Facebook Developers

haiku2u wrote:

Its pretty awesome to see an "official" corporate app get such terrible reviews.  2.1 stars out of over 700 reviews.

Its now down to 2.0

I just flicked through the first 10 pages of reviews and its rare to see anthing above 1 star (I'm not joking - check it out yourselves), there's only about 4 or so 5 stars - one of these was one of those annoying spams for another app, and another one or two criticised the app at the same time.

A lot of people appear to have preferred last years app.  Also a number as well as telling CBS to get their act together are also saying the same to Facebook (a little confusion about who owns the app, or possibly just highlighting that from a user perspective most apps are probably thought of as FB apps even when actually third-party apps).

haiku2u wrote:

Anyone else notice that when you go to the app, the leftmost facebook ad corresponds to the sponsor at the top of their app canvas?

Yep, obviously there's some advertising deal in place.  As its brought to you by... in the app header on the about page and then another of their ads in the left of page.

uh oh...

Per my earlier message/post about retaliatory action done to my app, check out the friends of the fellow who did the deed
http://www.facebook.com/friends/?id=734940112

His friends' last names include
grafik (several ones share the same one)
lemmon
loyalty
maloney
maxwell (maxy, first name)
>> he has only 38 friends

then look at the poses of these people's profiles, singles and groups photos, all same poses
then look at the profiles of bodyparts *surely fake*
then let me tell you this, even if I'm wrong about this guy, here are a few telltale signs of fake profiles:

bodyparts -- fake for sure. of feet, of cleavage, of back of head, of hands (there are thousands upon thousands of these on facebook) >>> I don't see them on myspace, do you?

last names that are very suspect -- AppDev (rockyou's code last name for their employees), names of fruits, and in the middle east, Araby *like, duh, they dont think its obvious*, SlideEleven (code name for ... need I elaborate? Slide)
>>> slideleven family members post 5 star ratings for Funwall. Go see.

BUT
Anyone can go far down that rabbithole and argue that since one friend *of the person we're investigating* has many friends, then the original inquiry is groundless because 1 friend seems very genuine/real...
But hey, we all know how some users don't care who friends them, and at the end of the day, this whole scam/identify obfuscation is based on 1 thing, CONFIDENCE.

A confidence scam within a social network sometimes only needs 1 legitimate contact, and it makes the other fake ones (interconnected with the profile in question) seem real.

Some food for thought for all of you on a long weekend. And yes, that retaliation got to me. But I hit back by exposing the whole scam.  How do you like them apples now.

Last edited by senatuskienlee (2008-03-21 13:46:30)

I refer to point 3. Am I allowed to quote myself?  Just a gentle warning to devs to BE CAREFUL not to cross that line.  Sportingbet.com's CEO got arrested on US soil despite selling his company for 1 dollar (or 1 pound, i forget). 

The point here is this: did no one in FB realize these implications?

AND DO YOU KNOW HOW MANY SPORTSBETTING APPS THERE ARE ON FACEBOOK?. SEARCH "SPORTS BET" IN THE DIRECTORY.

http://www.facebook.com/search_redirect … 0000000010
http://www.facebook.com/search_redirect … 0000000010
http://www.facebook.com/search_redirect … 0000000010
http://www.facebook.com/search_redirect … 0000000010
http://www.facebook.com/search_redirect … 0000000010
http://www.facebook.com/search_redirect … 0000000010
http://www.facebook.com/search_redirect … 0000000020
http://www.facebook.com/search_redirect … 0000000020
http://www.facebook.com/search_redirect … 0000000020



News article update:
CBS, Facebook and the FBI: Talk About Madness
Source: Michele L. Parrish   
Wednesday, 19 March 2008

In its quest to maximize the marketing madness around this year’s NCAA men’s basketball tournament, CBS Sports naturally is turning to digital media.  Basketball fanatics and bracket newbies alike can stream game clips directly to their cell phones, watch free webcasts of all games, and even fill out the official tournament bracket on Facebook.

