The newspaper announced it would become the first publication in the world to be published by the online social networking site, and said it would replace lengthier news stories with "tweets".

This would mean the re-writing of its archive, which started in 1821, as tweets, including "OMG Hitler invades Poland, allies declare war, see tinyurl.com/b5x6e for more".

However, many readers soon realised the story, which was accompanied by the byline Rio Palof – an anagram of April Fool, was a practical joke.

Elsewhere, the Daily Mail created a photograph that gave the impression of home secretary Jacqui Smith leaving an Ann Summers sex shop.

PrintWeek said that scientists had hailed a "radical breakthrough" in the use of inkjet printing after unveiling the world's first printed living organism.

The story claimed the rat was printed on a custom inkjet press dubbed "the Ratjet" by Dr James Thrinklet, an anagram of "thermal inkjet". It wasn't long, however, before one reader posted that he "smelt a rat".