The social media consultant’s worst nightmare was played out over Burger King’s Twitter account following a security breach yesterday.

As we write, the world is playing countdown to the biggest tech IPO in a decade. In a matter of hours, we’ll know how many billions (north of $100 billion) will add up to the value of Facebook. As we ponder all those zeros, here’s an interesting infographic on the 901 million-pound gorilla’s globe-spanning growth.

We’ve seen Nissan launch a comprehensive crowdsourced car-building campaign, American beer brand Sam Adams crowdsource a new draft beer via Facebook, and makeup maestros Bobbi Brown bring back old lipstick shade favorites based on crowdsourced feedback. Now, the universally-recognised McDonald’s is tapping into social crowdsourcing success, with its Germany-centric ‘Mein Burger’ (My Burger) campaign.

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#FAIL: The 50 Greatest Social Media Screw-Ups is available as an ebook for Kindle readers on Amazon UK and Amazon. Nook also available. Paperback and ePub (iPad) format now available on Lulu.

This week I was invited to chair a roundtable on the topic of green communications and, specifically, what the experience of McDonald’s recent McStories Twitter misadventure might tell us about social media sustainability communications.

As you can see from this handy, little graphic to my left, many of the world’s largest and social-savvy brands continue to fall foul of the social media screw-up. Or, looked at another way, corporate screw-ups are going social at an escalating pace. Just ask McDonald’s, Unilever, FedEx and Carnival Cruises, to name just a few.

If the recent Costa Concordia tragedy or McDonald’s #McFail hijacking have taught us anything, it’s that even savvy digital marketers can still get swamped by the social media-fueled crisis. That’s why we’ve produced another helpful tool to help you and your social media team adroitly navigate the lurking corporate crisis.

It’s particularly bad news these days when you find yourself at the center of a Twitter malfeasance story that’s got everyone in the Washington and tech press corps buzzing. The big question this morning facing the Newt Gingrich camp is: did he pad his Twitter following by paying for a bunch of spambots and other dubious characters?

Millward Brown released its yearly BrandZ report today ranking the world’s most valued brands, down to the penny. While Millward Brown is the trusted source for overall brand valuation, one thing its don’t seem to take into account is a brand’s social valuation. So we did it for them. Yes, what follows is a rejigging of the league table.

Walk down the street of most any city or big town in the world and you’re likely to see a Subway sandwich shop. In fact, the Wall Street Journal reports the fast-food chain is now more ubiquitous than the golden arches of McDonald’s. Mickey D’s is still champ in revenues, and it’s no contest online either.