It sounded like the perfect new media mix, that is, until the FBI got involved.

See, much like an office pool, Internet gambling is illegal.  And, while not all of the 20,000 Facebook groups who downloaded CBS’s bracket application involve cash betting, I think it’s safe to assume that many of them do.   

I also think it’s safe to assume that no one will be arrested and no bracket champ will lose out on his or her winnings.

But it does reinforce the fact that digital media is changing the rules of the game.  And while many issues like this can’t be predicted, perhaps a “what could go wrong† brainstorming session would be helpful before beginning a digital or social media campaign.  A crisis plan, of sorts, for any new online endeavor.   

Illegal activity aside, how will you participate in March Madness?  Either way, good luck to everyone who filled out a bracket, online or off.  And, seeing as my school didn’t even make the NIT, I will pass on the obligatory, closing “Go Team!† line.


ANOTHER ARTICLE
Report: FBI Looks Into Facebook March Madness Betting Pools
Betting using your social network could cause problems with the FBI, according to a published report.
Heather Havenstein, Computerworld
Monday, March 17, 2008 01:00 PM PDT

While one of the rites of spring for many college students and office workers has long been betting in NCAA college basketball tournament office pools, taking those bets to social networks could cause problems with the FBI , according to a published report.

The Chicago Tribune reported last week that March Madness office pools on social networks has caught the attention of the FBI because Internet gambling is illegal. "There could be a violation if there's a payout and if the operators take a cut," an FBI spokesman told the Tribune.
Facebook's Position

In a statement, Facebook said that it "does not condone the use of the site for any unlawful purposes, and users must agree as part of the Terms of Use not to conduct illegal activity. The company declined further comment

CBSSports.com maneuvered earlier this year to make it easier for Facebook users to become involved in betting pools for the NCAA Division 1 Men's Basketball Tournament, which gets underway this week. In early February, CBSSports.com unveiled an application that allows Facebook users to fill out brackets for the tournament and compare their picks with those of their friends on the site.

In addition to filling out and managing brackets on Facebook, the new CBSSports .com Tournament Brackets application provides Facebook users with access tournament coverage from CBS Sports, CBSSports.com and NCAA.com. The site also includes links to the March Madness on Demand service for live streaming video coverage.

Promoting online gambling was "not our intent with the application," LeslieAnne Wade, a senior vice president for CBS, told the Chicago Tribune. "These are new issues that are going to require new thought processes and new answers. [CBS will] look at it."

Sean Aune, a blogger at Mashable, noted that while law enforcement agencies don't generally target office pools, "bringing [pools] to a site such as Facebook is just a little too open and too easy to detect to ignore. It seems there are over 20,000 Facebook groups involved with some form of bracket betting, but not all are involved with cash gambling."

But, Aune also noted, "with an estimated 48% of the population involved in some form of pool for March Madness, you can understand how even the authorities might have to endure some measure of illicit gambling on the Web--whether via social networks or otherwise."

senatuskienlee wrote:

no my friends, listen, it IS true that they bought their invite allocations (fine fine, they gave more money to do that) the key issues here regarding consistency are:
1. can the rest of us buy invite allocations (raised by my esteemed peer, see above}
2. in future, no fantasy league based app is NON KOSHER anymore, right?
3. whatever CBS sports offers as prizes, will be the gold standard for the rest of the other apps (whatever they do, the rest of us can do and cannot be penalized for it)
4. MOST IMPORTANT POINT: If their (CBS) invites are ignored or declined, they better be penalized allocations.  Read: There's no way they will get anything more than a 20% average acceptance rate, so they better not be getting 100 invites/person (unchanged) all through the first week.

Apply all and especially number 4 consistently, behave like the multibillion dollar company you want to be.

Again, I reiterate, the Securities Exchange Commission punishes investment banks and/or trading houses if they clear a trade for an institution and not the same trade for a retail/common-man client.  Can you live up to those standards in this industry?