How did BlackBerry end up tweeting from an iPhone?
BlackBerry tweets that you should download Twitter for BlackBerry. Unfortunately, the tweet comes from an iPhone. The company offers a clue as to how it happened.
Technically Incorrect offers a slightly twisted take on the tech that's taken over our lives.
After the "ha-ha" comes the "hmm."
The history of phone companies tweeting from the wrong phone -- or the celebrities they pay handsomely doing so -- is becoming long.
Yesterday, though, there was a particularly poignant offering.
There was BlackBerry tweeting: "Keep up with the conversation on Twitter." It helpfully added a link so that you could download Twitter for BlackBerry.
Unfortunately, the tweet, as the Verge spotted, came from an iPhone. (The tweet was soon deleted.)
I have a soft spot for BlackBerry. In recent times, the company has tried to release phones that are true to its brand. Success has been hard to come by, but the phones do have a BlackBerryesque charm.
So, after a rueful chuckle, I determined to find out how this had happened.
I contacted BlackBerry and waited. I now have an answer. Or, at least, the semblance of a clue.
I wondered, you see, whether someone at the company secretly uses an iPhone for personal affairs and simply used the wrong phone. Or, perhaps, "="" to="" former="" blackberry="" creative="" director="" alicia="" keyes"="" shortcode="link" asset-type="article" uuid="72c907de-8c86-11e2-b06b-024c619f5c3d" slug="blackberrys-alicia-keys-tweets-from-iphone-claims-a-hack" link-text="as " section="news" title="BlackBerry's Alicia Keys tweets from iPhone, claims a hack" edition="us" data-key="link_bulk_key" api="{"id":"72c907de-8c86-11e2-b06b-024c619f5c3d","slug":"blackberrys-alicia-keys-tweets-from-iphone-claims-a-hack","contentType":null,"edition":"us","topic":{"slug":"culture"},"metaData":{"typeTitle":null,"hubTopicPathString":"Culture","reviewType":null},"section":"news"}"> , someone at BlackBerry was, um, hacked.
The company told me it was "reluctant to elaborate." One can, perhaps, understand this reluctance. Elaboration can bring discombobulation.
However, I pleaded nicely and a company spokesperson told me: "I can confirm the post was done by an outside agency."
It seems, then, that this was another case of putting an outside human in charge of your tweets and ending up with Twitter all over your face.
Perhaps the most classic example of this genre came in 2009 when Chrysler's Twitter account offered: "I find it ironic that Detroit is known as the #motorcity and yet no one here knows how to f***ing drive."
The company's social media agency reportedly lost the Chrysler account after this gem.
It seems, though, that six years later, it can still happen. Yes, a media professional can tweet that you should download Twitter for BlackBerry from their iPhone and think nothing of it.
We are but human, even when we're on Twitter.