The 101 best Facebook applications in the world today

Facebook Applications, Top stories, Web 2.0
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Facebook applications are the best thing since MySpace widgets sliced bread, as any fule kno. What’s more, they’re mushrooming by the day, as companies and individual developers alike catch on to the potential of having their content splashed over (potentially) millions of Facebook profiles.

But which are the ones worth adding? I’ve put together a big list of 101 of the best, most useful, most interesting and silliest Facebook apps below. And no, I haven’t just worked my way down the ‘Most Popular’ list on the site – I’ve investigated every one to see what it does, and whether it’s worth putting on your profile. And when you’ve read ’em, check our 101 MORE cool Facebook applications post…

  1. Top Friends. Flatter your best mates by putting them in your Top Friends box (and insult all your others by leaving them out). Get it

  2. Tetris Tournament. Play Tetris and reduce your friends’ high scores to dust. Utterly, utterly addictive. Get it

  3. Training. App that tracks your fitness regime, and compares it to your friends so you can offer mutual support (or laugh at the fat lazy donut-munchers in your group, obv). Get it

  4. iLike. Barnstorming Music 2.0 application that lets you share music and show off your tune knowledge in the competition. Get it

  5. Zombies. At first I was irritated by this, but so many people have signed up, it’s actually fun infecting even more. Sorry. Get it

  6. My Aquarium. Your own virtual fishtank, which can only be populated by friends sending you fish. I want an octopus… Get it

  7. Beers. Buy virtual beers for friends. Not as much fun as buying real beers in the real world, but better for your waistline. Get it

  8. SkypeMe. Make Skype calls from within Facebook, which makes you a bonafide Web 2.0 media node in your own right. Get it

  9. What’s Your Stripper Name? Note, if you’re actually a stripper, this switches to ‘What’s Your Internetweb Geek Name?’ Probably. Get it

  10. Flixter Movies. Rate films, see what your friends are watching, and bitch about Optimus Prime not having the right shaped spoilers in the new Transformer film. Get it


facebook-fantasy-hiphop.jpg11. Fantasy Hip-Hop (pictured). Live out your blingest dreams by running a virtual hip-hop label. Get it

  1. Likeness. Find out which of your friends you most look like, or compare yourself to the most beautiful celebs around. Get it
  2. Friends Organiser. Sort your friends into groups, like schoolfriends, work friends, sports friends, and people who you don’t really like but they added you so you thought it would be rude to decline friends. Get it
  3. Poker. Play Texas Hold’em with virtual money against other Facebook users. Just remember not to put ‘I’m rubbish at bluffing’ on your profile. Get it

  4. Irrepressible.info. Facebook app version of the existing blog widget that puts snippets of censored stuff on your profile. No, not pr0n – unfairly censored stuff. Get it

  5. Horoscopes. Show everyone that you’re a superstitious idiot who won’t leave the house if Mystic Meg spooks you. And she does spook a lot of people. Get it

  6. Graffiti. Let your mates scribble all over your profile in a Banksy stylee. Except not as arty. Get it

  7. X Me. Replaces the restrictive ‘poke’ feature with an option to let your friends do Whatever They Want to you. Which, be warned, is usually filthy. Get it

  8. Moods. Splatter emoticons on your profile to show whether you’re sad, grumpy or joyful. Either way, you’ll look like a round yellow acieeed face. Get it

  9. Causes. Sign up for a good cause, and tell everyone else about it. Without demanding money like a chugger, obviously. Get it

facebook-whereivebeen.gif21. Where I’ve Been (pictured). Show off your global travelling (i.e. how huge your carbon footprint is) with an interactive world map showing where you’ve been. Get it

  1. Red Bull Roshambull. Like Rock Paper Scissors, except branded by bug-eyed energy drink. Get it
  2. Cars. Boast about your collection of motors. Even the old bangers. Get it

  3. Trackfeeder Track Of The Day. Find out about a new choon every day, with links to buy it. Get it

  4. Facebook Carpool. Find people to share a lift with (but check their profile first to make sure they’re not serial killers). Get it

