McDonald Slips on Twitter Banana Peel

Note to companies: before you put yourself on public hands, make sure you are the

kind of popular. McDonald

wrote a check that came back

on goodwill when it jumped on the Twitter bandwagon a few days ago, looking to get that newfangled social whatchamacallit. Having tried the

hashtag to insignificant consequence, the Mickey D's PR looked to change things up to something more recognizable. They had barely used the

twice, when the bottom came off on a barrage of stories people had apparently been barely holding off on. Unlucky for McDonald's, stories garnered weren't what it expected. Instead of feel-good moments of gratitude on the company's burger

, the ether was overwhelmed with gut-rousing tales of non-edible stuff in burger patties, rats in bun packages or fake nails in french fries. It must be true what they say on dissatisfied customers: they are many times more likely to talk about your service than satisfied ones. If there were any people who felt any kind of positive on the burger chain (and there has got to be a few of those around with all those sales, one would think), they took the day off last Wednesday. McDonald's social media director Rick Wion, arguably the bright mind behind the initiative, quickly realized things were going sour. “Within an hour, we saw that it wasn't going as planned,” Wion told

. “It was negative enough that we set about a change of course.” Alas, that course did not come before a former patron offered this Yelp-worthy gem: “I haven't been to McDonalds in years, because I'd rather eat my own diarrhea.” How did McDonald become mincemeat where other companies have grabbed buckets full of brand equity? Was the company so plainly oblivious to its own customer's? Or is there an evil Super-PAC-like undercurrent that aims to knock the golden arches off of their perch? Let us know!