If you’re running a major brand account, it’s never a good idea to temporarily change your Twitter handle — even if there is coordination with Twitter itself. The San Diego Padres learned that the hard way on Sunday.
The Padres’ social team had an interesting idea in celebration of Mother’s Day. They opted to do away with their “@Padres” Twitter handle for a day in favor of “@Madres.” That made sense, I guess. It’s Mother’s Day — let’s give the moms a shoutout across the #brands for #engagement.
But the Padres didn’t change their display name — they changed their actual handle. And, evidently, someone forgot to lock down the handle on a separate account. This was what their Twitter page looked like on Sunday.
That presented an opportunity for Calvin College baseball player Ricky Padilla. He immediately took notice to the available @Padres handle and claimed it for himself.
Well played, Ricky.
The actual Padres account has nearly 400,000 followers, so that handle has value to it. Judging from the Padres’ bio, there was some coordination for the promotion with Twitter and Budweiser. But the account wasn’t locked quickly enough to keep the @Padres handle on hold for the club.
Eventually, the Padres were able to regain control of their handle. The @Padres link now takes you to a nonexistent-account page.
Padilla’s handle was switched back eventually, but at the very least, he can tell everyone a story about how he took ownership of the San Diego Padres’ Twitter handle for a couple hours.
He had a good run.
