The California gubernatorial race took a humorous turn on Monday when a retweet was a missing letter from the URL it was promoting.
Sarah Pompei, a Meg Whitman spokeswoman, had intended to retweet a post from Whitman adviser Mike Murphy. Murphy’s tweet proclaimed:
But when Pompei copied and pasted the tweet, so that she could add an editorial tidbit, she left out the last letter in the bit.ly URL:
To her credit, Pompei hasn’t (yet) deleted the tweet, which had been retweeted 82 times as of this writing. But instead of linking to the press release where Whitman announces the endorsement of the Deputy Sheriff’s Association of San Diego County, the tweet linked to a June 2009 YouTube clip of what appears to be an amazing bass player. (Calling someone who speaks Japanese who can tell us something about the song!) Of course, the press release might get even more attention with this faux pas.
I have to take issue with the LA Times blog headline: this does not “underscore the dangers of tweeting”! The error could have happened with a copy-and-paste for an email.
TIP: LA Times PolitiCal blog and @tkallinen.
Known for gnawing at complex questions like a terrier with a bone. Digital evangelist, writer, teacher. Transplanted Southerner; teach newbies to ride motorcycles. @kegill (Twitter and Mastodon.social); wiredpen.com