5 absurd Facebook apps

Just two months after the launch of Facebook's f8 developer platform, there are nearly 2,000 applications. While a good portion of them are useful and work well as social tools, there are also a handful that are simply absurd. In no apparent order, I've rounded up five of my favorites below.




• Vibrating Hamster. The vibrating hamster is a simple picture of a lovable rodent you can put on your profile. As the name suggests, every time you click the picture, the hamster vibrates violently while playing the Web meme-famous hamster dance song. To keep anonymous hamster vibrations at bay, the application will track who was the latest to click and display it prominently on your wall.

• God Save the Queen. Here's another picture viewer of sorts, although this one is slightly less humorous. For U.K. citizens, or those who feel the inclination to put Queen Elizabeth II on their profile, adding the God Save the Queen application will display a random picture of Queen Elizabeth along with a quote. At the moment there are only two pictures, although the application was added to the Facebook directory just a few days ago, so expect more in the near future. See also: the Facebook lolcats app.
  

• My Aquarium. This application is a fish tank simulator gone social. You start out with 250 coins to buy new fish, and earn an extra 100 every day. Each fish has a specific price and lifespan, with the more expensive and exotic creatures lasting longer than the cheapies. You can share fish with others, by sending them to your friend's tanks, and display them lovingly on your profile. The application will also publicly display a history of the fish you've sent and received. Unfortunately there's no animation or movement; the fish just sit there.
  
  
  

• Harry Potter virtual spells. Nerd cred aside, this is by far one of the most complex applications on this list. Virtual spells sets you up with a small credit account of Galleons, the wizard currency from the Harry Potter books, to spend on spells you can use on your Facebook buddies. Each spell has a price, and has positive or negative effect on your spell recipient's virtual bank account. Your Galleons are reset to 150 each day, so you can begin purchasing any of the 160 available spells all over again.
  
  
  

  No, this is not a cigar.

  (Credit: CNET Networks)

• Ploppy. Now when people see you're profile they'll know you're full of it. This application lets you announce to the world the wonderful specifics of your latest bowel movement. There are seven different types to choose from, and if you've got the guts, you can post it straight to your profile--complete with a painstakingly designed bit of clip art.

  
  Have any others you've come across? Feel free to post in the comments.

[magerleagues]

Hamster.....

I am so adding this hamster app.

[GMB_]

Tons of quote apps

One thing I've noticed is that there are all sorts of "quote" applications, some are well done, others not so much.

The ones that are the most popular are by Kevin Koder: for example, the Family Guy one here: http://www.facebook.com/apps/application.php?id=2427680868
Tons of users and a lot of different shows (South Park, etc), but almost trying to do too much and could come off as a bit clumbersome.

If you're looking for something straightforward a model should be the Arrested Development quote app:
http://www.facebook.com/apps/application.php?id=2396558112
No bells & whistles but that also means no page refresh needed to get a new quote, no annoying newsfeed additions.

David Tapper has a couple of quote applications on there as well, for example the Daily Friendship quote:
http://www.facebook.com/apps/application.php?id=2434091708
Very nicely done with the quote and the image, elegant to say the least.

[aaronlancet]

Irony about these apps

It's ironic that looking at the Facebook apps, I decided to add a few of these
"worst apps" to my facebook profile, Thanks C|NET for the bad info that helped
me make a fun decision!

[techtroubadour]

Bunchball Games are boring

The bunchball games applications is also very-sub standard, not impressed ... not really that much fun. They should improve the game lineup and features

[annabethblue]

Hamster and Aquarium

I love that hamster app. It really is absurd...but it just makes me smile! :D

And the aquarium now has animation! Exciting. :D

[Fil0403]

Facebook sucks

Another reason why MySpace is better, LOL.

[allyourbase]

Has anyone coded an app

that quantifies Al Gore's carbon footprint? They could start by entering the magnitude of his monthly electric bill.
~$2000 or so wasn't it?

Boxing George and Hillary?
Maybe we could develop one to track Clinton pardons? Ooo, ooo, I know, let's spend hours coding a virtual voodoo doll app so I can stick pins in presidential candidates. Hamsters are interesting but I'd rather stick pins in hypocrites...er...uh...Hillary.

I think I'll invest all of next week developing Facebook apps. Forget real APIs! Forget sports, work, school or life!

Facebook? Why not invest time learning REAL APIs, create your own "YouTube" and sell it for a cool $10^9.

Oh, and get a life people.

[chriseqo]

I think my application Vibrator is at least as absurd as any of those and deserves retroactive mention: http://apps.facebook.com/vibrator

[WriterSD]

Pokey Puppy is newer, and dumb. Pokey doesn't do a thing