Inside Facebook

As 2009 moves on, the Christmas applications have faded from the Facebook application charts. Now, it’s on to the NFL playoffs, post-holiday hugging, and connecting with those that share your passions in the new year.

Here’s a look at today’s Top 20 fastest-growing mid-sized applications on Facebook from AppData. These are the top apps in the 100K-1M monthly user range with the highest MAU growth in the last 7 days.

		Name	MAU	Gain	Gain, %	Developer
1.		Appear Offline	130,410	+128,404	+6 401.0	Tony Abou Slaiby
2.		Social Chatrooms	115,761	+84,010	+264.6	—
3.		App Broker	164,734	+115,980	+237.9	—
4.		Philadelphia Eagles Fans	139,246	+68,230	+96.1	Watercooler
5.		Team Great Britain Fans	128,111	+53,222	+71.1	Watercooler
6.		MAFFIA NEW	325,148	+122,724	+60.6	—
7.		Toast	132,315	+39,318	+42.3	—
8.		The Ultimate Hitman	141,014	+35,348	+33.5	—
9.		PageRage Super Profile	747,294	+143,400	+23.8	—
10.		Pittsburgh Steelers Fans	111,760	+21,147	+23.3	Watercooler
11.		Circle of Moms	753,067	+134,600	+21.8	Circle of Moms
12.		Always Athletes	164,839	+27,976	+20.4	—
13.		Have Sex!	119,532	+20,068	+20.2	—
14.		Collect luck	173,786	+27,650	+18.9	—
15.		Biotronic	121,541	+19,154	+18.7	—
16.		Chinese Astrology!	206,904	+32,070	+18.3	Pluckysoft Inc.
17.		Hugs	465,347	+68,639	+17.3	—
18.		Do you think…?	552,242	+63,814	+13.1	Thiinkle
19.		Hug Me	545,773	+57,582	+11.8	David Hu
20.		Dr. Phil’s Personality Test	589,651	+60,401	+11.4	—

As you can see, on the top of the chart this week is Appear Offline, an app that allows users to see which of their Facebook friends are online without logging into Facebook chat. At #2 is Social Chatrooms, an app that lets users chat with people from other social networks outside Facebook.

And with 3 of the top 10 apps this week is Watercooler, whose Eagles Fans and Steelers Fans applications are growing quickly as both teams vie for a spot in the Super Bowl (note: I work with Watercooler). Team Great Britain Fans is also growing as Britons are increasingly showing their national pride in 2009.

Other apps connecting Facebook users with shared passions include Circle of Moms and Always Athletes. Social games, communication tools, and Dr. Phil’s Personality Test round out this week’s top 20.