Hacked?

Burger King and Jeep were subjected to social media nightmares this month. They were both hijacked. Burger King was the first victim. The hackers changed the handle picture and name to McDonald's claiming they had bought out Burger King. Also, if I'm not mistaken, tweeted a few obscenities out as well. The Jeep hackers decided they would follow in the BK hackers' footsteps. They made it look like Jeep had be sold to Cadillac. Lesson from this: use better passwords. After a few hours they were able to claim their Twitters back, but the pictures/screenshots will always be out there.

For a bit, we thought MTV and BET had become the next victims of the Twitter hackers. However, it was just a witty PR move on the part of the companies. The two accounts were "hacked" by the other. Companies have been playing off what has been going on in the world like the Super Bowl Blackout for instance. So, why not play off the pain of other companies too! They chose to use the hack to mostly advertise BET's Hip Hop Awards in June. It's definitely different. Effective? Eh...not so sure about that one. I think they thought it would be funnier then it actually was. Creative? I will give them that. Social media is all about creating conversation and when company's twitter account gets hacked, it creates conversation. And when it turns out the company hacked itself, it sparks even more conversation! Plus, they can get away with it. They're MTV. It fits with their brand image. Getting a laugh at the expense of others? It's like Punk'd for social media!