Filed under: Utilities, Features, Social Software, web 2.0, Web
10 Facebook apps you might actually want to install
Facebook apps are pretty controversial, as far as developments in the world of social networking. When they first arrived on the scene, some people rejected them as ugly and useless, while others loaded their profiles with as many apps as they could find. I admit, I was in that first camp for quite a while. But, while I'm still disappointed with Facebook apps in general, I also have to admit that we've come a long way since the days of pirates versus zombies and throwing virtual sheep at one another. Here are 10 Facebook apps that I think represent the best of Facebook:
Integration With Other Social Sites
1) Dopplr: Where Next?
What It Does: Displays your upcoming trips from the excellent travel-centric social network Dopplr on your Facebook profile.
Why You Need It: Because telling people where you are by manually changing your "current town" on Facebook is passé and a waste of time when you have Dopplr. With this app, friends can easily see when you're leaving town and when you're getting back.
2) Upcoming
What It Does: Integrates your Facebook events with local events from Upcoming. Lets you add events and view events from either site.
Why You Need It: You're using Facebook to create, browse and confirm events anyway. You might as well make sure you don't miss anything because you forgot to check both sites. Upcoming also suggests events in your area, so you might find out about a cool opportunity that would have otherwise passed you by.
3) Ping.fm
What It Does: Lets you post updates from Facebook to tons of other social sites, including MySpace, Tumblr, Twitter, Hi5, and even LiveJournal.
Why You Need It: Logging into one site is enough of a pain. If you're updating your Facebook status, you might as well cross-post to a few other sites as well, to make sure you reach your friends who remain Facebookless. There's also posting by email, over AIM or GTalk, or through mobile apps.
File Sharing
4) Drop.io Feed Connect
What It Does: Lets you share files directly through your Facebook feed, by updating the feed whenever you upload something to a Drop.io "drop" that's connected to Facebook.
Why You Need It: File sharing on Facebook has always been a hassle, and Drop.io seems to have the best solution going right now. The "feed connect" idea was developed spefically for the latest iteration of the Twitter design, and works with it where some apps work against it. Drop.io made a name for itself by building an easy drop-to-upload interface, and it's a natural fit for Facebook.
5) Divshare
What It Does: Adds file sharing either directly to a friend, through your profile, or in your stream.
Why You Need It: Divshare can't touch Drop.io connect in terms of sharing in the stream, but if you want to zap a file to another Facebook user, or just keep it on your profile, Divshare is the app for you. It has the added bonus of having been around for a while, so there's a good chance some of your friends are already using it.
Games
6) Scrabble
What It Does: Lets you play Scrabble with your Facebook friends, and also has a matching iPhone app so you can play on the go
Why You Need It: After Scrabulous, the popular unofficial version of Facebook Scrabble, got shut down, it was replaced with this licensed version. Although it can be glitchy and unreliable at times, Scrabble is still the best game on Facebook.
Music
7) Last.fm Music and 8) What I'm Listening To
What They Do: Last.fm music lets you share playlists with your friends on Facebook via the popular Last.fm social music site, and What I'm Listening To shows your recently-played tracks on Last.fm.
Why You Need It: Because everyone knows that the way to impress people on Facebook is by declaring your awesome musical taste. It's one thing to carefully pick the bands you list in the favorite music section of your profile, but you can walk the walk instead of just talking the talk if you show people what you're listening to on Last.fm. Last.fm Music also compares musical compatibility with your friends, just for fun.
9) Pandora
What It Does: Links your Facebook account with your Pandora account, so it can display your favorite artists and songs, and your recent stations.
Why You Need It: Maybe you don't use Last.fm, but Pandora is your music discovery engine of choice. In that case, this app makes an attractive addition to your profile. It shows 4 recent stations, 3 favorite artists, and some of your bookmarked tracks from Pandora. Friends can open your Pandora stations with one click, too.
Other
10) Appear Offline
What It Does: Allows you to see who's signed on to Facebook Chat without having Facebook chat activated. You can poke and send Facebook messages to your online contacts from the Appear Offline page.
Why You Need It: Because sometimes Facebook chat is a nuisance, and you just want to turn it off. This way, you can turn it off without losing the ability to see which of your friends are online.
What It Does: Lets you post updates from Facebook to tons of other social sites, including MySpace, Tumblr, Twitter, Hi5, and even LiveJournal.
Why You Need It: Logging into one site is enough of a pain. If you're updating your Facebook status, you might as well cross-post to a few other sites as well, to make sure you reach your friends who remain Facebookless. There's also posting by email, over AIM or GTalk, or through mobile apps.
File Sharing
4) Drop.io Feed Connect
What It Does: Lets you share files directly through your Facebook feed, by updating the feed whenever you upload something to a Drop.io "drop" that's connected to Facebook.
Why You Need It: File sharing on Facebook has always been a hassle, and Drop.io seems to have the best solution going right now. The "feed connect" idea was developed spefically for the latest iteration of the Twitter design, and works with it where some apps work against it. Drop.io made a name for itself by building an easy drop-to-upload interface, and it's a natural fit for Facebook.
5) Divshare
What It Does: Adds file sharing either directly to a friend, through your profile, or in your stream.
