[Taylor Caby]

I don't see facebook being a fad. Kids as young as ~high school ageish use it to meet people, "hang out" online (something that isn't going away), and to express themselves. As you get into college, it's more for just keeping in touch with people, seeing what people are up to (facebook stalking), and sharing pictures, stories, etc. Once you graduate, it's more just for networking, keeping in touch, etc.

The beauty of it for facebook is that all of the college educated people are on it. I don't have statistics, but pretty much all of my friends that went to college are on facebook, and pretty much all of my friends that didn't aren't or have just recently joined. They have a stranglehold on the best and brightest that are under the age of 25. I can't think of a better advertising demographic to basically have complete control over.

Also remember, when comparing social networking sites, that facebook still has an immense "snob appeal" effect over myspace because for 2 years facebook was only open to .edu addresses. This made sure anyone involved was college educated and it kind of gave facebook a "we're better than myspace" feel, that for some reason still exists today. This might be because the website itself is just leaps and bounds better looking (with more functionality) than myspace.

tc