Ask HN: is it possible to ignore Facebook?

Personally I still have no big interest to invest time into Facebook, in fact, I rather resent it. But I suppose the main market for whatever web app I could think about would be Facebook people (because almost everybody is on it). I worry about reinventing the wheel, that is, creating something that Facebook people already do all the time. Is there a way to keep somewhat up to date on what is happening on FB, without becoming involved myself?

Also, would it still make sense to just create nice services, even if what they offer can also be had on Facebook? Just hoping that there are enough people who don't like the FB way, for example?

Naturally, if I would launch a site now, I would also offer Facebook connect, likes and all that. It's more about understanding how people network these days (I prefer Twitter myself, or used to prefer it before their commercialization push).