I know this sounds pretty insane — and not because the octopus predicted otherwise — but apparently CBS News proclaimed the Netherlands the winner of the 2010 FIFA World Cup after the whole world saw Spain score the only goal in the match 4 minutes before the end of the extra time. The problem happened due to a draft story going live on the CBS News website (see screenshot below; arrow and highlighting mine), and the author of that draft was either rooting for the Netherlands, or a major mess-up happened (more than likely it was the latter).
According to my friend, David Meerman Scott, the story was on CBSNews.com for at least 15 hours before it got replaced by the Spain Wins World Cup 1-0 article that’s up there now.
Two lessons to learn here:
- Double-check the text thoroughly before you post, announce, or share it via any other means (including email, for example).
- Always monitor Social Media [learn here how] for mentions of your brand (it would’ve helped CBS News catch this one earlier), and preferably in real time. The TweetMeme mention is still up there.
Congratulations to Spain on their first World Cup trophy. Even though I personally was rooting for the Netherlands yesterday, Spain’s victory was very well-deserved.
I like that you have that “learn here how” link right next to “Always monitor Social Media”