CBS Sports Facing March Madness Backlash on Facebook. “This App Blows.”
Erick Schonfeld
48 comments »
Don’t mess with March Madness. CBS Sports is learning that lesson the hard way on Facebook, where a major backlash is happening over its NCAA basketball bracket application. Yes, this is the same application that was allowed to spam users’ friends with more invites than other Facebook apps.
The app—which lets you pick which basketball teams you think will win March Madness, track your progress, and compare with friends—isn’t working properly. For instance, yesterday it didn’t know that Texas A&M won against BYU. We were alerted to this problem by Jake Pease, a student at the University of Florida, who wrote in an e-mail:
I just wanted to report on the issues I’ve seen with the CBSSports Facebook app that has users peeved on the forums. . . . As some of you may know, A&M won their game today against BYU. Alas, Facebook says otherwise, with A&M coming up in red.
On top of this, if you refresh your bracket a few times, you’ll see different calculations for your current score.
People commenting on the CBSSports app are saying some pretty harsh things about the app. I can’t blame them. This is supposed to be an application that awards $10,000. If they can’t get the math right enough to tell me my score, how can I know they’re picking the right person? Come on CBS, didn’t your coders actually test the program before you deployed it?
Fail.
This is a serious issue for college students and other sports fans following the tournament. There is a lot of beer money at stake, not to mention that chance at $10,000 CBS Sports is offering to anyone whose picks end up in the top 10 percent. But it is an even more serious issue for CBS Sports. It is failing in a very public way. This is the risk big brands take when they put an app on Facebook. It had better work or else the world will hear about it. Below are some more comments from irate Facebook members who add the application to their pages:
That surely makes facebook look bad too!!! As Michael just said couple of days back, they seemed to be supporting these guys at the cost of the other developers…
productivity overkill a la facebook
Bias? Not quite… see the Watercooler application:
http://www.facebook.com/apps/a.....&ref=s
Not doing ANY better. All 1 star reviews and people pissed.
It’s not just CBS…
Research Erick…. RESEARCH.
I’m using this app and it really sucks. They are giving away 10k and can’t get their stuff right. I’m really disappointed in facebook. I found another site http://www.sportsalert.com to track who won the game. It’s pretty cool and free. Get your stuff right Facebook!!!
From the Watercooler wall:
“Yeah it didn’t complete mine I just saw… wtf I am a little pissed about this. Fuck this application. My CBS worked jsut fine, your app sucks whoever created this piece of shit.”
slow news day?
whats the next article going to be on techcrunch?
“vampire app on fb has a bug!”
I don’t think you people understand how important March Madness is to others. I have friends that wait all year just for this tournament. For a week, you can’t even find them as they are completely consumed watching practically every game. The fact that they claim to be offering 10k doesn’t help either. CBS isn’t some cracker jack developer - this is unacceptable.
Also, as an A&M student, CBS can suck it.
@bs, the article is really about brands taking the leap onto facebook and the potential pitfalls. It’s something many, many companies are exploring and this is a great example of how not to do it.
Yahoo! Sports bracket has been solid. For all the sh*t that they get for missing the boat on search and search advertising, they’re Fantasy Sports site still does it well.
This one seems to be working just fine.
http://www.facebook.com/apps/a.....3261205925
Facebook should’ve made this the official one.
As somebody who just built a bracket App on facebook, http://apps.facebook.com/bracketboy/home/ I can say they aren’t easy to put together, but getting results in quickly and correctly is something that needs to happen. Although, with nearly 650,000 users, this might just be complaints from a vocal minority.
p.s. no negative reviews for Bracket Boy. Be sure to get in our pool for next year. http://apps.facebook.com/bracketboy/
get a life
Whatever happened to quality assurance (especially on FB’s account, after all, the app is representing the brand)? Does anyone know how many people were/are using the app? This is very sad for FB, next year these die hard fans will definitely look elsewhere.
In addition, CBS couldn’t find a way to offer a bigger prize to attract more heads? Seems like the prep work came more from an amateur developer with very few resources instead of a major corp. Correct me if I’m wrong, but CBS is still a large network right (despite the declining relevance of TV)?
Last night I was tuned to this app, the only thing that worked properly was the live scoreboards with play-by-play updates. At least they didn’t screw that up. Perhaps I’m better off just watching ESPN, CBS (the tv channel), and sticking to updating my own brackets longhand…
(sidenote: the app seems to work now, i guess when not live)
Good article the same as http://markstor.blogspot.com
They definitely should have stuck with the bracket FB made last year. At least with that one a private group was private. With CBS’s a “private” group still shows what members are part of that group…how is that private? Plus I figured that with the CBS affiliation I would at least be able to plug in a username and port in a bracket I already made, but no, had to start from scratch. But I don’t know what I was expecting from CBS anyways since on their site you can’t fill out one bracket and use it for multiple groups - you have to fill out the same bracket twice.
Screw FriendFeed…next year I’d like to see a BracketFeed site!
those comments made my day..HAHAH
It’s not the app - somebody clicked the wrong button. This is a non-story - somebody meant to click button A instead of button B - it has nothing to do with programming, code, or anything like that.
…..And this is why my naive friends why Apple wants to control what goes inside the iPhone…..Quality.
Get over it none of you paid any money to CBS.
for what it’s worth, the same bug appeared last night on cbs’s sportsline.com interface too. it looks like its resolved now.