Why You Need It: Divshare can't touch Drop.io connect in terms of sharing in the stream, but if you want to zap a file to another Facebook user, or just keep it on your profile, Divshare is the app for you. It has the added bonus of having been around for a while, so there's a good chance some of your friends are already using it.
Games
6) Scrabble
What It Does: Lets you play Scrabble with your Facebook friends, and also has a matching iPhone app so you can play on the go
Why You Need It: After Scrabulous, the popular unofficial version of Facebook Scrabble, got shut down, it was replaced with this licensed version. Although it can be glitchy and unreliable at times, Scrabble is still the best game on Facebook.
Music
7) Last.fm Music and 8) What I'm Listening To
What They Do: Last.fm music lets you share playlists with your friends on Facebook via the popular Last.fm social music site, and What I'm Listening To shows your recently-played tracks on Last.fm.
Why You Need It: Because everyone knows that the way to impress people on Facebook is by declaring your awesome musical taste. It's one thing to carefully pick the bands you list in the favorite music section of your profile, but you can walk the walk instead of just talking the talk if you show people what you're listening to on Last.fm. Last.fm Music also compares musical compatibility with your friends, just for fun.
9) Pandora
What It Does: Links your Facebook account with your Pandora account, so it can display your favorite artists and songs, and your recent stations.
Why You Need It: Maybe you don't use Last.fm, but Pandora is your music discovery engine of choice. In that case, this app makes an attractive addition to your profile. It shows 4 recent stations, 3 favorite artists, and some of your bookmarked tracks from Pandora. Friends can open your Pandora stations with one click, too.
Other
10) Appear Offline
What It Does: Allows you to see who's signed on to Facebook Chat without having Facebook chat activated. You can poke and send Facebook messages to your online contacts from the Appear Offline page.
Why You Need It: Because sometimes Facebook chat is a nuisance, and you just want to turn it off. This way, you can turn it off without losing the ability to see which of your friends are online.
So, just how good at time waster games are you? Think you've got the stuff? Well, The World's Hardest Game 2.0 doesn't think you do.
Yes, amazingly, it's possible to have a sequel to a game called "The World's Hardest Game". It doesn't seem logically possible, since if the first one was actually the world's hardest, how could another one come along and share the moniker? It made me doubt the name in the first place. That is, until I tried the game.
The mechanics of the game are very simple. You are a small red square, ...
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Todd said 9:20AM on 3-31-2009
You forgot Friends on Fire!
http://apps.facebook.com/on-fire/
Come on! Sheesh
Reply
redwall_hp said 10:17AM on 3-31-2009
First of all, Scrabulous is back in it's original shape and form as "Lexulous." It works as it did before, and it is the same app as before, only rebranded to avoid another lawsuit. All of your existing games and stats are still there.
Also, don't forget Pie-o-Gram! http://www.facebook.com/apps/application.php?id=10314152875
Reply
dieohd said 7:33PM on 3-31-2009
What about Bejeweled Blitz? http://apps.facebook.com/bejeweledblitz/
Reply
Thomas Madsen said 5:44AM on 4-02-2009
Hey, what about free books for students!!!??
http://www.facebook.com/apps/application.php?id=48503876751&ref=ts
Reply
Harshit Purwar said 12:37PM on 4-16-2009
Thanks for nice information,I m going to install it right now
Reply
siab_abee said 1:43AM on 4-18-2009
Im still confuse with software mozilla firefox for my phone.I want upload my pict use my mobile but i dont know how?
Reply
Nicholas said 8:05AM on 5-21-2009
I would add some more to the really useful facebook apps:
1) Wall Translated: http://www.facebook.com/apps/application.php?id=12034638734
2) Interlecta Text Translator: http://www.facebook.com/apps/application.php?id=5882557831
Both these are by Interlecta (http://home.interlecta.com)
What are they for: Wall Translated is similar to the normal wall on the profiles but it translates your messages in different languages.
Interlecta Text Translator translates text. You type the text and have it translated in another language. This is similar to google but the quality is far better.
Reply
Nicholas said 8:10AM on 5-21-2009
I would just like to add the Word Challenge which is one of my favourites. It doesn't make you send requests all the time and it makes your brain work :)
Richard said 11:41AM on 5-21-2009
I like this one - Infinity Of Art http://apps.facebook.com/apps/application.php?id=122217665219&ref=ts
Very unintrusive - if your friends also sign up you don't get constant updates, plus the artwork is very nice!
Reply
kimmy19692008 said 11:01AM on 5-29-2009
i want to install facebook to my desktop
Reply
IanK said 1:35AM on 6-02-2009
The best games on facebook are
Globe Trotters - http://apps.facebook.com/globetrotters/
Extreme Outdoors - http://apps.facebook.com/outdoorsnew/
Go Green - http://apps.facebook.com/ourgreenworld/
Reply
Nikki said 7:42PM on 6-03-2009
Great List of Facebook Applications! All of them seem like they let you get the most out of Facebook.
http://freeonlineadvertising.yolasite.com
http://sellingphotography101.yolasite.com
http://1dollarebooks.yolasite.com
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