As Twitter's (News - Alert) use has continued to evolve, the social networking site has turned into quite the moneymaker for some companies. Audi was one of the first car makers to see the true potential of tweeting their way to followers and eventually a growing customer base. That doesn't mean that other companies didn't have the same ideas and now Twitter is not much different from television and print as far as advertising goes. Just like those other advertising mediums, one popular outlet is by having celebrities tweet their support for your product.

That doesn't mean that every company sees the same level of success when turning to Twitter. Some companies have actually seen using Twitter backfire on them badly. It appears that McDonald's has joined that motley crew with their latest endeavor. McDonald's launched the #MeettheFarmers endeavor in hopes that by showing where their food comes from, it could shed the “greasy hamburger” stigma once and for all. Unfortunately, it appears that McDonald's sorely underestimated the negative reaction the company would receive. 

Instead of people deciding that the fast-food franchise wasn't nearly as bad they once thought, more Twitter users than ever are looking at the chain in a negative light. The campaign, which also featured the hashtag #McDstories, was supposed to feature nice little stories about where the food their customers eat came from. Unfortunately, McDonald's apparently had not learned the one hard and fast rule for Twitter, which is never let other people take over your hashtag. 

Various Twitter users took over the meme to voice their displeasure with the franchise, with users like Robbieisonfire tweeting things like “McDonald’s is responsible for the slaughter of billions of defenseless animals every year. #MeetTheFarmers who aid the murder.” Another user tweeted, “I’m a farmer, but don’t and won’t grow anything for @McDonalds.”

The backlash on the Twitterverse was so vehement that after users continued using the company's own hashtags against them to criticize the taste of the product as well the ingredients used, McDonald's pulled the #McDstories after just two hours. While leaving the #MeettheFarmers up, it appears the fast food giant has learned a valuable lesson in online marketing.

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