RIM’s latest marketing campaign is based around a squad of cartoon characters called the Bold Team, accompanied by the #BeBold hashtag on Twitter. It wasn’t a good idea.

Why? Because the campaign is blowing up in RIM’s face. Spectacularly.

via RIM’s Twitter Campaign Goes Horribly Wrong #BeBold.

A twitter campaign by McDonald’s backfired when people started sharing the wrong kind of #McDStories (via @bored2tears).

McDonald’s kicked things off on Thursday with the hashtag #MeetTheFarmers, in a campaign meant to draw attention to the brand’s guarantee of fresh produce.

Later in the day, however, the burger company used a dangerously vague hashtag: “When u make something w/ pride, people can taste it,” McD potato supplier #McDstories

via McDonald’s Twitter Campaign Goes Horribly Wrong #McDStories.

Despite the number of corporate whistleblowers being at an all-time high, new research shows the presence of a culture that promotes ethical behavior in workplaces is at its lowest point in the last decade. A new study from the Ethics Resource Center reveals that over the past two years, 45 percent of U.S. employees observed a violation of the law or ethics at work. The use of social media appears to be contributing to the problem, according to new research.

While reporting of the wrongdoing was at an all-time high, so too was the backlash against those employees who blew the whistle, the research revealed. More than 1 in 5 employees who reported misconduct experienced some form of retaliation, which ERC President Patricia J. Harned said spells trouble.

“Retaliation against whistleblowers and pressure on employees to compromise their ethics standards are at or near all-time highs,” Harned said. “These are factors that historically indicate that American business may be on the cusp of a large downward shift in ethical conduct.”

via Social Media Contributes to Ethical Lapses at Work.

The buzzwords for social media editors at news outlets are conversation, curation and collaboration. But when using Twitter and its ilk to collect and disseminate news in real-time, another word is becoming just as important: corroboration.

During big, breaking events such as Hurricane Irene, the East Coast earthquake and uprisings in the Middle East, social media editors monitor Twitter, YouTube and Flickr. They ask people what they’re seeing and spread eyewitness accounts and images to a broader audience.

via Social media editor role expands to include fighting misinformation during breaking news | Poynter..