People can say whatever they want on Twitter.
But it could easily backfire if said in the wrong context.
And, in some cases, it could cost you your job.
A tweet that hinted at violence cost the Houston Rockets' digital communication manager his job.
Chad Shanks, the digital communications manager of the Houston Rockets, got a little too excited as his team was about to close out a playoff series against state-rival Dallas Mavericks.
With the Rockets' official Twitter account, he tweeted, "Shhhhh. Just close your eyes. It will all be over soon."
Moments later, the Mavericks' Twitter account responded, "@HoustonRockets Not very classy but we still wish you guys the best of luck in the next round."
But that wasn't it. The Rockets soon apologized, saying the tweet was in "very poor taste." Shanks was soon fired from his position.
This PR consultant became one of the most hated people on Earth overnight.
Justine Sacco, a PR consultant who once had only 170 Twitter followers, became one of the most hated people on Earth with a single tweet she thought was funny.
In 2013, before heading to South Africa, she tweeted, "Going to Africa. Hope I don't get AIDS. Just kidding. I'm white!"
Tech writer Sam Biddle spotted the tweet, retweeted it to the 15,000 followers he had, and it was all downhill from there. Thousands of people were outraged and the hashtag "#HasJustineLandedYet" started trending worldwide. Eventually, Sacco was fired from her position at IAC.
Later, she did an interview with British writer Jon Ronson where she said, "I thought there was no way that anyone could possibly think it was literal."
Chrysler's social media strategist sent the wrong tweet from the wrong account.
Scott Bartosiewicz was a social media strategist in charge of Chrysler's corporate account.
One day, while stuck in traffic on a highway near Detroit, Bartosiewicz decided to tweet what was on his mind: "I find it ironic that Detroit is known as the #motorcity and yet no one here knows how to (expletive) drive."
The problem was that he was logged in to Chrysler's official Twitter account, not his personal account. Soon, he was fired and Chrysler didn't renew their contract with his firm.
Later, Bartosiewicz said in an interview, "I poured all my heart and soul into that. It's unfortunate it's all being overshadowed by 140 characters."
Gilbert Gottfried picked a terrible time to make fun of Japan.
Gilbert Gottfried, the standup comedian behind the voice of the Aflac Duck commercials, was fired by Aflac after a series of tasteless jokes about the tsunami that hit Japan in 2011.
Some of the jokes he tweeted include, "Japan is really advanced. They don't go to the beach. The beach comes to them," and "Japan called me. They said 'maybe those jokes are a hit in the US, but over here, they're all sinking.'"
Gottfried may have found the jokes funny, but Aflac didn't because the insurance company does 75% of its business in Japan.
A CNN senior editor lost her job for showing respect to the wrong leader.
CNN senior editor Octavia Nasr lost her job after praising Hezbollah's spiritual leader, Grand Ayatollah Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah, on Twitter. Her tweet was deemed offensive because Fadlallah is reportedly linked to the deaths of 260 Americans.
She tweeted, "Sad to hear of the passing of Sayyed Mohammad Hussein Fadlallah. One of Hezbollah's giants I respect a lot."
She later explained her tweet was an "error of judgment," and that her respect was out of Fadlallah position on women's rights. But CNN soon decided to fire her, reasoning her credibility has been "compromised."
A critical journalist went a little too far.
Nir Rosen, a journalist who covered the Iraq War, was a fellow at the NYU Center on Law and Security when he decided to send out a tweet that didn't bode well with the rest of the internet.
He tweeted: "Lara Logan had to outdo Anderson. Where was her buddy McCrystal."
Logan's the CBS correspondent who was reported to have been sexually assaulted while covering Hosni Mubarak's resignation in Egypt. Rosen's tweet was referring to CNN's Anderson Cooper, who, at the time, reportedly had been hit in the head multiple times while covering the same event in Egypt.
Rosen didn't stop there. He went on to call her a "war monger," and that "she was probably groped like thousands of other women."
But shortly after the Twitter rant, Rosen repeatedly apologized, and the next day, ended up resigning from his fellowship position.
Never make sexual jokes about an underage person.
