Best Facebook Apps
Apps are everywhere: on your phone, on your tablet, and, of course, on your
computer. So, it's no surprise there are also hundreds of them available to
users of the most popular social network around, Facebook.
They come in many flavors, from useful utilities to fun timewasters, like games. You see them pop up in your feed all the time when people have apps automatically post updates, be they horoscopes or requests for crops. When Facebook was in the early stages, it seemed impossible to avoid being asked to be part of a mafia war. Those dark days are behind us, and Facebook is now home to a slew of fantastic apps.
However, Facebook, in its infinite wisdom, recently decided to phase out its online app directory, opting to let users search for the apps they want to run. Considering that only about 0.5 percent of Facebook users ever used the directory, you probably aren't missing much. But just in case you don't know exactly what apps to search for, here's our collection of what we consider the 20 coolest apps available on the service.
Note that a lot of these apps won't run if you've enabled secure browsing with Facebook (so the URL starts with https://). You'll need to turn off that security feature if you want to have some Facebook fun.
If you want to add a music tab to your profile, try iLike. Over a million people use it every month. Just enter iLike, give it a list of your favorite musicians, and then you can start creating shared playlists, or even import your playlists from iTunes or Windows Media Player.
http://apps.facebook.com/someecards/
Free
The funniest e-cards available on the Internet come from Someecards. Many are NSFW and most are not particularly politically correct, but that's what makes them funny. With the app, you can send them to Facebook friends, post them on friends' walls, or post them on your own wall.
Free
Forget farming your crops. Zynga's got a new game for the city-slicker named, naturally, CityVille. Use it to build, construct, and increase the population of neighbors in your little (but soon to be metropolitan) digital municipality—just like a Facebook-based SimCity. Eighty-three million Facebook users are actively using it.
https://apps.facebook.com/civworld/
Free
Sid Meier's Civilization World for Facebook is the latest in a line of games going back to 1991. This massively multiplayer online game has close to 300,000 active members even though it's technically still in beta. Think of it like CityVille, but more ancient Greece-like.
PHOTO & VIDEO
Picnik
Skype
SECURITY
BitDefender safego
Minor Monitor
Norton Safe Web
PrivacyDefender
Aren't sure what you should do on the social network
after you update your status? Here are 20 of the coolest apps to keep you
busy.
Content
20 Best Facebook Apps
Apps are everywhere: on your phone, on your tablet, and, of course, on your
computer. So, it's no surprise there are also hundreds of them available to
users of the most popular social network around, Facebook. They come in many flavors, from useful utilities to fun timewasters, like games. You see them pop up in your feed all the time when people have apps automatically post updates, be they horoscopes or requests for crops. When Facebook was in the early stages, it seemed impossible to avoid being asked to be part of a mafia war. Those dark days are behind us, and Facebook is now home to a slew of fantastic apps.
However, Facebook, in its infinite wisdom, recently decided to phase out its online app directory, opting to let users search for the apps they want to run. Considering that only about 0.5 percent of Facebook users ever used the directory, you probably aren't missing much. But just in case you don't know exactly what apps to search for, here's our collection of what we consider the 20 coolest apps available on the service.
Note that a lot of these apps won't run if you've enabled secure browsing with Facebook (so the URL starts with https://). You'll need to turn off that security feature if you want to have some Facebook fun.
ENTERTAINMENT
Flixster
Free
Why visit Flixster's website when the app lets you instantly rate movies—even if you haven't seen them yet—and tell friends and family whether you want to see a movie or aren't interested, all from inside your Facebook community?
iLike
LivingSocial: Books
Free
This is the in-Facebook equivalent of Good Reads or Library Thing. It gives you a place to quantify your reading and book collection, turning it into a social event. When you're done with books, you can also cover movies, albums, and even beer. It's the same as being on the LivingSocial: Books website, but you're pre-logged in with your Facebook credentials.
Someecards
Free
The funniest e-cards available on the Internet come from Someecards. Many are NSFW and most are not particularly politically correct, but that's what makes them funny. With the app, you can send them to Facebook friends, post them on friends' walls, or post them on your own wall.
GAMES
CityVille
Forget farming your crops. Zynga's got a new game for the city-slicker named, naturally, CityVille. Use it to build, construct, and increase the population of neighbors in your little (but soon to be metropolitan) digital municipality—just like a Facebook-based SimCity. Eighty-three million Facebook users are actively using it.
