What do Twitter and IHOP (a.k.a. International House of Pancakes) have in common? They both feed you till you can feed no more. Yesterday was IHOP National Pancake Day and, true to form, IHOP stuffed all and sundry who stepped across its threshold. And to those willing to give a donation to local children’s hospitals, they got stuffed for free.

When Twitterers got wind of the maple syrup, they turned it into a hot trending topic. And today? The offer for free breakfast is long gone as is most of the fuss around #IHOP.

A case of freeloaders? Yes and no. IHOP isn’t helping itself; it’s not on Twitter yet. “At this point it’s just not been part of our strategy to have a Twitter feed,” Jennifer Pendergrass, IHOP manager of communications, told ClickZ. “We are just kind of still testing the waters as far as getting a feel for social media. We are on Facebook right now.”

That’s little consolation for twitter user @aahduhm who grouses to his tweets, “whoa whoa whoa why am I just now finding out today is Free Pancake Day at #IHOP?!?! ughh ultimate FAIL of my life.”

Next year, @aahduhm. Next year.