Martha Martha Martha!

Martha Stewart got ‘twitslapped’ in South Africa at the Design Indaba Conference where she was one of the eagerly anticipated international speakers. It appears Martha and the conference were not designed for each other.

Design Indaba prides itself on being about smart, sustainable design ideas that serve the greater good, whereas Ms Stewart was apparently self-centred, self-indulgent and self-promotional (perhaps because she’ll soon be launching Martha Stewart Cupcakes in South Africa).

The result was the biggest walkout in Design Indaba history. And those that didn’t walk out of her presentation, tweeted about it, resulting in South Africa’s first ‘twitcom’.

For a summary of some of the best tweets, view MarkLives blog.

Martha herself made no mention of it on her blog this morning. Instead the American business magnate – and one-time inmate – happily reports that “my trip to South Africa was an incredible experience” and raves about her stay at Singita.

Feedback after the conference has ranged from those who feel proud that the audience of fairly sophisticated creative types let its honest feelings be known, to those who believe that the walkout demonstrated an arrogance and childish lack of respect for a guest.