Tweet here: Self destruct!

Tweets are fast-becoming corporate America's self destruct button.

Love 'em or hate 'em, tweets – the social bitcoin that big companies and their employees use to engage customers and stay on the leading edge – increasingly are dragging companies into the public relations and social media muck. The fallout from the most recent incident took place late Thursday when SiriusXM fired one of its popular shock jocks for his remarks on Twitter that Sirius cited as "racially charged" and "hate-filled."

Anthony Cumia of the often-controversial "Opie & Anthony" radio was fired by SiriusXM for remarks and postings on Twitter that SiriusXM said in a statement on Friday were "abhorrent" to the satellite radio company and "wholly inconsistent with what SiriusXM represents."

Although corporate America has embraced the tweet – it hasn't figured out how to keep it from boomeranging.

"Tweeting is one of the easiest and fastest ways to get in trouble," says Chris Goddard, president of the public relations firm CGPR. "Tweeting recklessly from a corporate account can have a long lasting negative impact on a company's reputation."

Even as companies need to embrace it, she says, they also need to hire social media pros for advice and set clear guidelines for employees.

During the World Cup, several companies have been caught with their tweets up and their pants down – from KLM to Delta Airlines to Samsung.

Just last week, during the World Cup, Netherlands' Royal Dutch Airlines (also known as KLM) posted – then promptly removed – a tweet that some consumers viewed as racist. Shortly after the Netherlands team won a last-minute victory over Mexico, the airline proudly tweeted "Adios Amigos! #NEDMEX" along with a stereotypical caricature of a sombrero-wearing Mexican man with a dark mustache. When outraged fans began to angrily retweet it, the tweet was pulled.

Shortly before that, another airline, this time Delta, made a stereotypical blunder when it tweeted out what it thought was in innocent congratulations to the U.S. World Cup team on its victory over Ghana. The image depicting America was the Statue of Liberty. But the image for Ghana was that of a giraffe. Bad move. Giraffes, it seems, are not native to Ghana.

Then, there's Samsung. Right before the World Cup began, it tweeted "Best of luck to Landon Donovan & the USA team." That's find and good, except for one small thing: Donovan didn't make the US team – which was a source of great controversy.

Back in December, Campbell Soup apologized for a tweet from its SpaghettiOs brand to commemorate the 72nd anniversary of the Pearl Harbor attack. An image showed its smiling mascot holding a U.S. flag.

For all the backlash from tweets-gone-bad, Goddard says they're not going away. "Tweeting is part of today's communication world," she says. "Corporations need to embrace it."

But, she advises, "think before you tweet."