Revealed: 20 Facebook apps that don't suck

Had your fill of zombies and pirates? Despair when you're given another egg to hatch or offered a fish for your virtual tank?

You're not alone. Thoroughly fed up of crap Facebook apps, we searched long and hard to find useful tools and productive programs - and we found twenty.

These are all applications worth adding to your profile. Calendars and editing tools, blog feeds and mobile updates - there's not a super poke or secret crush among them.

If you know of any more, tell us about them in the comments section.

1. fbCal
Facebook lacks a true calendar application. It stores your friend's birthdays and there's an events section - but you can't subscribe to this data or plug it into other sources. To fill the gap, give fbCal a whirl. It collates Facebook's birthday and event data, then creates iCalendar format feeds from it that can be read by Outlook, Google Calendar and Apple's iCal - enabling you to share the data with your favourite desktop (or online) calendar.

2. 30 Boxes Calendar
Need a more flexible calendar app? Then sign up for an account at 30 Boxes. This Google Calendar clone is free, easy to use and has a fast track sign-up process that'll have you creating calendars in minutes. You'll be prompted to add Facebook integration when you configure the service for first use. If you're a Google Calendar user, export your data using Calgoo Calendar and upload it to 30 Boxes.

3. Twitter
You already know Twitter - it's the microblogging web tool that gives you 140 words to tell the world what you're doing. Like Marmite, people either love it or hate it. If you're a hater, then Facebook integration might change your mind. This app sends Twitter updates direct to your Facebook status - enabling you to synchronise the two and update from Twitter.com, your mobile phone or using one of the many Twitter clients available.

4. Flixster Movies
At first sight, Flixster Movies looks like another of those nagging apps that are always prompting you to take part in lame quizzes. And it is. But, it also enables you to rate and review films you've seen, then compare your ratings with folks on your friends list. It's a great social tool and a fine way to find out whether it's worth visiting the cinema to watch that big new blockbuster, or if it's better to wait for the DVD.

5. Cities I've Visited
One of Facebook's top applications is "Where I've Been", a tool that lets you place pins in a map of the world, ticking off destinations you've travelled to. It's great, but we prefer Cities I've Visited from TripAdvisor, an application that does the same job using the MultiMap API. It lets you share data with other friends who have the app installed and is a brilliant way to boast about your travels, or recommend places to your mates.

6. Picnik
Facebook lacks any significant, built in image-editing tools - so Picnik is a must have if you're a regular user of Facebook's photo albums. Picknik is an online picture editing service, enabling you to crop, rotate, resize, colour correct and filter your images in your browser. The Facebook version gives you direct access to all the images upload to your profile, enabling you to do all of the above without leaving the site.

7. Scrabble Worldwide
There are two official versions of Scrabble on Facebook - one for the US and Canada and one for the rest of the world. There used to be a third, monumentally popular version called Scrabulous, forced to shut up shop by US Scrabble owners Hasbro. Undeterred, the developers launched a second word game application within months called Wordscraper. The official Scrabble looks the business, but many players prefer Wordscraper's simple interface. Why not try them both?

8. Last.fm Music
There are several apps that enable you to integrate music into your Facebook profile. iLike deserves a mention for its flexibility and superb playback console, but we prefer the Last.fm Music app. Pulling data direct from your Last.fm playlist profile, it enables you to embed playlists, favourite artists and even free MP3s into Facebook. Last.fm itself updates automatically as you boogie to tracks in iTunes or Windows Media Player.

9. My Flickr
There's already a photo album application in Facebook, but it's nowhere near as comprehensive as Flickr. The online image sharing service integrates seamlessly in this third party application. You can stream whole albums full of pictures to your profile or filter using date, tags, and other criteria. Some users have complained about a tricky interface, but we find it easy to manually update the feed and add images to Facebook profiles.