Santa Monica, CA / Waterloo, ONTARIO  – RingTales (www.ringtales.com), a digital media content company that produces and syndicates animated video versions of world renowned print cartoons s across all digital media, and Metranome (www.metranome.net), a leading mobile applications production company, have partnered to launch the first ever animated Dilbert and New Yorker “Cartoon a Day” integrated calendar applications for BlackBerry.

FanTrust client Metranome 2009 is one of Canada’s Top 20 Innovative Companies and winner of the 2009 International ITV Award for best Mobile Interactive App.

Read the full press release

In terms of increasing the understanding and control a user has over the information accessed by third-party applications, Facebook is introducing a new permissions model that will require applications to specify the categories of information they wish to access and obtain express consent from the user – before any data is shared. Users will also have to approve any access to their friends’ info, in turn subject to the friend’s privacy and application settings.

Visit Media in Canada for the full article

“Anime content is a great match for mobile video, as the audience overlaps well with the smartphone demographic,” said David Kruis, CEO of Metranome. “GONG’s brand resonates with Anime fans globally, so we are thrilled to be working with them. Our Poptiq Powered platform offers content brands such as GONG the opportunity to directly reach their audience on their own terms and under their own brand.”

Read the full press release at Metranome.net

Two Web 2.0 tools that I couldn’t imagine living without – RSS and social bookmarking. Both are easy to use and boost productivity, but sound complex. Sachi LeFever and Lee LeFever understand that these tools aren’t difficult to use – techies and insiders often just do a bad job of explaining the tools “in plain English”. Connecting the dots a step further, the LeFevers realize that these tools would break into the mainstream more quickly if people understood just how easy the tools were to adopt.

Since I’m posting to a blog, I thought it was only fitting to include the “RSS in Plain English” video below. And the great news – if after watching the video, you’re so inclined – you can add the FanTrust blog to your RSS reader. The orange RSS button can be found at the top right hand corner of this page.

And, if FanTrust’s recent blog on Facebook apps piqued your interest, you’ll want to check out CommonCraft’s “Zombies in Plain English,” which walks viewers through the popular and ubiquitous Facebook game application.

If you ever wondered about social bookmarking, Wikis or Twitter, visit The CommonCraft Show. And, because the videos are under Creative Commons, you’re free to share the videos on your own website, or with your corporate team. Pass it on!

Adonomics is an online source of Facebook analytics, enabling visitors to track the growth, activity, and valuation of companies that develop applications for Facebook – as well as valuation of individual applications.

In its latest blog entry, Building the Social Suite of Category Killer Apps for Facebook, Adonomics identified the top ten trends in Facebook application use – and listed fan applications as the fifth-largest category.

But, to be a fan is to be part of a community – fandom is a shared, and deep, experience. Therefore, there is plenty of cross-over potential between fan applications and other popular app categories:
Communicating with friends (#1)
Music (#2)
Movies (#3)
Gifting (#7)
Casual gaming (#8)
Friend comparisons (#9)
Self-expression (#10)

One of the most impressive apps I’ve come across, “My Heroes Ability”, incorporates casual gaming and fandom. Based on the TV show “Heroes”, fans can select one of 12 superhero abilities, and enter into superhero battles with friends. The valuation for “My Heroes Ability” (Adonomics analyzes each app and assigns it a valuation) –$690K.

Watercooler Inc. develops apps for a number of popular television shows, which allow fans to post pictures, quotes and videos to their profile pages, as well as chat with other fans. The developer’s most popular property app – for Grey’s Anatomy – is valued at $217K, while their Degrassi app is valued at $11.5K.

As Adonomics points out, the Fans category of apps is full of tiny, long-tail apps but, bound together, they become very interested to the exact same advertisers that are interested in the demographics of a particular TV audience. Thanks to its stable of easily replicated apps, Watercooler Inc. is valued at a cool $19M.

From profitable and mainstream, to delightfully quirky and niche, here are some of my favourite Facebook apps:

• iLike – the app for this social music discovery site allows users to add music files to their profile page, and earn free MP3s
• The Sausage on a Fork gift – For some reason, my friends an I find this gift particularly amusing; one friend even ponied up the $1 price tag to send it to herself
• Entourage quotables – Whether you watch the show or not, there are many great quotes and inside jokes for entertainment industry insiders
• Monster Factory – Developed by the Toronto-based independent toy design company of the same name. The app allows subscribers to create their own silly, cuddly monsters and send to a friend. After a friend received a real-life plush Monster at her bridal shower, “Aunties” have been creating and sending virtual versions to the new arrival via Facebook