New Facebook apps: you'll never want to leave...

Facebook has announced 60 new applications for its social networking website, with the emphasis on sharing your data with friends as simply as possible.

The new apps will continue the trend of sharing what you’re doing without actually having to do anything, by adding updates to your Timeline automatically when you use certain online services.

The kind of service included in this new wave of apps is said to include websites such as Ticketmaster, Rotten Tomatoes and Foodspotting. Presumably, by signing up, you’ll automatically share gig ticket buys and film and restaurant/meal reviews as they happen.

Of course these apps will be optional: not everyone is going to be thrilled by sharing their Beber ticket buys, rom com ‘likes’ and visits to KFC. But it continues to feed an obsession many of us didn’t know we had – and many of our friends wish we didn’t.

Facebook product director Carl Sjogreen commented ominously: "We think that thousands of applications will be built on this platform in the coming weeks and months.

"The key behind the latest moves seems to be, sadly, advertising revenue. But this would seem to be inevitable, with Facebook tipped to be floated on the stock market this year; anything to increase its valuation will be bonus.

It could be seen as a dangerous gamble though. The more rampant commercialising Facebook seeks, the more people may be put off of the service. But as the likes of Google+ continue to be dashed against its castle walls, it seems Facebook’s dominance looks set to continue for some time yet.