A dress shop committed an act of unfathomable stupidity today when it tweeted that references to “Aurora,” site of the horrific theatre massacre in Colorado, were “clearly about our Kim K inspired #Aurora dress.”

The insensitive tweet, which wasn’t the only one of the day, has trigged a rightful cascade of contempt that could stain the company. At the same time, the fallout from the tweet shows how social media is changing the nature of crisis communications.