As the social meta-Web emerges, the players that own and harness social applications on sites like Friendster and Facebook, the number one online destination for college students, will radically reorganize and reshape the Web.  They’ll do it in ways we can only imagine today, and that will profoundly alter our experience of the online world tomorrow. Facebook, in particular, has set out to organize not the world’s content, but the world’s people.

Facebook, for the most part, has evolved into a networking site mostly for keeping in contact with friends. It causes users to get excited about being able to stay updated in the lives of their other friends. Facebook is the place to be, but it hasn’t yet gotten sticky enough to be sure that this will be the case a year from now.

To increase the length of time a user stays on the site, they’re trying to mimic sites such as Friendster and MySpace.  One of these tactics is the way it allows profile customization.  Facebook allows users to create profile pages with personal details. These profiles have layouts similar to Friendster layouts.  Facebook also allows widgets and actively encourages their creation.

Facebook users are more likely to be men and to have a college degree. The median age of a Facebook user is 26 years old. This is a profitable demographic.  Online profitability can prove elusive at times.  To capture some of this profitability, the company launched a program called Beacon.  It was slated to notify friends whenever a whenever a Facebook member purchased something from online retailers.  Unfortunately, this was a bust.  Whether Facebook can fully monetize their site remains up in the air.