I REALLY felt for BBC TV presenter Laura Kuenssberg after she accidentally sent the former prime minister her briefing notes before an interview, which then had to be cancelled.
Now news of another message mishap has emerged with reports that BBC Radio 5 Live host Tony Livesey and his co-host Clare McDonnell have fallen out and refused to work with one another
Tony is understood to have mistakenly sent an email to Clare, criticising her presenting skills, which was intended for another colleague.
It’s a terrible feeling when something like this happens - and it’s all too easy.
With the speed of email you can tap the wrong symbol in an instant. I’ve done it myself. Only a few months ago I wrote a jokey email to a colleague about press release I had received, but instead of it going to her, I sent it instead back to the PR agency who sent it.
Thankfully, it wasn’t anything rude or mean, but I apologised. I heard nothing back, but they carried on sending me press releases, so it appears they either didn’t see it, didn’t understand it, or laughed it off.
I also once sent a quick message to the wrong work contact, with three kisses tagged on the end and sent a curt message to my dad about showing me more respect - it was meant for my husband.
When something like that happens, your heart falls to the pit of your stomach.
I have also, through ignorance of emailing know-how, sent a reply intended for one person to a whole list of individuals.
Social media is a minefield for embarrassing online mistakes. It scares me so much that, although I have to use it for work purposes, I steer clear of it as far as possible.
I wouldn’t even contemplate scrolling through someone’s X feed. I’d be terrified of putting my finger in the wrong place and inadvertently placing a heart symbol on plans to legalise heroin or make fur coats from polar bears.
A few weeks ago one of my daughters sent a message to me on WhatsApp. ‘Mum you have put this on your WhatsApp story. I would advise you delete it’.
Now knowing what a WhatsApp story was, I emailed back and was told that it was visible for all my contacts to see. I had inadvertently created it using a photograph intended for my family only.
A frantic episode followed, during which, under instruction from my daughter, I made various attempts to remove it. Eventually this succeeded and the panic was over.
To this day I don’t know how I made this mistake. I now worry when using WhatsApp, that it could happen again.
It’s also easy to click on the wrong message thread and send your thoughts to the wrong person. The trouble is, for most people it’s the preferred means of communication.
With texting it’s easy to press the wrong name in your address book.
Things were far simpler in the olden days with phone calls, letters or good old-fashioned face-to-face talking. There was no fear of messing up and contacting the wrong person.
It’s wise to take care and double-check who you’re emailing or texting, but when you’re busy it’s easy to hit a wrong note.
I don’t have an Instagram account, which is one less thing to worry about.
If you want to be completely safe, you wouldn’t put anything in writing, email, or online, but this is how we communicate. It’s inevitable that we’ll make errors along the way. Fingers crossed we don’t lose friends or jobs in doing so.
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