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Burger King's Twitter page is hacked, gains 30k new followers

Marketing lesson?

THE OFFICIAL TWITTER account for Burger King was taken over by hackers earlier today – who managed to gain over 30,000 new followers before their antics got the account suspended.

The users behind the account rebranded it with a McDonalds avatar and background, changing the bio to read: “Just got sold to McDonalds because the whopper flopped =[“.

About 50 tweets were posted by the hackers, who may have been able to maintain control of the page because today is a national holiday – President’s Day – in the United States, meaning most corporate buildings are closed.

Having been taken over at about 5pm Irish time, it was not until 6:15pm that the account was suspended – but the event will reap some long-term benefit for BK’s online presence, given that its number of followers swelled from just under 75,000 to just under 110,000 before the plug was pulled.

Read: Twitter attacked by ‘sophisticated’ hackers

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    Mute mcgoo
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    Feb 18th 2013, 8:08 PM

    I see that ikea has cleverly hacked into the journals news feed (on the app anyways)

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    Mute OU812
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    Feb 18th 2013, 8:47 PM

    The ads are totally intrusive now. On the verge of dumping the journal & going with breaking news.

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    Mute Declan Duggan
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    Feb 18th 2013, 9:01 PM

    Who’s been Housing around with the burgers again:-)

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    Mute tax slave
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    Feb 18th 2013, 11:24 PM

    Sorry to burst your bubble but even the journal has to make money . So adds are a small price to pay for a great read .keep up the great work .

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    Mute BigChanntelle55
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    Feb 18th 2013, 7:12 PM

    I love burgers

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    Mute Lickmestarfish
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    Feb 18th 2013, 7:14 PM

    Sure looks that way

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    Mute Rory Nolan
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    Feb 18th 2013, 9:58 PM

    What’s the story will all the ads of late on the journal ? Have they hired a new marketing person that has enabled ‘p*ss the user off mode” ? If you know anything about UI design you will understand that the new ads being delivered to us are wrong and not doing any favours to the brands associating themselves with the journal. Make money yes, but do it in style and don’t p*ss us off in the making. Lots of love as always from the failed marketeer :-)

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    Mute Sean O Luanaigh
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    Feb 18th 2013, 11:24 PM

    If you have a rooted android download adaway! No more ads ever

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    Mute Justin Devaney
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    Feb 18th 2013, 10:13 PM

    It was obviously the Hamburgler

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    Mute DublinLad
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    Feb 18th 2013, 7:54 PM

    McHacked ?

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    Mute Jonathan Fowler
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    Feb 18th 2013, 8:27 PM

    I have a radio in my car

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    Mute Ciarán Nolan
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    Feb 18th 2013, 6:55 PM

    Whoever is responsible for this is WHOPPER! (No pun intended!)

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    Mute John Murphy
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    Feb 18th 2013, 7:12 PM

    Not lovin’ that, Ciaran.

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    Mute dave
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    Feb 18th 2013, 9:26 PM

    Oh christ

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    Mute tax slave
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    Feb 18th 2013, 8:04 PM

    Mc thank you for the extra followers

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