Disruptions: Facebook's Real-Life 'Spidey Sense' - NYTimes.com

On a related note, see Facebook’s Purchases May Hint at Its Future (NYT)

"Imagine if you had a superpower that would allow you to peer into the future of the Internet? It’s a pretty nerdy power compared to Spider-Man’s web-slinging, but you could use this superhuman ability to see what would be popular soon, and in some instances, change the future.
Facebook actually has this power. Because it connects Facebook users to more than nine million apps and services through Facebook Connect, the Open Graph developer platform, and the hundreds of millions of like buttons that perforate Web pages across the Internet, the company can see what people are using. Facebook is more tapped into the pulse of people online than any company on the planet."

Disruptions: Facebook's Real-Life 'Spidey Sense' - NYTimes.com