The Biggest Social Media Fails of 2014

The year that was 2014 is about to be a wrap. Between protests, elections, ISIS, and landing a spacecraft on a comet, it's been a hell of a busy 12 months.

And unsurprisingly, it was just as crazy on social media. Social networks have become more engrained into our society with each passing year—in 2014, there were some good moments, and some bad. We caught a slew of celebrities, brands, and athletes slippin' online, only to get called out by the social media community at large. There were many instances of hashtag abuse, cultural ignorance, and passive aggressiveness. In the category of fails, it was a most entertaining year.

Here are The Biggest Social Media Fails of 2014.

Date: January 20

This isn't what Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. would have ever wanted associated with his dream. The adult video site Pornhub tried to piggyback on MLK Day by tweeting, "Happy MLK. In honor of his death, make sure to only use the Ebony category today."

Twitter users were pissed:

Date: April 7

Mary McCoy had the guts to perform a song about social media at the 2014 Social Media Marketing World convention. If you were ever going to sing about social media, this would be the place—and only place—to do it. It's embarrassing, but give her credit for the amount of shots she had to do to go up on that stage. (Her singing starts around the 1:00 mark.)

Date: April 14

It started off innocently enough. One random US Airways customer has a problem with the airline and tweets it to their account. The US Airways account tweets back.

Date: April 22

When the New York Police Department asked Twitter users to tweet nice photos of NYPD officers using the #MyNYPD hashtag, they thought they were going to get some family-friendly pictures. The hashtag took off across the nation, and stayed atop of Twitter's trending charts for days.

But, no, the pictures weren't what the NYPD expected:

Date: May 11

Ann Coulter isn't known for her compassion. When Michelle Obama posted a picture of herself holding a sign with the hashtag #BringBackOurGirls (in reference to the Boko Haram kidnappers in Nigeria), Coulter struck back with a hashtag that was more than a little selfish: #BringBackOurCountry. As the saying goes, "there's a time and a place" when it comes to politics.

Social media users scrubbed out Coulter's original message and replaced it with dozens of new ones that felt fitting.

Date: June 11

Earlier this year Scotland voted on whether to become an independent country and break away from the United Kingdom. Scots were divided on the issue, especially toward the final days leading up to the vote. But when J.K. Rowling, a Scot and author of the Harry Potter series, said that she donated a million pounds to the anti-independence campaign, separatists weren't happy. Especially the one who allegedly hacked the Twitter account of the charity The Dignity Project to call Rowling a "bitch."

Date: June 16

During Team USA's awesome World Cup run, one of their best victories came against Ghana. Several brands, of course, jumped in with commentary, because that's just how it goes in 2014. When Team USA sealed the victory, Delta tweeted the score with the Statue of Liberty next to the U.S.'s stat and a picture of a giraffe next to Ghana's. Which is too bad, considering giraffes aren't native to Ghana. Delta was called out for the mistake.

Date: September 9

Chicago's Cheesie's Pub & Grill celebrated "Tinder Tuesday" with a 20-percent-off deal.

Not bad, eh? Well, in the tweet they used to promote the "knockout deal," they named it after NFL running back Ray Rice, who was suspended after the video emerged showing him punching his then-fiancee in February. Employees conveniently blamed the tweet on an ex-employee, but Cheesie's manager fired their social media manager regardless.

This wouldn't be a bad idea for a tweet if this were, say, the night after a Mayweather fight, not in reference to domestic abuse.

Date: September 29

This could be considered a WIN instead of a FAIL for anyone who is not Donald Trump.

See that happy couple in the picture? The one @Feckhead says is his or her parents? Well, they're actually Fred and Rosemary West, who were convicted of raping, torturing and killing 10 girls back in the '70s. Rosemary is incarcerated for life; Fred killed himself before he could be sentenced.

Needless to say, the Donald wasn't happy when he found out about the prank.

Date: November 10

When Bill Cosby's social media team invited Twitter users to meme Bill Cosby, it couldn't have come at a more inopportune time. Comedian Hannibal Burress had just called Cosby a rapist during a show in Philly, which ignited a flood of women from Cosby's past to come forward with rape allegations.

"It's even worse because Bill Cosby has the fuckin' smuggest old black man public persona that I hate," said Burress. "He gets on TV (and says), 'Pull your pants up black people, I was on TV in the '80s! I can talk down to you because I had a successful sitcom!' Yeah, but you rape women, Bill Cosby, so turn the crazy down a couple notches." The #CosbyMeme pictures were filled with references to his rape allegations.

Date: November 13

The New England Patriots tried to celebrate their one millionth Twitter follower by thanking users with individual tweets. But then a handle with the N-word popped up, and, well, they didn't overlook it. The Patriots even put the handle on the back of a jersey in a picture. The team later apologized, saying, "Our filtering system failed & we will be more vigilant in the future."

Date: December 3

Chuck Ambrose, school president of the University of Central Missouri, wanted to congratulate members of the women's soccer team with an innocent tweet. Too bad the prez isn't safe from typos. Instead of using the proper University of Central Missouri acronym (UCM), Ambrose accidentally switched the two letters that shouldn't have been switched. He created: #TeamCUM.

Date: December 5

We feel for former Oklahoma running back Brennan Clay. We really do. But publicly airing your marital problems isn't the way to go.

Clay began tweeting texts from his wife to his former teammate and current Dallas Cowboys running back Demarco Murray. The texts implied Clay's wife had been cheating on him with Murray; she'd saved Murray in her phone as "Spray Tan." Ouch.

While Clay tweeted this, Murray was having a monster game for the Cowboys. Realizing this, Clay poured more salt on his wounds: