The Straits Times' massive Twitter boo-boo (Screen cap from Twitter)
Last month it was the Health Promotion Board (HPB) in a Twitter boo-boo, now it's the turn of national newspaper, The Straits Times (ST).
On Thursday, ST's official Twitter account, @stcom, sent out a tweet at 12:15pm containing a vulgarity. It said: "omg. f--k you all. seriously."
In an immediate apology minutes after the original tweet, @stcom tweeted on the micro-blogging platform, "I'd like to apologise unreservedly on behalf of our staff member. He mixed up his personal and corporate accounts."
It is not known who the culprit was, but Ng Tze Yong, social media editor for ST, said he would take the blame.
Responding to another Twitter user on his personal account, @NgTzeYong, he said, "Well, I think a team leader has to shoulder the ultimate responsibility."
He also clarified that the Twitter account had not been hacked, and that the embarrassing tweet was the result of a genuine human error.
In a later tweet, @stcom said, "Hi all, our social media editor @NgTzeYong will be.investigating the matter. Apologies for the human error by the @STcom staff member."
Many local tweeters expressed sympathy for the situation, citing an honest mistake on the part of @stcom, which has over 46,000 followers.
"Everyone needs to chill. It's a mistake, yes, a bad one. But do we have to point and laugh?" said @jolintan on the social media platform.
@jchowjs added, "It was an honest mistake, we all do at some point in time."
Popular blogger Lee Kin Mun (@mrbrown) also saw the lighter side of things and tweeted, "If I were you, I'd save this tweet image for future use. Captures sentiments perfectly." http://twitpic.com/4fkg6m
Last month, HPB unintentionally posted a tweet containing the "F" word -- later revealed to be also the result of a mix-up in accounts..