7 Facebook Applications that Are Surprisingly Useful

The massively popular social networking site Facebook is often dismissed as a fad and generally just a colossal waste of time. In many cases, those criticisms might be valid. However, with the advent of Web applications for the Facebook platform, a new world of functionality is possible. These apps allow you to make your Facebook a portal to new degrees of collaborative productivity.

The very first app you should check out is ToDo List, which allows to record all your todo items in place you won't forget to look...Facebook! Forget scraps of paper or complicated programs, this app lets you add tasks and mark them as completed, as well as share any you like on profile for added accountability! Of course, you can have private tasks that only you can see as well.

The MyOffice application looks especially intriguing to me. It provides a collaboration environment for teams on Facebook. Features include scheduling and agreeing to meetings, creating task lists and delegating responsibilities, file sharing, and collaborative document editing. This could be really useful for things like event planning, group projects, and joint research.

Get Stuff Done is a similar tool to MyOffice. It allows collaborative task assignment, file sharing, as well as the posting of public notes. It looks a bit leaner on the features than MyOffice, but also a bit easier to use.

DivShare is a file sharing-only app that I use quite often. It allows you to upload your personal files for later access, as well as share any file you like with others. I really like that they offer unlimited storage, though file size is limited to 200MB. It's simple, quick, and works well.

30 Boxes is a full featured online calendering application with features like sms reminders, a clean and easy to use interface, Flickr integration, and sharing capabilities. It's pretty much one of the best calendaring tools out there, period.

The Google Calendar Facebook application doesn't seem to offer near the functionaly of 30 Boxes, but it could still be an effective way to share what you're up to if you're already invested in the Google platform (like me!).

A very popular (and by all accounts, super useful) application right now is Slates. Basically a publishing platform, Slates allows you publish virtual anything to your Facebook profile from one user interface...blogs, books, video, links, whatever you want! Where it really shines, though, is in its collaboration features. It makes setting up a multi-user wiki easy and fun. This app could be very useful for any small group or organization wanting to share information.

Finally, check out the Visual Bookshelf application. With the Visual Bookshelf, you can build a reading list from Amazon's catalog right on Facebook, as well as share what you're reading now, rate and review books, and see what others are reading. While not directly related to productivity, it still came up on my radar as very useful application for those who love to read and share with others.

If you've not given Facebook a try, or if you only halfheartedly signed up and never really got into the whole thing, think about these apps and how they might actually make you more productive!