On Tuesday, dozens of engineers, developers, and designers were begging for money. Of course, it was a very sophisticated kind of begging—the kind of begging that only engineers, developers, and designers are entitled to do: seek funding for building revenue-generating Facebook applications.

The source is known as “fbFund,” and it’s over $10 million deep. Its Facebook description calls it a “10M seed fund supporting developers and entrepreneurs on Facebook.” In addition to providing the monetary backing, fbFund provides mentoring and marketing for companies who think that they can cash in on Facebook and acquire revenue for themselves, revenue for the investors, and revenue for Facebook.

The fund is a partnership between Facebook and Accel, a high-profile silicon valley investment firm, along with Founders Fund, an investment firm that is also deeply invested in the social networking site.

This week, the companies delivered their sharpest appeals in the hope to be awarded the cash that will help them launch their ideas into the “Facebook-o-sphere.” It’s no easy task. As one news report observed, “finalists in the annual program, the startups have spent the past 12 weeks camped out in an old Facebook building in downtown Palo Alto, building their products, scribbling ideas on whiteboards and refining their pitches.”

The startups lucky enough to get money are the startups which have a good idea that will eventually turn into revenue. Good examples of this are sites like Thread.com, a service that claims to match up potential mates by allowing you to find friends of your friends who could turn out to be that special someone. Nutshellmail is another potentially lucrative idea that empowers you to “take control of your social networks,” by putting all those social networks into an easy-email format rather than having to ply through the networks themselves all day long. FriendRadio tries to amp up Facebook’s music tab by adding a browser plugin, integrated with Facebook that lets you listen to your friend’s favorite music, not just look at it. Samasource is a humanitarian site which gives you access to outsource your tasks to underprivileged but educated people that live internationally.

Obviously there are more appeals and ideas, much more. The ideas cover everything from viral marketing services to errand-running services. There is no end to the options, but there is an end to the money. As the companies get cash and get going, you may soon be invited to become a fan or join a group.

4 Friend Requests, 2 event invitations, 4 cause invitations, and…an invitation to the White House? If you’ve ever wanted to be a fan of the White House, you may now do so. True to its plugged-in, connected, and relevant nature, Obama’s White House has its own Facebook app—an up-close real-time look at White House current events right on Facebook.

The app (short for application) launched earlier in June keeps up an ever-steady stream of status updates that can keep pace with any Facebook-happy teen. The updates are typically political in nature—like “Watch, discuss, and engage with Van Jones of CEQ on Green Jobs,” rather than (fictional) “Obama Eats Cheerios for Breakfast.” But, to get a more personal look at the life of the First Family in the White House, the app provides “Photos” which reveal impromptu shots of Obama jogging down the hall with the First Puppy or tipping his chair back on two legs during a meeting.

Keep up with White House happenings by clicking on the “Events” tabs. A generous stream of commentary is available on the “Notes” tab, and the “Video” box always has something interesting to display. The White House Facebook app is a one-stop-shop for all your White House news.

The app has a friendly feel to it. Not a lot of ranting and raving, although there is room for friendly discourse. So far, the White House has well over 260,000 fans, and more are joining daily. The White House fosters a strong sense of community, as members “like this,” (Facebook’s version of a thumbs-up), others comment on a status update, and more fans give feedback on every topic imaginable. For example, 3,813 people have indicated that they like Obama’s pictures. 934 people have made comments on the photos. Friendly banter like “My dog can beat up your dog” (comment posted on a photo of Bo, the Obama’s dog) lace the comment feed. Other approving remarks like “great team!! Your the best Pres ever!!! luv u Rahmbo” are posted for all the world to see.

Unlike his predecessors, Obama keeps up a rapid stream of popular-level interaction. Admittedly, social media venues were not as available to past presidents as they are today. News, networking, discussion, commentary, and information from this administration can be found on virtually any media outlet today. The new White House App rounds out the following list:

http://www.whitehouse.gov
http://flickr.com/whitehouse
http://twitter.com/whitehouse
http://myspace.com/whitehouse
http://vimeo.com/whitehouse
http://youtube.com/whitehouse
http://apps.facebook.com/whitehouselive/