Everyone makes mistakes, but it's not very often that those mistakes are seen by millions of people, incite user revolts, or create multi-million dollar lawsuits. In the world of social media, however, this can happen if a person or company is careless, overly defensive, or not proactive.

With that in mind, the following are some of the most notable blunders in social media, as well as lessons to take away from each event. Hopefully companies and individuals can learn from these disasters and become more productive and engaged in social media rather than becoming the pariah of every tweet or wall post.





1. Facebook News Feed Controversy

The History: Facebook launched one of the most revolutionary features in social media during September 2006: the Facebook News Feed. Its launch however, didn't go so well - within a week, 750,000 users were protesting the feature. After several days, Facebook added privacy controls and created a Facebook group to discuss privacy and news feed issues.

The Lesson: Prepare users for major changes and be proactive in responding to criticism. Facebook launched news feed as a complete surprise, throwing off many users. Now Facebook rolls out new features gradually.





2. Sony BMG Copy Protection Scandal

The History: In 2005, Sony decided to place copy protection (XCP) on its CDs to prevent pirating. However, the XCP software created new vulnerabilities on computers that malware could exploit. Mark Russinovich broke the story and launched a wave of bloggers and criticism against it. Worse, Sony tried to stonewall bloggers instead of being upfront, fanning the flames. The result was millions lost in class-action lawsuits.

The Lesson: Two lessons, actually. First, don't try to fight against user behavior using ill-advised malware. The second lesson is be upfront about mistakes. If Sony had been up front and apologized immediately, the results of the scandal might have been far different.





3. Motrin Moms

The History: Motrin decided that it would be smart to launch a social media campaign for International Baby Wearing Week by producing a well-made YouTube video. However, they didn't anticipate the backlash. Moms were not pleased with babies being made into fashion statements and Motrin got an earful from the Internet community.

The Lesson: Understand your audience before engaging with it. Had Motrin done some research, it probably would have anticipated such a backlash. People don't mess around when you talk about their kids.





4. Astrospace Twitter Account

The History: Twitter user Astrospace, now Astronautics, simply flipped out against Twitter and his followers. After astrospace/astronautics lost his cool, he deleted his account, which was quickly snapped up by somebody else. Eventually he did return with most of his followers on his astronautics account, but with far more confusion and far less credibility.

The Lesson: Keep your emotions in check. You may get really angry or depressed over events in social media, but like any public situation, tempered emotions will prevent embarrassment on your end.





5. Facebook Terms of Service

The History: Facebook has been through its share of social media snafus. Its most recent one was the change to Facebook's terms of service that was soon reverted after users and bloggers cried out in protest. Instead of dragging its feet however, Facebook quickly responded to user concerns and created an open forum for discussing changes to Facebook.

The Lesson: Proactive engagement with your users and customers during controversy helps address concerns. Facebook has clearly learned from its past mistakes and made a visible effort to incorporate user information. This helped keep the terms of service controversy from blowing up into an even bigger mess.





Learn From Their Mistakes

When building a brand, engaging customers, or just communicating with friends, it is vital to remember how quickly even a single update can go viral in social media. People value honesty, being upfront, and listening to others. Employing these principles can prevent social media blunders from turning into lawsuits and PR disasters.

More Social Media Resources from Mashable:

Image courtesy of iStockPhoto, Robeo