Microsoft and Facebook just announced a $240 million investment by Microsoft that places the value on Facebook at $15 Billion.

Evaluate what they invested in yourself by looking at year over year growth of awareness and use of Community sites in the U.S. from 2006 to 2007.

Links:

Awareness and Use of Community Websites - U.S. 2006: http://www.netpopresearch.com/node/20906

Awareness and Use of Community Websites - U.S. 2007: http://www.netpopresearch.com/node/7059

It also may be of interest to investigate how influential social networking sites are for discovering new entertainment products: http://www.netpopresearch.com/node/7160

Social networking sites also have an impact on purchasing decisions: http://www.netpopresearch.com/node/7259