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

Until then, here are FanTrust’s picks and pans for screens large and small. The rationale not so much to answer: “can we cross-purpose our content?” (yes we can) or “does anyone really want to watch long shows on small screens?” (yes they do). But rather to respond to the question: “can we create ideal content for a specific viewing experience?”

On an iTouch there is nothing more compelling than a close-up of a human face. The tone and texture of the skin seems real and the eyes appear to connect with our own. The screen’s lush colors and soaring resolution bring the device to life in our hands. Couple that with a direct gaze and an intimate conversational delivery and you have tiny screen magic. As an example, take Aubrey’s Make-up Tips.  Downloaded from the Poptiq mobile app onto your smartphone, they are strangely addictive. By comparison, the same Aubrey videos on Youtube seem lost, floating in a sea of background pink and streaming choppily from frame to frame. Anecdotally, you can even mesmerize a 6 year old boy with Aubrey’s show on the iTouch, getting him to shriek for “more make-up tips” – although why you’d do this is another matter.

On the other hand, Hot for Words would be outré for my hand held (and obviously for my little boy) but rocks on Youtube, pulling in 10.5M channel views and counting. Content this in-your-face needs a little distance. So viewing this combination of titillating-accented philology, bustiers, and body bling is best done at arms length, making the laptop screen perfect for the experience.

Moving up the food chain, from Web to TV, Barely Political’s Obama Girl would be an excellent crossover candidate. First launched on Youtube in 2007 when Obama himself was polling 11 percent, the skits have achieved 75M views on computers around the world. Featuring the alluring Amber Lee Ettinger, snappy music and sardonic wit, it makes sense that this type of sketch comedy jumped to living room screens on a Saturday Night Live sketch.  (Check out FanTrust’s live interview with Obama Girl!)

For major motion pictures, nothing beats sweeping landscapes and epic themes. That’s why it’s always sad when movies like Kung Fu Panda inevitably get downsized to DVD and Blu-ray. Animation this good begs for the silver screen and goes down best with a tub of popcorn in a crowded theater. Physicists have a great term for it: “action at a distance,” which is just what I love from a breathtaking cinematic experience.

Long or short, there are some things I’d watch on any size screen. I’ve been rapt over The Tudors on television, laptop and iPod. And I’ve loved HBO’s John Adams on all of my home multiplatforms. Great content is still great content. And large or small, we’ll be hitting that forever.

Interviewed by FanTrust President Catherine Warren at one of Canada’s premier digital media events – The Interactive Exchange, organized by Interactive Ontario – Obama Girl Amber Lee Ettinger and Ben Relles, creator of the Obama Girl videos and BarelyPolitical.com, discuss how they use social media, online video and communication with their viewers to build audience to become a part of today’s pop culture.  Learn the strategy behind creating content that people will talk about, blog about and share.

On March 18 in Toronto, Relles, Ettinger and Warren will also discuss the recently launched BarelyDigital.com, an online video network satirizing the world of technology. From lampooning overexcited YouTube commenters to staging an intervention for a World of Warcraft addict, Barely Digital covers gadgets, gaming, Obama’s BlackBerry, the elite digerati, Ask Jeeves and Web 4.0 like nobody’s business.

Visit http://www.inexchange09.com/ for more information and a full schedule of events.

Every Thursday and Monday for the next two weeks,  we’ll walk you through short, simple exercises – complete with case studies and success stories – intended to spark transformation in your company or division with overall corporate and business goals; digital capacity; market niche and fan engagement strategies.

With more than two decades of experience in digital media, FanTrust can help you grow your digital lines of business. Our hope is to leave you inspired and invigorated for a happy, healthy digital business in 2009.

All the best!

Session One: Define Your Aspirations

What are your motivations for getting into the digital space? What do you hope to achieve?

Perhaps, as a television producer, you simply want to maintain a competitive edge when pitching or developing TV treatments for broadcasters. Others may have more ambitious goals – eyeing additional revenue streams (e.g. sales of video online) or new partnership models (e.g. production underwriting from online video destinations and/or brand sponsorships).

The men of Monty Python are blatantly, unabashedly aspiring to additional revenues with their just-launched YouTube channel. In their comic, absurdist style, the group admits the channel is a direct ploy to sell Monty Python DVDs and merchandise through YouTube’s new partnership with Amazon. And it appears to be working – the three-year-old best-of Monty Python DVD set went from being the ten thousandth most purchased item on Amazon.com to No. 5 one week after the comedy group started posting videos on YouTube with referral links to Amazon.

Web studio NextNewNetworks signed a deal in July 2008 with Starburst. The characters of NNN’s animated series Nite Fite talk up its candy company sponsor – alongside “sell-out” quips – in return for sponsorship revenues. Though terms were undisclosed, this type of deal is helping studios create and seed their series to online audiences.

Many game companies are stepping into the digital space in pursuit of audiences, financing and new revenue streams. We’ve previously blogged about Nexon generating $1.2 million in sales of virtual MiniCooper cars within Maple Story. Talk about printing (or in this case, digitally rendering) your own money!

Former Capcom VP of Marketing Nique Fajors is now working with a new online games company. He explained in a recent GameDaily article that he believes online games will continue to lure funding from the traditional console space – why would investors put up big dollars to see two console game produced, when they can spread their dollars (and risk) across one hundred casual games, he asks?

While there will continue to be a market for console games, companies and producers including EA and Take-Two see microtransactions and downloadable content as untapped opportunities, and a necessary investment, even in tight economic times.

In short, you need to know where you want to go if you ever hope to get there – begin mapping your digital future today.

FanTrust runs strategy sessions that help you and your team ask the right questions and drill down on the right answers and decisions for your company’s digital business, with our Digital Brand Snapshot brainstorm process.