In the Boneheaded Social Media Posts Department put this one near the top.
This rather disturbing message was placed on the news feed for @thetimesnews on Twitter. It happened on Sunday. And if true, it would perhaps constitute the most terrifying social media post of all time.
Yes, such a thing would be clear signal to immediately alert the local authorities, call the FBI, bring in the National Guard, have the state Highway Patrol block all road accesses and by all means call in Batman.
Terrifying, right?
The good news is, Monday passed without widespread mayhem. The day passed with remarkable calm in Alamance County. Batman could take the day off.
Of course, the post was a mistake — and a pretty bad one — by the person who typed it. The post was supposed to read, “Murder trial starts Monday in Alamance County.”
Pretty big difference I’d say.
Now some might wonder who the boob is who wrote this original post. Well, in this case, that boob would be … me.
Yes, I’m the author of this particular boneheaded social media post. We don’t have any one person responsible for populating our social media sites with content. It’s a job passed around to a few people in our department. And on weekends, I’m sometimes the one.
Now, brain farts while typing aren’t uncommon. That’s why editors were invented over the objections of writers. But in a world where few editors exist the job falls upon others. On Twitter or Facebook it’s up to readers to catch the typing mishaps which happen from time to time.
That led to this exchange on Twitter several hours after I posed the original blood-curdling message.
I’m trying to make light of the situation because I can. And thanks to Amanda for pointing out the error.
But it’s also a reminder to proofread what we post on social media at all times. I never want to give anyone the wrong idea — or a p0tentially horrifying one.
In this day and time folks can’t be too careful.
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