Facebook, the preferred social networking site of college students, and Craigslist, the 900lbs gorilla in the world of online classifieds, appear ready to clash in an attempt to take (or keep) the title of most popular online classified site.

Late last week, a new feature called the Marketplace, appeared on Facebook.com, a major social networking site recently recognized as the #1 Social Networking site by SEOMoz.org's 2007 Web 2.0 Awards.  Long a favorite of the college crowd for its simple interface and highly customizable privacy options, Facebook is entering the arena that has long been dominated by free site Craigslist.com.  The Marketplace allows users to advertise anything from used text books, to apartment sublets and even job postings.  Ads are sorted based on your local "Network" which is usually a town near to a major college or University (for example, Plymouth, MI doesn't have it's own network, we would have to look to Ann, Arbor, MI for listings).

There's no question of whether or not this new service will be successful, the question however is will it be a major contender in the online ad space?  If so, how will Facebook turn it into a money-making venture, something the company has thus far failed to do with it's 100% free services.