BLOO is a very good FB alternative. the stock FB app sucks, i totally agree, i only use it about 5% of the time~ mostly as a shortcut to the mobile site if i need something that bloo cant do.. neither allow you to compose an inbox message. but thats something that FB itself wont allow for whatever reason.. i wonder why IPHONE IS ALLOWED TO USE IT THOUGH??!!??
Bloo gives comment and picture comment notifications. tho right now, that has a bug (was supposed to be fixed in last update, but isnt much better) where it keeps notifying you for the same comment a few times. at least you get a notification though..!
MEEBO is good for chat. i dont leave it on all day, only when i want to chat. it TOTALLY EATS your battery staying on! unless you are at a desk where you can keep a charge, i wouldnt recommend keeping it open all day!
whats nice about meebo, is it uses aim ,google talk, FB, msn, yahoo, myspace and a few others all combined, so you dont have to have a bunch of chat programs all running separately.