Facebook Emoticons

Applications are tiny programs that run within the Facebook Emoticons environment—
also called apps for short. Applications are rather like plug-ins you
use to enhance your web browser, but in the case of Facebook Emoticons, they
enhance your social networking experiences. You’ve already been using
applications on Facebook Emoticons, perhaps without even knowing it, and we’ve
covered quite a few so far in this book. This section will go into them
with a bit more detail.
As you know, Facebook Emoticons has several default applications going as soon as
you create your account. If you’ve used Facebook to post your status,
upload a photo or video, create a group or event, post a note, or chat,
you’ve used a Facebook application. Apps work seamlessly within the
Facebook interface.
Facebook’s Emoticons designers have included many useful built-in apps, but there
are literally hundreds of applications you can add to your Facebook Emoticons experience.
Some are quite useful, and some are just for fun. Some you can
add to your profile page, as shown in Figure 12.1, whereas others work on
their own pages. These additional applications are created by third-party
developers. Facebook Emoticons has allowed third-party developers free access to the
Facebook Emoticons platform for several years now, so anyone who has some programming
experience or wherewithal can write an application for the site.
Facebook Emoticons