Not anymore, according to new research into the demographics of the social networking juggernaut. Launched in 2004 from the tony quads at Harvard University, Facebook began as an exclusive service for Ivy Leaguers. And like the Ivy League, it was made up of mostly white and Asian students.

As Facebook grew and opened its doors to the general public, the diversity also increased, but gradually. By 2007, Latinos were joining the club, so to speak, in numbers that outpaced the influx of Internet users overall. And by earlier this year, enough blacks had joined Facebook for their representation among Americans on the site to nearly match their share of the U.S. population: 12%.

Of the 100 million Americans on Facebook, roughly 12 million are black and even more are Latino (worldwide the site has 350 million members). This levels the social networking scene and makes it easier to trace connections and build networks with people from different racial and socio-economic backgrounds than was ever conceivable before.

For New Yorkers, it might not seem like a big deal to have Facebook friends with every imaginable skin tone, but I suspect that it might be for Americans in areas where "diversity" means having a Mexican restaurant 12 miles outside of town. Because every Facebook user I know has at least one such "friend" in their cache, the bridges being formed now could herald the end of xenophobia.

OK, yes, that's a bit hopeful, and downright unrealistic. But at least we can say we're on the right track.

[Image: Fady Habib from Wikimedia Commons]