You have to feel for the social media team at EDF, who have today been dealing with a series of tweets apparently confusing the utility company for the far right EDL.

As you can see from the @EDFEnergy twitter feed pictured, the energy company has been fielding tweets from apparently angry tweeters confusing it with the much loathed far right campaigning group the English Defence League (EDL) following the horrific terrorist attack in Woolwich, London, which happened yesterday.

Rather than the typical queries about bills and electricity supplies, the social media team at EDF have responded politely and courteously to confused and/or misdirected tweets which has resulted in them trending on Twitter. Although such attention is surely unwanted and equally unexpected, EDF has successfully turned what could easily have been a bad news day into something which has shown the utility supplier in a positive light.

This is another example of how companies are successfully using social media to engage with customers and the public through the instant and growing number of interactive channels which are available.

However, not everyone gets it right as HMV learned to its cost when an aggrieved employee with access to the struggling company’s Twitter account detailed her own dismissal process in a series of live tweets. With little to lose, the tweets explicitly and at times humorously recounted the event as the world watched on.