What's App? New Web Ways to Connect

Blake Commagere devoted all his time and energy to creating a game in which Facebook friends virtually bite each other. The goal of the application is to make zombie characters on profile pages stronger and more powerful with every bite. Commagere's goal is also to make money, although Facebook did not pay him to develop the program. There is only the dream that one day advertisers will pay.

But if they don't, hey, it was fun.

"Right now, my primary focus is to stay entertaining," said Commagere, 30, a developer of Web applications who works full time on his diversion, which has attracted about 800,000 users. "I want it to be user-driven, though I would love for it to turn into a business that paid the bills."

That is an entrepreneurial sentiment shared by many of the thousands of developers racing to create applications for social-networking sites, blogs and, most recently, the iPhone. Less than a week after Apple's launch of the iPhone, hundreds of applications are available for the device, with many from homegrown developers.

The open design of technology is making it possible for more people, and brands such as the energy drink Red Bull and the Ford modeling agency, to experiment with building Internet applications. Add-on applications include features that insert photo slideshows on MySpace or a gas-station locator for the iPhone. Application developers can test their creations on an audience of millions simply, quickly and cheaply. The goal: find out what works, maybe generate advertising revenue, and turn it into an independent business.

The programs range from the practical to the ridiculous. One application allows users to spray-paint virtual graffiti on a friend's personal page. A fortune-cookie feature advises whether to accept a job. You can track stocks, check your horoscope, or rate your co-workers as hot, or not.

There is nothing new about the phenomenon of creating free software add-ons, but the Internet now allows for continuous feedback, said David Chamberlain, principal analyst of wireless applications for In-Stat, a market research firm.

"You're tied into a community that is very encouraging," Chamberlain said. Ten years ago, developers of Palm Pilot applications did not have the opportunity to poll large audiences like developers do today.

Now users are constantly voicing their likes and dislikes, said Max Levchin, chief executive of Slide, a company that makes applications for platforms that include MySpace, Blogger and Bebo. When a bug in a program stalled its use, a user quickly e-mailed Levchin asking him to fix the problem.

Some developers have a lot riding on their applications' success.

Manuel Monroy, 36, of San Francisco introduced iPling, a program he worked on for months for the iPhone launch. The application, based on the user's location, finds people in proximity with the same interests.

He hopes to eventually reach wider audiences, including users who cannot afford the pricey new device, but so far the buzz around the iPhone has helped promote his application, he said. Monroy hopes success leads to venture-capital funding.

"We're working our butts off for the dream of making it happen," he said.

Others say they have stumbled upon popularity by accident.

Heidi Swanson, 34, of San Francisco made 101cookbooks.com, her recipe-sharing Web site, compatible with the iPhone.

"I thought it would be great to have all my recipes on the site in iPhone format so I could have the site on my phone at the store and easily bring up ingredient lists," Swanson said. "I'm always in there with stacks of paper, scrawls. I always forget stuff, so this was sort of self-serving."

The new phone's fame added to a spike in traffic on Swanson's site, which is on its way to attracting 1 million viewers and potentially more advertisers.

There is also Booze Mail, an application that delivers virtual beers and cosmopolitans to personal Web pages. Renkoo, an invitation and event-planning company that designed Booze Mail, hopes to earn brand recognition in return.

Some of these applications, like fortune cookies and zombie biting, may seem pointless, but developers say Pac-Man also seemed like a frivolous way to use the early computer, but it then evolved into one of the best-selling game titles of all time.