Adding a ‘Become a fan’ button to a FBML Facebook app.
Jan 21st
I’ve had a few emails asking about how to get the ‘Become a fan’ button in a FBML app. It is something that had me a little puzzled initially as there is no FMBL tag or FBJS command to do it easily.
It is not a problem adding the button if your application is an ‘Iframe’ app but I use Facebooks mark-up language quite extensively.
Thankfully the solution is actually very easy. Here is the code:
Prize Slot Machine app for Facebook.
Jan 19th
The newest addition to our family of applications is a killer. It has many viral features, a real solid incentive for people to come back time and time again and lots of monetization.
It is a slot machine game but with a couple of UNIQUE features.
Players try some free spins to get started and anyone with a zero balance gets given free spins each day. There is also incentivized invitations which give players further free spins.
What keeps people coming back is that their winnings can be turned into real prizes!
Super Prize Slots App for Facebook.
The game makes money not only from the banner ads but because extra tokens can be earned through answering surveys, taking up trial offers or they can be purchased with Paypal, SMS or credit card. The demo has been set up to work with Offerpal (the game can be set to work with CpaLead, Trial Pay or Offerpal but not Superrewards as it is a breach of their TOS to offer real goods as prizes).
100% Free web hosting (ad free) suitable for hosting small facebook apps.
Jan 9th
If you are trying to get started with Facebook apps and are trying to keep your costs down then check out this web host who will give you free hosting, ad free, with php and mysql.
How to put Google Adsense ads into your Facebook App.
Dec 28th
A question I get asked frequently is “How can you monetize with Google Adsense ads in a Facebook application?”
Anyone who has tried will find it is not as easy as it sounds. This is because Facebook plays about with Javascript code as it serves your pages up. This is a security thing on their part, but it also means that a lot of standard Javascript does not function as you’d expect.
But there is a fairly easy work-around…
Christmas Support Hours.
Dec 24th
Seasons Greetings!
Over the Christmas period we will be doing occasional email checks and replying to anything important. We resume to normal levels of service from Monday 28th December.
Big Movie Quiz for Facebook.
Dec 19th
Here is a great example of what is possible using our Question Master application for Facebook.
http://apps.facebook.com/bigmoviequiz/
And we are making TEN copies of this custom version of the app available to our customers…
We have customised the menu at the top and added some movie related graphics throughout the game. Most of the questions are picture based which makes it far harder for anyone to simply google the answers. This means that users become more reliant on the ‘Help Points’ system and to earn those points they either have to invite friends to play or complete surveys which are monetized.
Big Movie Quiz – Monetized App for Facebook.
Here is how you can make money with an app like this: Read the rest of this entry »
Facebook delay old feed system depreciation until 5th January.
Dec 16th
The depreciation of the Facebook template feed system has been extended to the 5th of January 2010 to give developers a little more time to update their apps to the new system.
Here is what Facebook said…
We are delaying the deprecation date to January 5, 2010 at 10AM PST.
We want to remind you that starting on that day, the only way to publish Feed stories into the stream will be via the stream publishing methods (stream.publish, FB.Connect.streamPublish, and Facebook.streamPublish). Posts published using the stream publishing methods contain only structured plain text data, which makes them easier to render on a variety of devices, including mobile phones and gaming consoles.
This means that we will discontinue support for the following:
- Template bundles. You should start using stream attachments with the stream publishing methods instead.
- feed.publishUserAction
- feed.publishTemplatizedAction
- Facebook.showFeedDialog and FB.Connect.showFeedDialog
- The FBFeedDialog class on Facebook Connect for iPhone. Please use FBStreamDialog instead.
- Publisher stories that use templates (please transition them to use stream attachments).
- Feed forms that reference the feedStory form and the multiFeedStory form.
- One-line stream stories.
We will still publish stories that call users.setStatus and status.set, but encourage all developers to migrate to the stream publishing methods, as they let you set a user’s status easily.
We would like to assure our customers that ALL the applications we sell already use the new feed publishing system and so you need do nothing – your apps will continue to work.
Download our Did you Know application for Facebook
Dec 12th
This is the last of the low cost random line applications for Facebook that we are offering. This one gives users a random piece of trivia each time they visit.
Do not underestimate these simple applications, we make more ad revenue with these than we do with some of the big games we operate!
They are simple, easy to set up, have zero administration and are very viral. And best of all for you… they are cheap!
You should be able to make the full cost of the app and run a profit in month one with these.
Did you know/face machine application
You can try the app for yourself at http://apps.facebook.com/thefactmachine/
Ask Granny for Advice Facebook Application.
Dec 11th
This is another variation on our Fortune Cookie application but themed around asking a batty old lady for words of wisdom. It’s something a little different from the generic fortune cookie application although in essence is the same thing.
Demo: http://apps.facebook.com/grannypoosticks
There are other ‘ask for advice’ applications out there that all do well, things like “ask Dumbledore for advice” is one popular example.
Sample feed story from 'Ask Granny Poosticks' app.
Fortune Cookie App for Facebook
Dec 10th
We are releasing our Fortune Cookie app today. This is a similar structure to the How and when will I die application although the flow of use drives people directly to the invite page after they have published their Fortune to their wall.
We have found this flow not only encourages more invites (but without forcing people which would be against Facebook policy), but the ads on the invite page seem to have a higher click through rate which means more money for you.
Fortune Cookie app for Facebook
You can try a demo of the app by using the link below.