  5. I Have Never. Facebook version of that drinking game where you have to say things you’ve never done, then watch shamefaced friends ‘fess up to them. Get it

  6. Dogbook. Because man’s best friend deserves his own Facebook profile, even if the Interests are the same on every one (wagging, barking, bum-sniffing). Get it

  7. Super Wall. Like a normal wall, but super. Get it

  8. My Questions. Pose lots of questions to your friends, and see if they bother to answer. One step up from those email forwards you’ve received 16 times, anyway. Get it

facebook-hotornot.gif30. Hot Or Not (pictured). You know the score: upload your photo, find you’re a 4.3, cry. Get it

  1. Tag Cloud. Let your friends ‘tag’ you with whatever adjectives they want. Could lead to you getting rid of several friends, depending how rude they are. Get it
  2. Fantasy Stock Exchange. You could make a million, if only you had the starting capital. Prove it here. Get it

  3. Picnik. Edit your photos within Facebook. Ideal for cropping out former friends who you’ve just deleted from your profile. Get it

  4. SuperPoke! Another way to spice up your poking with other actions. Get it

  5. HotLists. Show your preferences (e.g. Heroes or 24, Canada v USA, crack v ketamine) via the medium of colourful logos. Get it

  6. Football Fan. Put your team’s badge on your profile. Sadly, there’s no option to deface it with wildly sweary graffiti when they play like buffoons. Get it

  7. Catbook. It’s not fair to let the dogs have all the Facebook fun. Get it

  8. Uber Music Player. Another music 2.0 application that’s very customisable. Get it

  9. Games. A decent collection of online games playable via Facebook. Be warned, this will waste hours of your day. Get it

  10. Roomster. Find a new house-mate or lodger, while checking their profile first to ensure they don’t list ‘Playing Deathcore Grime at 3am’ as one of their interests. Get it

  11. Lego Man. Create your own blocky Lego avatar to represent you on Facebook. Get it

  12. Awareness Ribbons. Show off a cause that’s close to your heart (well, your lapels) with these virtual cause ribbons. Get it

  13. SlideShare. Share your PowerPoint presentations with Facebook friends. Probably more useful for the ones you work with, if I’m honest. Get it

  14. Rupture. Show off your World of Warcraft profile to all and sundry. So they can kill you next time you log on. Get it

  15. Scrabulous. Play Scrabble within Facebook, with the advantage of having a separate Google window open to find words with Q, X and Z in. Get it

  16. PopSugar 100. Show off your favourite celebs (Jordan, Timmy Mallett, That Woman Off Wife Swap) on your profile, and see who readers of celeb blog PopSugar think is cool. Clue: none of the three above. Get it

stylefiles.gif47. StyleFiles (pictured). Create your own catwalk outfits using bits from Marc Jacobs, Chloe and lots more labels that fashionistas will know and love (i.e. I haven’t a clue who they are). Get it

  1. Audio. Quick’n’easy way to share music files (and thus Kill Music). Get it
  2. Twitter. Post updates to Twitter, assuming you haven’t dumped it in favour of Facebook status updates. Get it

  3. Last.fm Music. Cool app based on everybody’s favourite personalised streaming radio service. And everybody does have a favourite, since you ask. Get it

  4. Booklist. Show off your literary library, complete with links to Amazon with your affiliate code to make a few quid. Get it

  5. Fantasy Cricket. Much more fun now that England are good again. Get it

  6. Console Identities. Display your Xbox Live Gamertag, PlayStation Network ID, or Wii Friend Code on your profile. Cool. Get it

  7. The Compass. Nifty political tool made by the Washington Post that shows how much of a lentil-chewing hippie you are (or not). Get it

  8. Simpsons Quotes. All your fave soundbites from the TV show, displayed on your profile for all to see. Get it

  9. Jukebox. Neat Flash-based streaming music player that lets you subject friends to your collection of Kula Shaker B-sides when they come to your profile. Get it

