Facebook is ugly

As are all the other successful social networks.

Facebook. Orkut. Friendster. MySpace. They're all ugly as sin.

Why?

Everything is completely boxy, and rigid. In short, it's just not pleasing to the eye. It's not easy to look at.

Well, it seems Bebo put at least a modicum of design into their site. Props, mates!

Does 'bad design' ==> 'relative social networking success'?

I'd been messing around in Facebook for a day or two, now - trying to figure out their wacky APIs - and it's pretty terrible to have to look at that thing for any extended amount of time. I don't think I can take much more.

Will anyone take up the challenge and design a social networking website with a Web2.0 visual appeal?