Facebook has recently bought micro-blogging service FriendFeed, reworked its search engine and tested a service called Facebook Lite, which targets users in locations where bandwidth is limited. According to Reuters, the social networking giant's recent activity opens a new chapter in the company's growth.

According to comScore, Facebook is the fourth most visited site in the world, with more than 250 million users as of June. This status opens the doors to create more services that other sites provide - such as search, online payments and digital downloads, to name a few - Haim Mendelson, professor at the Graduate School of Business at Stanford University, told Reuters.

The Atlantic's Derek Thompson, whose article calls Facebook's recent moves an "evil, genius plan to own your life," points out that Facebook is in a position to become "the holy grail of online advertising." This means that thanks to the $50 million purchase of FriendFeed, which aggregates friends' online activities, coupled with information gleaned from users' profiles, Facebook can better gauge which sites users visit as well as which ones they like: "a one-stop shop for (a) Web user's complete identity."

Currently Twitter is the largest, most talked about micro-blogging site, but Christian Zibreg's Geek.com opinion article predicts Facebook Lite "will become a Twitter-killer," and also points out that FriendFeed, a company made up of just 12 people, is seen as "one of the hottest Web properties."