  10. (fluff)Friends. Put a cute pet on your profile. Be warned, this may have the same effect on potential love-partners as keeping seven teddybears on your bed. Get it

  11. Weight Loss Tracker. Diet going well? Turn your slimming into a neat graph so that friends can encourage you. Not so much fun if you fall off the treadmillwagon and start stuffing yourself with Milky Bars, mind. Get it

  12. YouTube Videos. Search the most popular vids on YouTube and watch them from within your profile. Chinese Backstreet Boys a-go-go! Get it

timberlake-facebook.jpg60. Justin Timberlake. The Trousersnake gets his own official Facebook application, gathering all manner of videos and other content. D’you think he poked Britney? Get it

  1. Herban Tones. Convert your MP3s into ringtones then pimp them to your friends via your profile. Doesn’t work so well if you only offer Cheeky Girls tones, mind. Get it
  2. Friend Statistics. Work out the average age and gender of your mates. Then weep when they’re all 37-year-old males who still live with their mums. Get it

  3. Stuff I Hate. Because social networking profiles should have a place for vengeful bitterness. Get it

  4. Fortune Cookie. Like the ones you get after a Chinese meal. Except you don’t get to stuff your face with egg fried rice first. Hang on, that’s no fun… Get it

  5. Daily Bible Verse. Because you don’t only find wisdom inside Chinese snacks. Get it

  6. PuzzleBee. Turn your photos into jigsaw puzzles and share them with friends. Ideally used with drunken-night-out pics the morning after, just to mess with their hangovers even more. Get it

  7. NES games. Play old-skool Nintendo classics in your browser. Just possibly not 100% legal, mind. Get it

  8. Rockband. Create your own virtual rawk band, and fight your way to the top of the charts by signing up fans. I still don’t understand where the virtual sex, drugs and rock’n’roll comes in though. Get it

  9. Zipatrip. Part list of where you’ve been in the world, and part travelog with photos of all your holiday happenings (i.e. you, red as a lobster, licking vodka off an 18-30 rep’s buttocks). Get it

  10. Wikipedia. Search the planet’s best Encyclopaedia 2.0 from within Facebook, while telling yourself that it’s never inaccurate. Never. Get it

  11. Pokedex. For Pokemon fans who’ve gotta catch ’em all (or at least look at them on Facebook). Get it

  12. Friend Wheel. See the links between your friends in a colourful graph-wheel stylee. Get it

  13. Web Sudoku. Pit your numerical wits against a series of Sudoku puzzles, then compare your times to friends. Get it

  14. SlideShows. Turn your photos and vids into rolling slideshows that even your family will try not to watch. Get it

  15. Honesty Box. Send anonymous messages to your friends telling them what you REALLY think. Isn’t the point of friends that you can do this without needing anonymity? Get it

facebook-foodfight.gif76. Food Fight! (pictured) Get daily lunch money to spend on food, then chuck it at your friends. In the real world, it’s wasting the planet’s natural resources, but on Facebook it’s just wasting your work-time. Cool. Get it

  1. Vampires. Like zombies, except even more bitey. Get it
  2. Lending Club. Borrow money from a collective of Facebook users. Although the fact that someone spends their working day on Facebook may indicate that they soon might not have a salary to meet the repayments… Get it

  3. Diner Dash. One of my fave ever web casual games goes Facebook, with you working as a waitress. Except more fun than that sounds, honest. Get it

  4. Snooth. Get wine recommendations, helping you step up from your usual habit of buying whatever’s got a couple of quid knocked off the price in Sainsburys. Or is that just me (hic)? Get it

  5. Happiness Gauge. Show the world how grumpy you’re feeling today. Get it

  6. Tarot Cards. Your own personal set of Tarot cards, showing the influences that govern your entire life. Death, Death and Death isn’t a great set, obviously. Get it

  7. Russian Roulette. More death, in that you put a gun on your profile that friends can chance their arm (well, eye/brains) with. Get it

