right now:


Yep. Someone hacked the account, changed the logo and name to "McDonalds," and then started posting tweets that I'm sure are not the brand image that Burger King would prefer to promote:
Many of the other tweets posted by the hacker are more offensive, with drug references, and obscenities, and the news of the hacking is drawing lots of jokes.
I'm honestly surprised it has lasted this long this morning (over an hour so far). But hey, if companies and politicians want to keep delegating social media to 17 year old interns, then the rest of us will continue to be entertained by stories like this.

Free advice: create complicated passwords for your social media accounts and change them regularly. And hire professionals. It's not "just Twitter," it's your brand, your name, your reputation online, and it can be smashed in an instant.

UPDATE: Here's Twitchy's post on the hacking: Oh dear: Burger King’s Twitter account hacked; Updated

UPDATE II: I was linked in a Storify post by the Austin Statesman: Austinites all a-Twitter about Burger King hack. Cool. I've been here less than two weeks and I'm already an "Austinite." :)


Follow me on Twitter at @rumpfshaker

2 comments:

  1. UPDATE: The @BurgerKing account has now been suspended. After almost an hour and a half of mayhem. I assume it will be back online soon with the hacked tweets deleted, and some sort of apology from the company.

    If BK is smart, they'll have that done within the hour...and change their password policies.

    ReplyDelete
  2. This is quite common, as people have those expertise which are required to hack others accounts. Companies should focus on their privacy settings and securities, so it won’t be easy for others to interfere in your accounts.

    ReplyDelete

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