The WORST Twitter Fails Blamed On Interns And Aides (PICTURES)

Twitter can be a powerful tool for politicians, brands and individuals with a message to share. During the 2008 presidential election, @BarackObama helped Obama supporters connect and coordinate. After an earthquake struck Haiti in early 2010, aid organizations used their Twitter presence to publicize relief efforts for the devastated country.

However, blunders made via microblogging can quickly be retweeted far and wide. Who can forget Sarah Palin's "refudiate" tweet and the ensuing jokes at her expense?

Twitter fails can be an embarrassment, if not a disaster, for one's public image. But we don't always know who tweets behind the scenes. Stars and politicos sometimes hire Twitter ghostwriters to maintain their accounts, and companies have been known to rely on Twitter interns. When a Twitter scandal breaks, it can be all too easy to blame for-hire tweeters or aides.

Check out our slideshow of Twitter fiascoes that businesses and public figures blamed on interns, aides, translators or assistants (Also see tweets that got people fired and tweets that got people arrested). Have you seen other Twittter fails pinned on "ghost-tweeters" we should add to our list? Email us at technology [at] huffingtonpost.com.

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@Park51's Snarky Tweets

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In August, organizers behind the planned Park51 Islamic Cultural Center in lower Manhattan (aka "the Ground Zero Mosque") fired an intern allegedly in charge of the Center's Twitter account. The @Park51 feed had been criticized for occasional lapses in tone-of-voice, Politico writes. Here are a few of the questionable Tweets:

--Listen - American Muslims died in 9/11, American Muslim responders died too. How long do we have to pay for the rest of the world --Amish saying stop Muslims?1. What are you doing on the computer? 2. That's not very Amish 3. Shouldn't you be making butter? [In response to criticism from a user with "Amish" in his or her handle, and subsequently deleted.] --Allah is Arabic for god - the same god of the Jews and Christians. --Meh - had to block that one, he was making death threats. --We're actually a Muslim community center that's like a JCC or YMCA, not a mosque

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In August, organizers behind the planned Park51 Islamic Cultural Center in lower Manhattan (aka "the Ground Zero Mosque") fired an intern allegedly in charge of the Center's Twitter account. The @Park51 feed had been criticized for occasional lapses in tone-of-voice, Politico writes. Here are a few of the questionable Tweets:

--Listen - American Muslims died in 9/11, American Muslim responders died too. How long do we have to pay for the rest of the world

--Amish saying stop Muslims?1. What are you doing on the computer? 2. That's not very Amish 3. Shouldn't you be making butter? [In response to criticism from a user with "Amish" in his or her handle, and subsequently deleted.]

--Allah is Arabic for god - the same god of the Jews and Christians.

--Meh - had to block that one, he was making death threats.

--We're actually a Muslim community center that's like a JCC or YMCA, not a mosque

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Comments

[Cindy Ortiz]

02:03 AM on 10/18/2010

I just love how the blame always goes to someone else.

No one takes the blame anymore...kind of sad.

[CMB1969]

04:05 PM on 10/14/2010

Interesting take on the matter. I guess this points to the lack of appreciation of the role of social networking sites like Twitter that is still out there--there has to be an appreciation that, if you are a person/business/institution in the public eye, leaving a 20 y/o college kid with final responsibility for your tweets is pretty much the same as leaving that same kid with final responsibility for your press releases.

[Max Shaw]

03:53 PM on 10/14/2010

I really dont like Twitter regardless of these failings..its just another venue of communication where everyone (except for Courtney Love) is now required to be PC and keep all actual opinions to themselves...I refuse to sumbit to it. Plus my life isnt nearly as exciting as Paris Hilton or as tragic as Lindsay Lohan.

[garder54]

10:30 AM on 10/14/2010

An intern does something wrong, you blame him/her
An intern does something right, you take credit for him/her

It seems they are simply finding someone convenient to blame to rid themselves of any ownership.

[TheronC]

07:24 PM on 10/14/2010

Kind of like "privatize profits, socialize losses."

[KristofCreative]

10:01 AM on 10/14/2010

The blame shouldn't be placed on interns or aides. Although they may have been the source of the tweets, the blame needs to fall on the people who misunderstood the power of Twitter and placed such an important job in the hands of inexperienced people. It's just poor management.

[Max Shaw]

03:50 PM on 10/14/2010

completely agree..you cant give interns or assistants carte blanche to do whatever they want and expect politically or socially correct tweets 24/7.