I tried to resist. Really, I did. The API launched, and the first Facebook Apps appeared, and they were terrible. Awful. Hideously ugly beasts that clogged up profiles, spread themselves like viruses, and served no useful purpose.

And that still describes a lot of the Facebook Apps, especially those from companies like Slide and RockYou.

But out of the gloom have appeared a small number of apps that do genuinely useful and interesting things. And now I’ve added several of them to my profile. Read on…