It doesn't seem as though he was actually going for a "parting the sea" effect. If that was the case, he probably would've spent quite a bit more time than 66.5 hrs on it. My first opinion was that it is actually one of the better designed websites I've seen recently, although everyone seems to be going for the green and orange scheme lately. While I agree with what omouse said about social networking sites not needing to be aesthetically appealing, there will have to be some features that people look for that differentiate them from one another. Simple and beautiful are two that come to mind, although that is a pretty subjective matter.

Good design seems to be working for Facebook. LinkedIn is also reasonably well-designed (if a bit busy and inconsistent). MySpace is the only social networking site with egregiously bad design that is worth speaking of, and it won't last forever.