The research showed that Apple was mentioned 1204 times on the social networking site  with the negative descriptor #fail attached to it. The majority of complaints were directed towards Apple itself, although rants about the company’s products such as the iPhone, iPad and Mac were all popular as well.

The study showed that the majority of grumbles were related to companies in the communication and technology sectors, with Facebook, Nokia and BlackBerry all receiveing flak as well.

However, broadcasters also came in for heavy criticism, with both the BBC and CNN ranking fourth and fifth in the study respectively. Many users were unhappy with the general service provided by the BBC, whilst some complained about the content of CNN’s news reports.

Giles Palmer, chief executive of Brandwatch, said that marketers should search for hashtags linked with their brand to help deal with any issues customers are facing.

Here’s the list in full:
Twitter #fails

Apple 1204
Facebook 153
Nokia 107
BBC 100
CNN 76
Firefox 74
Blackberry 66
Sky 65
Vodafone 64
HTC 61

None of the problems Pat mentions are anything specific to do with the iPhone. They’re all AT&T issues and yet it’s Apple’s brand that’s being used in the spoof.

It really hasn’t been a good day for AT&T today. This morning the news was out that the service provider had started to block some of 4chan. In response the hacking literate 4chan community readied the dogs of war. After only a few hounds had been released AT&T dropped the block. Pete Cashmore, himself, has the write up over at Mashable.

Could this be the end of this bizarre turn of events? If AT&T is smart, it will be.

Tech.blorge.com’s John Lister, however, reminds us that;

It’s hard to assess the case without knowing why exactly AT&T blocked the site. It’s possible there was a valid technical reason for doing so.

That’s a comment worth baring in mind. A reader of Erling Løken Andersen’s blog noted that;

It was blocked because it’s been a DDoS target for weeks. This had nothing to do with content.

Blame the idiots who run javascript embedded images.

It seems almost certain that 4chan would have begun to pressure Apple to drop At&T had their battle with the network continued. Even without 4chan pushing the iPhone Hell video it seems all too possible that the spoof will be seen by thousands.