Facebook opened the flood gates this morning, allowing anyone to sign up for an account. Previously, Facebook was restricted to college students with a .edu email address, then it was opened up for a few corporations as well as high school students. Now anyone can join Facebook and enter a geographical network.
After the whole feeds fiasco, the resulting user backlash from a new Facebook feature that allowed users to easily view exactly what their friends were doing online, Facebook has incorporated many privacy features to ensure the happiness of every user.
This doesn't mean that anyone can see your profile, however. Your profile is just as closed off as it ever was. Our network structure is not going away. College and work networks still require an authenticated email address to join. Only people in your networks and confirmed friends can see your profile.
To ensure that spammers won't penetrate the Facebook network, accounts must be validated either through a working email address or via text message on a mobile phone. So now that MySpace and Facebook are finally on a level playing field, who do you think will be more successful (far) down the line? (granted MySpace does have a huge headstart)