Facebook is challenging every social network competitor out there…

• Facebook Events now invites more people than evite
• Facebook Marketplace challenges classifieds web sites, especially the behemoth- Craigslist
• Facebook Photos- can they beat Flickr or Photobucket for sharing photos with family & friends?
• and now… Facebook Applications which invites developers to embrace Facebook and share in its wild success (while getting free new functionality in Facebook– aiding user retention)

Facebook is poised for long term success. It already has a significant user base who spend a surprising amount of time on the site (Crackbook?). They have enough revenue to be offered 9 figures in a takeover bid (which was turned down). Despite growth, they’re unrolling strong features regularly, staying ahead of the game instead of reactively responding to user demand. However, the site is still lacking one major feature: visual customization.

Every day users (not just power users) still want to customize the look of their site, so not only does it have the content that is their own, it looks like it’s their own. Yes, most people make horrible design choices (see any given MySpace page), but that doesn’t matter. They want flashing teddybear backgrounds and you can’t do it on Facebook. Personally, I find it refreshing that I don’t have to look at hideous designs, but at the same time find it frustrating that there’s little I can do to change the look of my Facebook page.

Virb addresses this issue perfectly. Take a look at the Virb page for Peter Bjorn and John. They have customized their page (nicely) but if you happen to not like it, you can hit the “remove customization” button. Amazing. I doubt we’d see this level of customization on Facebook though- they’re more likely to roll out pre-selected styles that you can choose from. Even this would be nice though, I’m getting tired of seeing Facebook blue.