Twitter is recognized and often praised for breaking down walls and opening the lines of communication between businesses & customers, celebrities & fans, and politicians & constituents. So what happens when 140 characters are misread, or when hashtags that are used to filter discussions are abused? The resulting commentary on the social networking site is nothing but an embarrassing paper trail for those guilty of such poor judgment.

In an effort to incite a trending topic on Twitter, McDonald’s promoted a #McDstories hashtag campaign earlier this week. It quickly backfired when Twitter users began posting their horrific experiences with the fast food restaurant, service and food alike. One of the tamest tweets of the bunch stated, “My memories of walking into a McDonald’s: the sensory experience of inhaling deeply from a freshly-opened can of dog food. #McDstories”

McDonald’s is far from the only company to meet failure through efforts to promote a product in a trending topic. Surprisingly, their mistake of promoting a vague hashtag pales in comparison to some of these other Twitter faux pas:

Entenmann’s tried to jump into a hashtag trend, stating, “Who’s #notguilty about eating all the tasty treats they want?!” Unfortunately for this baked goods manufacturer, the #notguilty tag was trending as a result of the Casey Anthony trial. Whether it was an oversight or simply poor judgment, Entenmann’s issued an apology shortly after the angry responses came flowing into their Twitter feed.

Kenneth Cole was accused of “hashtag hijacking” when he posted, during the Egyptian revolution, “Millions are in uproar in #Cairo. Rumor is they heard our new spring collection is now available online…” with a link to his products.

Furniture maker Habitat is also guilty of hashtag hijacking, but in a way many consider to be the least effective and most offensive: when advertising a £1,000 gift card offer, they carelessly tagged each tweet with one of the top 10 trending topics that day including #Iran and #Mousavi. While Kenneth Cole took full responsibility for his tweet and, like Entenmann’s, issued an apology for insensitivity, Habitat blamed an intern who was subsequently fired.

There are countless ways to find you have committed a hashtag hijack or simply tagged a post in a way that will mislead users and result in backlash within this very public forum. The verdict is still out on whether or not bad publicity, like that in these aforementioned Twitter blunders, is better than none at all. Habitat seemed to think no Twitter presence was better than a negative one, and deleted their account after their intern’s misguided tweeting caused such an uproar.

It is important for businesses to maintain a presence on these social networking sites and to encourage communication with clients and customers; however, it is equally pertinent to consider social media etiquette before sending controversial and potential harmful information to your followers. If you neglect this and abuse Twitter tools in a marketing scheme, you may find your influence diminishing very quickly.

A few months ago, when the issue first arose, we asked whether or not SOPA (the Stop Online Piracy Act), if implemented, would be effective in protecting intellectual property theft online. Ultimately, would it and its companion bill, PIPA (the Protect IP Act) be more helpful than harmful? This week, the Internet community responded in unison with a resounding no.

This Wednesday, many of the Internet’s most popular websites — including Google and Wikipedia — spent 24-hours taking a stand in protest of the imposing legislation. By blacking out their pages and redirecting users to digital anti-censorship petitions as well as encouraging calls to state representatives, Wikipedia, Reddit, Craigslist, and dozens of other high traffic sites aimed to show users and law makers alike the importance of the freedom to access information.

Google chose to less officially participate in this blackout. Instead of closing the search engine for 24 hours, which undoubtedly would have led to problems for users worldwide, Google implemented the blackout on its logo only. Beneath the search bar it featured a link prompting users to sign a petition to Congress. Meanwhile, Tumblr put the decision in the hands of its audience, giving bloggers the option to blackout their blogs in protest.

On the websites that were not blacked out, however, SOPA and PIPA were far from forgotten. Whether in the form of complaints about beloved websites being unavailable, shared links to petitions, discussions, or media reports on the progress of both pieces of legislation, this potential censorship and the actions it rallied reached all corners of the web. Through the petition link featured on Google’s homepage alone, an additional 4.5 million names were added against SOPA and PIPA .

Before the 24 hour protest was finished, President Obama announced that he would not support the bill. Shortly thereafter, Senator Marco Rubio withdrew as a co-sponsor of PIPA. Senators John Cornyn, Roy Blunt, John Boozman, and Orrin Hatch all followed suit. Similarly, Representatives Ben Quayle and Lee Terry have announced that they will no longer support SOPA as it is written.

While many lawmakers have been swayed by the outcries of the Internet community at large, others remain unmoved. Representative Lamar Smith stated that he stands behind SOPA regardless of the widespread criticism it was subjected to as a result of Wednesday’s protest. Therefore SOPA, although delayed for the time being, is not to be dismissed just yet.  Just as when the issue first arose, concerned Internet users can stay informed about these two pieces of legislation through BOTW-approved websites containing news and legal information pertaining to the Internet, online piracy, and related intellectual property matters.

