Top ten social media disasters of 2014

Fail: Cameron's phone-call faux pas

Following a telephone call with Barack Obama, David Cameron tweeted an image of himself with the caption: "I've been speaking to @BarackObama about the situation in Ukraine. We are united in condemnation of Russia's actions." Soon, Twitter got busy with parody images, including some memorable contributions from US comedian Rob Delaney and Star Trek actor Sir Patrick Stewart.

Fail: Joan Rivers Facebooks from the grave

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Two weeks after she died, the US comedienne mysteriously updated her Facebook page. Alongside a photograph of a new iPhone, she announced she was upgrading her "badass" handset with an iPhone 6. The message, which was swiftly deleted, had presumably been scheduled before her demise.

Fail: US Airways sends a very NSFW pic

A US Airways customer was taken aback when, during a conversation about a delayed flight, the airline's official Twitter account sent her an image of a naked woman putting a model aeroplane to unconventional use. "Yikes," replied the customer. The image remained online for an hour before it was replaced with an apology.

Fail: Donald Trump tricked into Wests tweet

The US tycoon meant well when he agreed to a request from Philip Bradbury to re-tweet an image of his late parents, who "always said [Trump] was an inspiration to them". Unfortunately for Trump, the attached photo was of serial killers Fred and Rose West. When he realised his error, Trump threatened to sue.

Fail: DiGiorno Pizza makes light of domestic violence

Sometimes, companies hop on board a Twitter hashtag to promote their products. And sometimes it goes badly wrong. In September, the #WhyIStayed hashtag highlighted the plight of women in abusive relationships – so when the pizza company DiGiorno joined in with the message "You had pizza" it provoked widespread anger. The company apologised.

Fail: Charity calls JK Rowling a 'b**ch'

The Dignity Project failed to live up to its name when the Scottish charity slammed the author of Harry Potter after she donated £1m to the anti-independence Better Together campaign. "What a #b**** after we gave her shelter in our city when she was a single mum," the tweet read. Some suspected the tweet was intended as a private 'DM' message. The charity later claimed its account was hacked.

Fail: Tory MP 'faves' saucy photo

Conservative MP for Lincoln, Karl McCartney, was left red-faced when he appeared to have favourited a pornographic tweet. He hastily deleted all of his favourites and blamed Twitter's "security changes" for the incident. Fellow tweeters gave his excuse short shrift.

Fail: Mastercard Brits campaign backfires

Ahead of this year's Brit Awards, a PR agency representing sponsors Mastercard offered press accreditation on condition that journalists send pre-written tweets promoting Mastercard and using its #PricelessSurprises hashtag. Journalists rebelled and soon the hashtag was dominated by decidedly off-message tweets – including this more adept example of PR:

Fail: Pornhub's Luther King nightmare

The adult video website Pornhub marked Martin Luther King day by tweeting: "Happy MLK. In honor of his death, make sure to only use the Ebony category today."

Fail: It's a fair cop

It all started so innocently: New York police tweeted out a message in April, which read: "Do you have a photo with a member of the NYPD? Tweet us & tag it #myNYPD." Soon, the hashtag was featuring unflattering images of New York cops arresting and harassing people. "I welcome the extra attention," claimed police commissioner Bill Bratton, through gritted teeth.