  8. Pac-Man. Decidedly unofficial, but still retro-tastic gaming fun. Get it

  9. Chess. Play chess against your Facebook friends, to show that you’re intelligent enough to have progressed from draughts. Get it

  10. I’m A Virgin??? Well, are you? This game lets you guess who’s Done It and who hasn’t. Just like your schooldays. Get it

  11. myCrush. Tag friends who you’d secretly like a cheeky snog with, and then see if they tag you back. If they do, follow up with a good poke etc etc. Get it

  12. My Flickr. Show your Flickr photos on your profile, sorted in a range of ways (Tags, Interesting, Photoset etc). Get it

  13. YouTube Skins. Put a YouTube vid on your profile, then bling it up with some surrounding artwork (for example, a plasma screen). Very cool indeed. Get it

  14. YouCams. Where Facebook and webcams collide. And not just for cybersex either. Honest. Get it

  15. iPhone Owner. Perhaps the smuggest Facebook app in existence, this lets the world know that you’ve got Apple’s new handset and they haven’t. Unless they’ve added this app too, of course. Get it

facebook-art.gif92. Art (pictured). Put posh artworks on your profile, to show how cultured you are. Or if you’re Prince William, to show which ones you own. Get it

  1. Big Brother News. Who’s whining at who in the latest pointless argument inside the Big Brother house? Find out here. Get it
  2. Chizzat. Live chat to your Facebook friends on your profile. For those who are just TOO DAMN IMPATIENT to wait for wall-to-wall. Get it

  3. Your Hottest Friend. Vote on which of your friends you’d most like to spoil the friendship with a slightly-taboo shagfest. Get it

  4. Project Playlist. Simple and cool app that integrates with your playlist on Music 2.0 site Project Playlist. Get it

  5. Girl On Bus. Suitably silly animated game where you have to stop a cartoon girl called Maggie from toppling over on the bus. Get it

  6. Friend Tracker. Find out who’s been reading your profile with this app, which lets friends click on a link to let you know they stopped by. Get it

  7. Magnetic Words. Stick fridge poetry all over your profile, and see how many rude phrases people come up with. Get it

  8. Virtual iPhone. Much less expensive than a real one, with no battery worries. Get it

  9. Chuck Norris. Just because. Get it

Like this story? Check our follow-up 101 MORE Cool Facebook Applications post.


Stuart Dredge
For latest tech stories go to TechDigest.tv

9 comments

  • Very cool list… can’t wait to use the justin timberlake one myself! But none of these give you any real world stuff like iBeg. iBeg let’s you win prizes by begging for them and having your friends vote. It’s lucrative *and* HIGHLY entertaining!

  • Accredited online college offering online degrees including early childhood education, business degrees, criminal justice, paralegal, and IT degrees.

  • Although this is a really nice initial list. I’m really surprised that none of the Restaurant type apps made it. Restaurant Wars is probably one of the most interesting concepts because it combines Restaurant Reviews with a competitive game to compare your taste in food with your friends and others on Facebook.

  • I enjoy My Life where users write their answers to daily questions about life and alsoOutrageous Questions.

  • I enjoy My Life where users write their answers to daily questions about life and also Outrageous Questions.

  • With over 2200 applications now posted to Facebook, narrowing them down to the top 101 is a daunting task, but these 101 are some interesting applications. Of course, when you have this many, some are going to be pointless, but with applications like “Where I’ve Been” it is obvious that people (namely Craig Ulliott) are still working hard combining technology with hobbies. The coolest thing about “Where I’ve Been” is it shows your friends much more than that- also where you’ve lived and where you want to visit. The simplicity of this program really lets anyone add, use, and view the map you have created. It is also creating a competition among travelers to see how many colors are obtainable on one map. Go to Facebook and see how many colors you can get!

    Erin Curtin
    Blueye Corporation
    http://www.blueye.com

  • Hey – really nice roundup – thanks for this. I’m off to customise facebook! There’s also the new WordPress app, which (I think) gets round the lack of the blogging functionality on facebook.

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