Facebook: The LinkedIn Killer

As some of you may already know, there's a big hoopla over what happened yesterday at 3pm in San Francisco. What am I talking about? The Facebook Platform Launch, an event that elicits comparisons to Steve Jobs and his keynote sessions for Apple (it's funny to hear other people say that Mark Zuckerberg was "channeling" Steve Jobs at this event...).

The most evident thing at this event? Facebook's undeniable ambition to become the #1 most visited site on the Internet...which also leverages its community in a manner that will allow it (and many partners) to build unprecedented services and applications for the semantic web. The most striking comment in this event? That Zuckerberg and company are "targeting Google next." Joking or not, I think it's safe to say that even making a comment like that speaks to their ambitions of taking Facebook to the next level.

So here's something I'll throw out there. Facebook is already stickier than MySpace and LinkedIn. The fact that they now have 70+ applications under way for the site only means they have the potential for getting more sticky as it expands its user base. Indeed, nearly 50% of its user base is 25 years or older. I can believe this statistic because I'm one of them...

My bold claim: Facebook has the potential of disrupting LinkedIn's model...and the model of many other social networking sites. I wouldn't be a bit surprised if Facebook begins to play on the same fields as some of its other peers such as LinkedIn. What if Facebook created a professional networking forum within its site? It's feasible, given its current growth rate of non-college students...

For the time being, I don't think LinkedIn has anything to worry about since it has a handle on its demographic. But if they're not careful...and if they don't constantly innovate...I wonder just how much staying power it will have.