Oprah reprimanded for promoting her show to Nielsen viewers on Twitter

The woman who once dominated daytime television ratings is in hot water after pleading with her Twitter followers to tune in to Oprah Winfrey’s channel, OWN, the New York Times reports.  

The tweet in question raised an issue of ethics among followers, and more importantly an issue of ratings manipulation for Nielsen, the company that measures television viewership.

“Every 1 who can please turn to OWN especially if u have a Nielsen box,” Winfrey tweeted on the night of the Grammy Music Awards.

"Commercial Grammy people..u can turn to OWN," she added later.

Some of Winfrey’s fans replied positively, while others criticized her tweet calling it desperate begging.

Nielsen, however, called the tweets a potential violation of its policy.  The company tracks the viewing habits of roughly 25,000 households in the U.S. and they're diligent in making sure no one is coerced to watch specific programs or channels with biasing effects.

Nielsen will take action for the rule-violating comment. "In accordance with our policies and procedures, Nielsen is reviewing this incident ...We take any violation of our policy seriously," the service stated.

A spokesperson said that Winfrey's ratings for the "Oprah's Next Chapter" program will be denoted with an asterisk noting a possible biasing effect.

In response to Nielsen, Winfrey deleted the post referencing the company and apologized.

“I intended no harm and apologize for the reference,” she tweeted.

And in response to being called desperate, she tweeted, "The word 'please' is used as courtesy not a beg ... 'desperate' not ever a part of my vocab."