CivWorld
Free
Sid Meier's Civilization World for Facebook is the latest in a line of games going back to 1991. This massively multiplayer online game has close to 300,000 active members even though it's technically still in beta. Think of it like CityVille, but more ancient Greece-like.
Scrabble
Free
With this app, you can pick from a million competitors and start laying down tiles for a triple score on a bingo (that's using all seven of the tiles in your hand). You can also take your games wherever you go, because you can play games that are tied to your Facebook account using the official Scrabble app on handhelds and tablets.
PHOTO & VIDEO
Picasa Uploader
Free
Do you want an easy way to share the pictures that you have perfected and organized with Picasa software? You can instantly post them on Facebook with this uploader tool that puts the Facebook upload button right into the Picasa software.
Picnik
Free
Google's online photo editor is fully usable from within Facebook (it helps that it has a Flash-based interface, so really it could go anywhere). Connect it directly to your Facebook account and you'll have a way to make quick edits to your uploaded Facebook photos.
Free
Whether you have a Skype account or not, Facebook's new Video Calling feature uses Skype technology to get you face to face with friends fast. To start chatting, find any online friend in your chat list and click the camera logo next to the person's name. Before your first chat, Facebook will make you download and install a little plug-in software.
SECURITY
BitDefender safego
Free
Like Norton (below), BitDefender safego checks your wall and news feed for possible infection, but does so in a much nicer interface. It will also tell you if your friends have infections that you should warn them about. There's also a link to scan your entire PC with BitDefender Quickscan if needed (that requires a browser plug-in, though).
Free
This isn't strictly speaking a Facebook app, but it's a program parents should know about. It's an entirely Web-based parental control tool for monitoring a minor's Facebook usage, complete with hourly graphs of what took place, IDs of friends, word-use monitoring, and email alerts sent to parents. Unlike the competition from Net Nanny and Trend Micro, this one is totally free for tracking one kid's account.
Read PCMag's MinorMonitor review.
Free
Wondering if there's something suspicious on your Facebook wall, in the form of a malicious link placed there by some unsuspecting friend? Run Norton's scan and it will check all your links and warn you if there's a reason for caution. If you select the Auto-Scan option, it will keep running at all times.
PrivacyDefender
To see how public Facebook has made your profile, create a browser bookmark when you access PrivacyDefender from Reputation.com, click it, and it will run a check. You'll be able to see just what your friends can share about you and what Facebook partners and advertisers can use from your info (be it your name, your pictures and video, your posts, even your birthday). Then it gives you a sliding controller, so you can change those settings instantly.
UTILITIES
Filefly
ONErpm
PDF Converter
Selective Tweet Status
TabJuice
Causes
Free
Want to make a difference via Facebook? This is the app for activists who want to take advantage of social networking to get the word out about and raise funds for important social or political causes. Sometimes all supporters have to do to raise a few cents is watch a commercial (and take a quiz), but there's also an option to give straight donations.
Free
Need to send a Facebook friend a file? You can't send it via a message. Rather than dig out the person's email address, access the Filefly app within Facebook. To share something, you just create a folder, upload whatever you like (you get 2GB of space to upload files), and then invite a friend or friends to access the folder. You should note, though, that the folder will expire in 30 days.
Free
Do you think MySpace is the best social network to be on if you're a musician? ONErpm wants to change that with a service that lets anyone with a fan page upload an original music for fans to enjoy and, better yet, purchase. You'll keep 70 percent of the sales and get to set the per-track and album price yourself.
PDF Converter
Free
Need a quick way to turn a PDF into an editable Microsoft Word document? Go to this app, pick a PDF, let it do its thing, and then download the new document to type within. You can click the share button to post it to your wall for others to download as well.
Free
This is a simple app that's good for heavy Twitter users. Just activate the app and configure it with your Twitter account, and then, when you post a status on Twitter and add a #fb hashtag, it'll also show up on Facebook.
$19.99 per month
Any retail business that thinks it has gone as far as it can on Facebook, think again. TabJuice lets you create a customizable storefront that runs right inside the social network, so visitors never have to leave to purchase your wares. There's a three-week free trial before you pay.
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