Facebook facelift reveals a shift

well, it's official. like i said. facebook is no longer about the college age demographic. it shed that skin last night. it's leaving the 13-25 scene to Myspace with a firm kick and something like 'good riddance!'

it seems that by forcing all users to upgrade to the new, streamlined layout, the new projected image is supposed to be more professional, and as a friend pointed out, certainly more viable for marketing opportunities. add to that the new iPhone app and then tell me how many people in the 13-25 age range you know that own an iPhone--and well, you get the idea.

expanding its target to gain traction with a wider age range of users, making it more media viable, and adding support to items like the iPhone, only further go to show that Facebook isn't really interested in helping you connect to your friends any more.

you see, you only have so many friends, really, and they want more users than that. so the tag line on the new, improved home page has moved from the "people around you" controversy to "people in your life"--even that person you WoWed with 3 years ago in South Africa. i guess now it's okay to "make new friends." especially if they're out of school and make/spend money.

UPDATE 10.02 via Darryl Ohrt: now supported by stats from Matt Dickman. seems we were having similar thoughts.