Do You Use Social Applications?

All the buzz for the past year has been about social applications, interactive pieces of media that you can install on your Facebook profile as well as on MySpace, Bebo and a number of other social networks. A few weeks ago, Facebook boomed to over 1 billion application installations but since then it appears that growth has been relatively stagnant and has even dropped a little.

When applications launched last year users rushed to install them. I rapidly began cataloging all of the applications on AllFacebook but eventually slowed down with posting about new ones so frequently because the novelty seemed to wear off. I’ve enjoyed playing a number of the games on Facebook but unfortunately I just don’t have time to anymore. Social applications tend to be a way for me to waste time, not to get work done.

While I don’t think that social applications are dead, I have a feeling that a lot of users will grow out of them. Then again, I’d imagine that people were saying similar things about the web years ago considering all the pornography and junk that’s out there. While things like Twitter and FriendFeed have made it easier for me to communicate, games and dating applications don’t help me accomplish much aside from putting off work that I need to get done.

Have you grown out of applications as well or are you still frequenting them? Are there any particular apps that you use on a regular basis?

Join Baratunde Thurston (left), The Onion’s Director of Digital and author of How to Be Black, for an entertaining look at creative social media campaigns in our Social Media Marketing Boot Camp starting February 16. Other speakers include Morin Oluwole (Facebook), Tim Devane (bitly), and SocialTimes' writer Devon Glenn.   Register now.