Millions are in uproar in #Cairo. Rumor they heard our new spring collection is now available?.?.?.” read the message posted on the Kenneth Cole Twitter page.

Last year that tweet to promote the fashion brand’s spring collection caused controversy when it made light of the protests under way in Egypt. Social media faux-pas are far from rare. However, this was not an error by an inexperienced intern, but by the chairman and chief creative officer himself, Kenneth Cole. The company soon apologised but it had already earned its place in online lists of “Epic Twitter Fails”. It was definitely a case of a business leader tweeting first and thinking second.

Communicating from the hip is not restricted to trigger-happy tweeters. Today the average executive has a growing array of digital options to communicate with their organisation, clients and other audiences. Senior executives who once had time to ponder a reply feel under pressure to bec-ome adept at rapid digital communication, from dealing with emails to responding to tweets. Moreover, they are more likely to be dealing with these communications in the back of a taxi or in the queue at Starbucks rather than in their own office.