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Watch out for ladders, avoid cracks in the sidewalk, and take care when handling mirrors. That’s right, it’s Friday the 13th: everyone’s favorite day of superstitions, save for the friggatriskaidekaphobics (no, we didn’t collapse onto the keyboard; that’s a real word). Sadly, it will not be a fun year for those with this phobia; in 2012 there will be three Fridays that fall on the 13th. To make matters worse for the fearful, these Fridays are precisely 13 weeks apart.

Some believe that Friday alone is an unlucky day. Others find the number 13 to be ominous. Needless to say, when combined, the superstitious get antsy. Don’t be too quick to laugh if you see someone tossing salt over their shoulder today, or clutching onto a piece of wood. When the following myths (and some facts) are taken into account, it’s easier to see why some consider this a villainous day:

• In numerology, the number 12 is considered “complete” while the number 13 is seen as a transgression from that ideal.
• In Christian scripture, Judas was the 13th guest to arrive for dinner on the night that he betrayed Christ. Similarly, Friday is said to be the day that Eve tempted Adam, that Cain killed Abel, and that Christ died.
• In Norse mythology, Loki, the god of mischief, is the 13th to arrive to the banquet where, as the result of one of his tricks, the god of joy is killed.
• The Knights Templar were imprisoned on Friday the 13th, and their last known Grand Master was burned to death on the same date.
• The mysterious death of Tupac occurred on Friday the 13th.  Meanwhile, the far less beloved Fidel Castro, Nathan Bedford Forrest, and Butch Cassidy were born on Friday the 13th.
• According to the Ancient Romans, a coven of witches gathered in groups of 12, welcoming the devil as their 13th guest.
• Tragedies such as The Great Flood of 1951 and the South Asian storm of 1970 occurred on Friday the 13th.
• Jack the Ripper, Charles Manson, Jeffrey Dahmer, and Theodore Bundy all have 13 letters in their names.

Over a span of 400 years, the thirteenth of a month falls on a Friday more than any other weekday (over 600 times). Those who remain convinced that superstition is nonsense will brush this all aside as mere coincidence; however, others claim these occurrences are proof that the day is a cursed one.

According to the Stress Management Centre and Phobia Institute, up to $900 million is lost among businesses on Friday the 13th in the United States. This loss is entirely attributed to this widely accepted superstition that causes employees and executives alike to avoiding flying or doing business. Yet despite the 21 million Americans sharing this fear, some celebrate the number 13.

Many winning athletes have donned the number 13 jersey including Alex Rodriguez at the beginning of his career with the New York Yankees, NFL star Dan Marino, and the NBA’s Wilt Chamberlain. Thirteen is also considered a positive number among artists: Black Sabbath released their debut album on Friday the 13th, and pop-country artist Taylor Swift has declared 13 as her lucky number. In Coperos, a Brazilian religion, 13 vastly outweighs 12’s numerology-rooted significance; it is believed to the number that will save humankind.

Whether Friday the 13th scares you or enthuses you, it’s probably for the best not to go out of your way to do anything especially reckless — just for the next 24 hours. Come tomorrow, feel free to return to your usual routine… until 13 weeks from today, that is, when the 13th of April will fall on a Friday.

Earlier this year, Facebook announced the Open Graph protocol that enables developers to integrate pages into a social graph, allowing users to connect to brands, pages, and friends through social actions. Instead of merely “liking” a page or product, now additional verbs can be found filling the new feeds of Facebook users.

Those connected to Spotify, for instance, will publish stories displaying what they “listen” to through the online radio application, while avid news junkies can share all the articles they’ve “read” on a site. When Facebook launches Open Graph Actions, users will be able to interact with applications, products, and brands in even broader ways.

Facebook users are all too familiar with frequent changes to the popular social platform, but that doesn’t mean they’re immediately accepting of such updates. This is especially true when privacy issues arise, which is the case with the auto-publishing features that Open Graph applications enable.

While users do have the ability to remove any stories published to their Timeline, certain applications (such as Spotify) require Facebook users to grant access for auto-publishing. This is problematic for users who are not constantly monitoring their Timelines and do not want to share all, if any, actions.

On the other hand, however, Open Graph applications and the launch of Actions in particular will have positive implications for brands. Unlike brand pages, users do not have to “like” an application in order to use it or to enable auto-publishing. As a result, brands that are frequently interacted with can easily gain exposure through the new social actions.

Additionally, the Open Graph applications feature related friend activity prior to content, encouraging the sharing and discussion of mutually interesting brands and products. Paired with the action-based mini-news feed visible on the home page (implemented when Timeline was still in Beta) that tracks friend activity, brands have many more opportunities to attract new users through Actions.