Well, my name’s Jake Pease, but still, I’m fine with Jack. Anyway, you guys don’t understand. Last night there were at least 100 threads on facebook app commenting about how bad the app sucked. The problem doesn’t come from all the apps, it comes from CBS. Last year, they did the same thing, partnering with Facebook. It worked flawlessly. This year, they made a shitty app.
As for Scott and money, yes, we didn’t pay for the app. However, by using the app, we entered into a contest for a $10,000 prize. If you’re offering a free app, getting free publicity and benefits from Facebook and offering a prize, most rational people assume that since they’re also the network with the virtual monopoly on broadcasts and a huge television market, they could afford to pay a few techs to actually test their app before they launch it.
All in all, I think they finally fixed it for the most part. A&M is now listed correctly but occasionally I still get a score of about 30. Thanks TechCrunch for cred’ing me.
calculating points for a 64 team tournament takes some pretty advanced math so I’m cutting CBS a break– why? cuz the rabbit ears on my TV likes CBS here in Palo Alto
I think its also a classic example of trying to develop something at a breakneck pace. A lot of it just seems slapped together. I agree with Jegman, FB should have stricter QA requirements for apps that are supposed to be as big as this one.
Andy
from
FaceySpacey.com - Your One Stop Social Media Shop
So exactly how long until Facebook is as aweful to use myspace? Although the UI is a bit cleaner and more consistent, with all the crap available, it is becoming a ‘user’ sore (where as myspace was more of an eyesore). All the app messages trashing about…
Harry “waiting for the next big thang” Wang
Widgetbox has a cool widget that lets you show off your picks. You don’t even need Facebook or sigin up with one of those leagues.
http://blog.widgetbox.com/2008.....-thos.html
EPIC FAIL.
Track-A-Bracket does one thing and does it well — let people track their own pools: http://track-a-bracket.com/
Disclaimer: This is my website
No BS though, no contests or prizes, no fees… it just lets you set up your bracket, invite your friends, and tracks the results.
We didn’t quite get the Facebook app done for this year, but it’ll be there next year, letting you invite both Facebook and non-Facebook users to the same pool…
It’s odd they are having so many problems on Facebook. The bracket I filled out on CBS’s site works great. (www.cstv.com/bracket)
Thank God I’m using Yahoo! Sports fans don’t have patience for apps that don’t work and fantasy leagues that have glitches. With all the hype around Facebook’s app, it’s too bad it can’t work better.
http://www.fantasysportsmatrix.com
I don’t give any leeway to the new application. The one last year was perfect. I was eagerly awaiting this year’s bracket because I knew with Facebook apps being around it would be a killer bracket application.
Boy was I wrong.
I was checking my scores against my friends last night and the stats were constantly changing. Not only did it say I got Texas A&M wrong (WH08P) but the stats were constantly changing too. One second I have 14 points, then I have zero points, then I have 17. It was also misreporting the “XXX out of 192″ You would think that 192 would be a constant, but it is in fact CALCULATED every single time.
It looks like someone over at CBS got their highschool son to code this app. When you can’t deliver deliver data out of your database, calculate your math correctly, or code a constant correctly you have serious issues. Facebook better get some of their devs over there to clean up after CBS, charge them for it, and make CBS like it.
@22: FaceySpacey is one of the stupidest names for a company I have ever heard in my life. Jesus. Are you serious?
The Hater
from Reality
Here’s a tip for Facebook - when a user begins to receive racist don’t punish the victim for demanding the offender’s account be canceled!
Here’s my story - do with it what you will:
This morning I began to receive racist spam from Marian Shaffer (Boston, MA).
http://www.facebook.com/s.php?.....=514286617
As I am well-versed with Web2.0 and social media, I began to post my experience with her to various Web media and political action groups that I am affiliated with. I began to receive automated notices from Facebook that *my* account would be shut-down for spamming.
This is the message I posted:
This morning I received the following email from Marian Shaffer in my Facebook inbox. I have never met this person, don’t know her, and am not in any Facebook-sponsored groups with her. Therefore, I can’t be totally certain, but believe that this was prompted by my being an Obama supporter:
Between You and Marian Shaffer
Marian Shaffer
Today at 11:06am
Report Message
GO FUCK YOURSELF. NIGGER LOVER!!!
Marian Shaffer is from Boston, MA.
This is the link to her profile:
http://www.facebook.com/s.php?.....=514286617
Like a true racist coward, she has blocked my access to her profile, so I cannot see it. However, I have notified Facebook and am asking anyone who thinks that this sort of conduct is inappropriate to do the same and request she be banned from this social network.
Thank you for your time.
I think what people aren’t realizing is that all the facebook app is, is a frame. Its the SAME exact code/views that the cbs sportsline site uses. Its just tied to different groups.
My bracket is on cbs proper, and they had the same problem as well. This app didn’t fail. Some dude in charge of checking a box checked the wrong box.
Lighten up guys, this has nothing to do with Facebook or their apps.
that’s gotta hurt.
it’s not the app…cbs just sucks in general. was anyone surprised at how crappy this app is? i’m not.
Honestly, those people leaving the comments are definitely over reacting. It was one error (I know it shouldn’t have happened) but it was fixed very quickly. Its not like because the bracket was broken no one will really know what the outcome of the game was. Get over it.
Classic TV trying to go “high tech.” CBS should stick to rabbit ears and feeding dead programming to its 55+ audience, bullshit ad rates and so-called ratings to its advertisers.
You guys think it’s easy to run some basic tests on the coding, this is CBS…think about it.