How can you get 2,000 additional Twitter followers and steal major headlines?

Easy. Tweet a NSFW picture of yourself.

That’s what Alison Pill did on Wednesday and amid the busy news cycle—U.S. embassies attacked, presidential election heats up, something about a new iPhone—“The Newsroom” actress drew attention from countless media outlets, including USA Today, The Los Angeles Times, ABC News, and so on.

The picture, which Pill later deleted, shows her sprawled on a bed, naked from the waist up, wearing a pair of thick glasses. Her follow-up tweet said:

“Yep. That picture happened. Ugh. My tech issues have now reached new heights, apparently. How a deletion turned into a tweet… Apologies. ”

Most of the replies to this tweet shared the sentiment: No problem.

Apparently, the pic was meant for her fiancée, actor Jay Baruchel, who referred to Pill as a “hilarious dork” in response to the topless image.

Officially, the tweet was an accident, PR professional Richard Laermer thinks it was nothing more than a “cheap” publicity stunt—one that will tarnish Pill’s image.

“It is so tacky and unbecoming that she basically ruined her image of being [a] good actress [because] even folks outside [the] industry see through this now,” the founder and CEO of RLM PR told PR Daily.

Jen Carlson at The Gothamist blog—careful if you click on the following link, it features the NSFW photos of Pill—had a different take:

“If this were The Newsroom's Olivia Munn we may think it was a publicity stunt, but poor Pill seems to simply be the latest celebrity who doesn't know how to Direct Message.”

Either way, a topless picture is something hiring managers will likely frown upon.

(Image via)