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As part of Facebook Week here on Read/WriteWeb, I am going to be taking a look at the top applications on the Facebook platform. With nearly 1800 apps, the platform has been a runaway success for Facebook, and the most popular ten applications reach over 46 million users. I’m going to be breaking those 1800 apps down to the top 50 across 5 categories (10 in each). This is a completely subjective list, so not everyone will agree with our picks and I encourage you to debate them in the comments.

There are a lot of duplicates on the Facebook platform (i.e., there are at least 10 apps for cataloging books!), and some duplicates even share the same name. In that case, as with the rest of this list, I just chose the one that stood out to me as the best. Today’s list deals with apps for work.

Simple Stock Quotes

You need to know what’s going down on Wall Street and the Simple Stock Quotes app is the nicest way to get that done. It is super easy to set up, blends exceptionally well with the Facebook look and feel, and can fit nicely in either profile column. Simple Stock Quotes also adds a bit of a social aspect by letting you check out the stocks your friends are tracking, as well as the community at large (the most watched stock so far? AAPL, followed closely by GOOG).

To-Do

To-Do is my favorite GTD app on Facebook. Add tasks, categorize, prioritize and add a due date. Due dates with To-Do are smart, so type “tomorrow” or “friday” and the app will know which day your task is due. Tasks can easily be edited or deleted (which is how you mark them as complete).

Email

Not all of your business contacts are on Facebook, so when you need to contact someone on the outside, intrasite messaging just won’t work. Enter Email, an app that lets you send email to anyone directly from within Facebook. Emails appear to be sent from your real email address, and if the recipient uses the provided web form link to reply, the replies are kept threaded in the app, which looks and feels basically like the default Facebook messaging app.

Calendar

The Calendar app from 30Boxes is the nicest calendar on Facebook, in my opinion. It is a complete personal calendar solution that includes SMS reminders and a built-in to-do list function. You can also share upcoming events to you Facebook profile.

Zoho - Online Office

The Zoho app loads your Zoho documents, spreadsheets, presentations, and databases into Facebook. It can map to a current Zoho account and migrate your docs over, or you can create a new user. There are still a few bugs, and it isn’t as fully integrated into Facebook as it probably could be, but even so, a full office suite that you don’t need to leave Facebook to use is great.

Docs

Docs is a document sharing application from Scribd that already has over 50,000 uploaded documents. They tout it as a way to share “problems sets, poetry, lecture notes, and random funny stuff.” However, despite their warnings, I can’t help but think that some unscrupulous college students see Docs as a good way to plagiarize papers.

BillMonk

BillMonk is a great app that lets you track who owes you money and how much money you owe others. BillMonk is an infinitely useful application for anyone who has to deal with roommates and it follows the Facebook design conventions nicely.

WalkieTalkie

WalkieTalkie adds free group chat to Facebook groups. Sometimes you just need to say it out loud, so WalkieTalkie can be a valuable tool for businesses that want to use Facebook as groupware.

Application Developer Services

Since you’re reading Read/WriteWeb, there is a good chance that you’re an app developer yourself. If you’re looking to break into the Facebook app market, but don’t really know where to start, then install the Application Developer Services app. It’s sort of a marketplace for Facebook developers. App developers get a profile where they can show off their portfolio of Facebook apps, and businesses can search for the perfect developer for their application.

Lending Club

Well, now you have your programmer, but you need the cash to make your app a reality. Lending Club is a peer lending application that lets users take out loans funded by other users. Lending club opened on Facebook on May 24th, and has already lent out over $250,000 to Facebook users.

Conclusion

Those are the top 10 Facebook applications that can help you get some work done. Which apps did we skip that you think should be in the top 10? Which apps shouldn’t be on our list? Please let us know in the comments. And be sure to check back in tomorrow for part 2 of our list. Let the debate begin!

Original post on http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/top_10_facebook_apps_work.php

I’ve always been someone to avoid fads. I never bought a slinky; I refused to learn the Macarena dance; and this whole “showering daily” craze still hasn’t hooked me yet.

So when I was first introduced to Facebook.com over the summer, I thought it was for people with nothing better to do; people who spend all day looking at other people’s life stories because they can’t drum up the guts to talk to them in the first place.

Of course, this was all before I signed up.

Today, I’m an addict - a full-blown Facebook junkie. I never figured that a Web site would end up occupying so much of my day.

Who was I kidding in the first place?

I’m a person who will look at other people’s profiles because I don’t have the guts to talk to them; but it’s not just great for spying on others, there are several other aspects of Facebook that make it a very entertaining pastime.

For example, we’ve all had a bad roommate before. You know, the one who pukes on the couch, flips the cushion over and pretends it never happened. The old school of revenge says that this would call for keying his car or making a pass at his girlfriend.

But now, through the miracle of the Internet, there’s a new way to get even.

After his next Jaeger-induced couch-soiling episode, leave that roommate a wall post along the lines of: “I know you were really hammered last night, but I’m sorry, I don’t like you like that. Don’t worry. I’m sure your girlfriend is confused, but she’ll probably still want to be friends. PS: you use way too much tongue when you kiss.”

You can bet your roommate will think twice before vomiting on your couch again.

A revenge wall post is also great for that date who never called you back after dinner and a movie.

It would go something like: “I had a really great time with you the other night, and relax, lots of people our age have incontinence issues - it’s not like you’re the first person to have to change your pants at the theater. See ya soon. PS: you really need to put some cream on that nasty rash of yours or it’s never gonna clear up.”

Facebook is also a great way to make it appear that you’re popular. All you have to do is ask anyone who you’ve ever talked to, seen or even heard of to be your pal, and soon you’ll have more “friends” than you can imagine.

There’s also many college celebrities listed on the site. I am personally friends with Tanya from “The Real World,” Ohio State football star Ted Ginn and both of the Bush twins.

They’re my friends on Facebook, so they must be my friends in real life, right?

Revenge and ego boosting are great features of the site, but above all, the greatest part of being a Facebooker is that a wealth of social information is just a few mouse clicks away.

I can’t tell you how much better I sleep at night knowing what my long-lost buddy from high school’s favorite book is.

And, if I want to see the profile of everyone at UT with the first name “Sharon,” I can.

It may sound useless, but really pays off on those hazy mornings when there’s a new number in my phonebook that I can’t put a face to.

This information is also handy in the dating game.

Wonder if that guy you have a crush on in your English class has a girlfriend? Now you can find out without having to deal with that pesky “fear of rejection.”

I used to make fun of friends who spent countless hours Facebooking, but now I set my alarm 20 minutes earlier in the morning just to check it out.

The thing I once doubted has now proven to be the end of boredom.

The now-rich inventors of Facebook have successfully made the most popular non-pornographic Web site among college students in the United States.

Original post on  http://media.www.independentcollegian.com/media/storage/paper678/news/2005/11/14/Forum/Hooked.On.Facebook-1056026.shtml