IT IS not the most controversial tweet in Twitter history, but the Central Statistics Office’s premature release of yet another subdued month of Irish retail sales data still demonstrates the ease with which the microblogging site can force a spot of backpedalling.
The headline figure – showing the volume of core retail sales declined 1.1 per cent in June – was accidentally tweeted by the State agency yesterday afternoon.
The retail sales index was not supposed to be unleashed until Tuesday. Indeed, the only data scheduled for release yesterday related to the number of tonnes of beef and veal produced in Ireland last year. The CSO said the data had been “unintentionally communicated externally via Twitter”.
It apologised for the inconvenience and deleted the tweet, but decided to bring forward the publication of the index to 5pm yesterday “to ensure transparency and equality of access”.
The CSO is not the first organisation or individual to jump the gun on Twitter.
In May, British Airways kicked up a fuss when Derek Simpson, joint head of the Unite union, tweeted from the negotiating table. BA chief executive Willie Walsh declared himself “shocked and angry” at the action.
The CSO’s Twitter feed can be followed @CSOIreland.