The Australian comedian Catherine Deveny was fired as columnist for the Australian paper The Age, following a tasteless joke suggesting "The Crocodile Hunter" Steve Irwin's 11-year old daughter needed to "get laid."
She tweeted, "I so do hope Bindi Irwin gets laid."
The Age soon fired her, with the following statement: "We are appreciative of the columns Catherine has written for The Age over several years but the views she has expressed recently on Twitter are not in keeping with the standards we set at The Age."
Deveny didn't take it nicely and declined to apologize, saying her humor's "deeply subjective."
A 'Glee' extra was canned for tweeting a spoiler scene.
Nicole Crowther was an extra for the TV musical "Glee," when she tweeted: "K is PQ and Ka is PK."
Her tweet was in clear reference to the prom king and prom queen in the upcoming episode of the show. Soon, the show's producer, Brad Falchuk, tweeted her back, "Who are you to spoil something talented people have spent months to create? Hope you're qualified to do something besides work in entertainment."
Soon, Crowther was fired from the show, leaving this one final tweet for people who wrote her hate messages: "They are not doing reshoots because of my careless mistake so shut up haters and leave me alone. Grow up and get a life."
This Texas teen got fired from a pizza joint before she even started.
Sometimes people get fired even before they start their new job for a tasteless joke on Twitter.
A Texas teen named Cella tweeted in February, "Ew I start this f--- ass job tomorrow," before starting her new job at a pizza joint called Jet's Pizza.
Soon, her future boss discovered her tweet, and fired her on the spot. He wrote, "And...No you don't start that FA job today! I just fired you! Good luck with your no money, no job life!"
A sportscaster shared his true feelings about same-sex marriage and lost his job.
Damian Goddard was a sportscaster in Toronto when he tweeted out his true feelings about same-sex marriage: "I completely and wholeheartedly support Todd Reynolds and his support for the traditional and TRUE meaning of marriage."
His tweet was in response to Todd Reynolds, the hockey agent who criticized the New York Rangers' Sean Avery for publicly supporting the cause.
Soon, his employer, Rogers Sportsnet, fired Goddard, with the following statement: "Mr. Goddard was a freelance contractor and in recent weeks it had become clear that he is not the right fit for our organization."
A former baseball player got canned after a racist tweet.
Mike Bacsik is a former professional baseball player most famous for giving up Barry Bonds' historic 756th homerun.
But Bacsik is also known for losing his radio job over some racially insensitive tweets. Back in 2010, he tweeted, "Congrats to all the dirty Mexicans in San Antonio," following the Spurs' win over his hometown team, the Dallas Mavericks.
Bacsik was initially suspended indefinitely by the radio station that had hired him, but soon was canned from his position. He later apologized, saying, "It's not a good joke...When you tweet like that, it's not a playful, harmless thing. It's not what it was meant to be."
Don't make political jokes in public.
An MSNBC staff member responsible for its official Twitter account was fired after an incendiary tweet about "right wing" conservatives caused a swarm of outrage.
The tweet read: "Maybe the rightwing will hate it, but everyone else will go awww: the adorable new #Cheerios ad w/ biracial family."
The tweet suggested conservatives would "hate" seeing the biracial family appearing on Cheerios' new commercial. Soon, the Republican National Committee urged viewers to boycott MSNBC while demanding an apology from the network.
Later, the network's executive editor Richard Wolffe issued an apology and the tweet was deleted. The person responsible for the tweet was fired.
The "Cisco Fatty" got busted for saying bad things about her potential employer.
In 2009, 22-year-old Connor Riley had been offered a job at Cisco when she sent out this innocent tweet that was meant to be sarcastic: “Cisco just offered me a job! Now I have to weigh the utility of a fatty paycheck against the daily commute to San Jose and hating the work."
Moments later, a Cisco employee named Tim Levad saw the tweet and replied, “Who is the hiring manager? I’m sure they would love to know that you will hate the work. We here at Cisco are versed in the Web.”
This exchange blew up on the internet, earning Riley the nickname, “Cisco Fatty.” To be clear, Riley didn't get fired. But she ended up not taking the job, explaining in a blog post that the tweet was actually made after she’d turned down the offer.
