As helpful as Twitter can be to promoting your brand or business, it can become a double-edged sword, and smear a large black stain on your name if you’re not careful.  The New York City Police Department learned this embarrassing lesson on Tuesday.  

The official NYPD Twitter account called for other users to tweet photos of themselves with a member of the police force along with the hashtag #myNYPD, in hopes to connect positively with the public.  Well, instead of tweeting happy pictures of fellowship, Twitter was flooded with pictures of police brutality juxtaposed with facetious messages.  

Although this response was a far cry from what the NYPD was hoping for or expecting, they still might be able to learn from it.  Light has been shed on the New York public’s opinion of their police force, and the department now know they should work harder building a positive presence with the citizens they serve and protect.  Just maybe not with a hashtag.