Facebook Application Development

Here’s a puzzle for you: How can Zynga be behind three of this week’s top emerging Facebook apps still under a million users, when none of Zynga’s apps are on the list? The description for Cafe World Cash says it all: “Please note that this application is not connected to Cafe World by Zynga.” Sure, and Cafe World’s resounding success has nothing to do with the users streaming into an app with the same name, either.

The other two apps of this type you’ll notice on our AppData list, below, are FarmVille Gifts Collectibles and Friends of FarmVille . Take a look:

	Name	MAU	Gain	Gain, %
1.	Horoscope Today	508,454	+499,410	+98.22
2.	Gangster City	459,799	+454,127	+98.77
3.	Cafe World Cash – Just For Fun	396,269	+328,889	+83.00
4.	Little Warrior	687,761	+291,986	+42.45
5.	開心寶貝	991,633	+282,715	+28.51
6.	Akinator	782,906	+252,163	+32.21
7.	你問我答	735,080	+208,430	+28.35
8.	The Pink Ribbon	513,924	+202,981	+39.50
9.	Band of Heroes	935,362	+192,854	+20.62
10.	Nestle Crunch Challenge	248,990	+183,983	+73.89
11.	FarmVille Gifts Collectibles	177,693	+177,019	+99.62
12.	Be Naughty!	856,079	+166,913	+19.50
13.	Sanalika	354,210	+139,642	+39.42
14.	Show Some Love!	647,995	+138,298	+21.34
15.	Ploteczki	152,096	+133,955	+88.07
16.	What’s your Actual Age?	803,387	+118,983	+14.81
17.	Little Rock Pool	506,827	+108,671	+21.44
18.	Rummy Royal	199,376	+96,652	+48.48
19.	Frosmo	350,365	+90,242	+25.76
20.	Friends of FarmVille	197,184	+87,926	+44.59

There’s a further interesting similarity between the three aforementioned apps, beyond their supposed lack of connection to eponymous Zynga games. They all have a focus on virtual goods and helping players connect, things that players can in fact accomplish in the games themselves. Could it be that Zynga fans are yearning for more features?

We’ll keep an eye on these sorts of apps as they grow, assuming Facebook doesn’t choose to squash them all first. In the meantime, there are other, more legitimate apps to talk about. Horoscope Today is the top entry, having gained almost all its half million users in a week’s time.

Horoscope’s developer is unlisted, but there appears to be some connection to a new game called Jungle Extreme, judging from Horoscope’s relentless flogging (as seen below). But, oddly enough, Jungle Extreme won’t load. There doesn’t appear to be any user data on it, either.

There are several games in the top ten, the most interesting being  Gangster City, a new entry from Playfish — head over to InsideSocialGames for more on that.

There’s also a good showing from quiz-style apps: Akinator, 你問我答 and What’s your Actual Age? fall within this general category. Finally, The Pink Ribbon has appeared again. It’s a breast cancer charity app that looks more than a little fishy. We’re following up and should have more to report soon.