Tweeting corporations beware: You have a nemesis, and its name is Corporate Twits.

Its very existence is to dupe you and make your company look utterly idiotic. Here’s how it works: A Twitter user poses a bizarre question to a brand or person. That person or brand responds. Corporate Twits posts the conversation to its Tumblr account. Hilarity and hand-wringing ensue.

Since July, Corporate Twits has successfully targeted Taco Bell, the president of Rwanda, and Applebee’s, among others. The tweets are sent from several different handles, but @dogboner is a repeat offender. Think twice before responding to this account. (Then again, anyone running a corporate account who responds to someone calling himself @dogboner probably deserves to wind up on the Corporate Twits Tumblr page.)

Over the weekend, JetBlue fell victim to the pranksters when it responded to a question about whether the airline planned to offer discounts or deals for the anniversary of 9/11.

However, the tasteless use of 9/11 for the silly shtick drew criticism from an unlikely source, Gawker, which gave JetBlue a thumbs-up for its handling of the incident.

How did it handle the incident? The airline’s Twitter feed owned up. Yep, well played.


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