Chart of the Day: A Breakdown of Facebook Applications

Of the 23,160 Facebook applications, I use about 5, but I probably wouldn't notice if someone randomly removed all of them from my profile in the middle of the night. Kids these days. I used to play BlockStar, but haven't used it since it changed to Tetris (formerly BlockStar) and haven't played Scrabulous since my 1,000,000th consecutive loss. What Facebook applications do you use (or not use)?

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Comments

Ryan
May 1, 2008, 4:41 am

Nice!

http://adonomics.com/ is a pretty cool resource for tracking popularity of application installs.

The “Just for Fun” category must house all of those annoying apps that send notices like “you’ve been bitten by a vampire!” or “you’ve been nominated for knighthood!” that have caused me to block so many of my friends app notifications LOL ;-)

Jon Peltier
May 1, 2008, 7:11 am

“What Facebook applications do you use (or not use)?”

I don’t use, um, Facebook.

the Rising Jurist
May 1, 2008, 9:55 am

Scrabulous is a necessary app. I have also recently developed an obsession with Pieces of Flair. Visual Bookshelf is neat, in a pretentious sort of way. And Traveler IQ Challenge is fun.

alyx
May 1, 2008, 4:09 pm

Selfishly, I would like to bring attention to my own app.

http://apps.facebook.com/resumecentral/

With my application you can post and share your Resume with just about anybody. I know its not exactly a new idea. But I tried hard to make the integration seamless.

Diana
May 2, 2008, 4:00 pm

I guess i’m also very subjective, but our audience actually has lots to say on the utility of our app, Deadline; a news quiz against the clock based on AFP global news stories. We had to file under ‘Just for Fun’ because there is not a ‘News’ category on FB.
Here’s some of the things they say:
“Not just any old trivia game, but it’s a good game for those who keep up with current affairs through the radio/newspaper/etc.”
“I am impressed, with this application for it objective to make a person more aware of world events.”
“Well executed, fun, and informative at the same time. Love it.”
…. Some apps on FB have found difficult to match the initial virality of first movers but i’d like to think we just haven’t seen them all.

Nathan
May 2, 2008, 5:27 pm

@Ryan thanks for the adonomics link.

Tech Guru
May 2, 2008, 6:01 pm

As developer my self at first I was tented to create FB app but then I said no, I think FB should remove all apps , most of them are crappy and or just for advertising purpose. I have seen Business pay 5.000 for facebook app to link to their business.

Anyways nice chart. Would you mind If I steal it ? And write about it on my blog with of course credit link :)

Russell Heimlich
May 2, 2008, 6:57 pm

I use Gradzilla to help me organize potential grad schools and narrow down my search. Surprisingly, it is a useful Facebook application!

http://apps.facebook.com/gradzilla

Sven Gali
May 3, 2008, 7:15 am

I gave up waiting for anything useful on Facebook, and settled for using decent tools like Gmail and Picasa Web Albums. I spent more time resetting Facebook’s default settings than anything else, and after reading Chris Soghoian’s instructive article on January 23, 2008 >

http://www.webware.com/8301-1_.....bj=Webware

I deleted my account.

outside-jane
May 3, 2008, 11:50 pm

I like Scrabulous - passes the time at work! I also like funwall; (U Tube but delivered); Just Three Words; My Questions… and other apps that involve an exchange/communication.

Am bewildered by pirates, zombies, vampires, buying friends, etc. Am bored of hottest, coolest, most popular, etc.

That’s why I don’t join them! Facebook is what you want from it.

benjamin
May 5, 2008, 6:42 am

Where do you put the “job ads”? business or classified ?

Alice
May 5, 2008, 9:02 am

The WorldCat app shows you what materials are in library collections and recommends titles based on your profile. It’s fun but also useful…maybe it’s filed under “education”?

Jim
May 5, 2008, 11:01 am

We considered writing a FB app early on when it was “hot” and people were clearly seeing virality on the system. However, we had bigger fish to fry in the short-term and put it off. This now looks like a fairly wise decision in hindsight. FB has necessarily dialed down the spam factor w/in the system due to user fatigue but, the horse has already left the barn. My profile still has a bunch of unanswered app invites and I suspect I’m not alone. Next time I go on there, I’ll delete them all.

Back when the deal was essentially that FB integration would yield you a ton of users/eyeballs overnight, it made sense to put your content up on their system. Now though, I don’t see why I’d put it up unless they licensed it. The ROI worm has turned.