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I think one of the things that also went wrong with MySpace was that it became very youthcentric. Which is fine whilst you've got the youngsters on board, but youth culture moves wayfast. When it lost its cool status, there was no alternative userbase to pick it back up again.
Facebook has an advantage in that it is the communication tool of choice for many different sectors, both in terms of users and in terms of industries. Very widely used by academics, political types, the charity sector just to name a few.
As much as I hate interfacing with it, Facebook is ubiquitous.
@ Henry: the microfunding I mentioned refers to the way a lot of social games and even full-on massively multi-player games fund their projects now. Instead of a purchase fee for the game and/or monthly subscription, many games finance themselves through microtransactions. So, in a game you may have certain items which can be gained through play. But there may be additional items (or in-game currency to use when playing) which can be bought from an online store. Or you may be able to play so much of the game but in order to unlock the 'premium' content you have to pay.
Facebook has proved an interesting medium for light social games (Farmville, Mafia Wars etc). There's room there for microfinancing. Some are already doing it I think.
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