According to this report from January 2009, the 35-54 year demographic is experiencing the highest growth rate, with the 55+ group trailing behind at almost 200 percent. The original Facebookers of 2004 are entering the 25-34 range as the young professionals crowd joins in, which would explain the 100 percent growth rate. This leaves the two youngest demographics—high school and below and the current undergrad crowd—at the bottom of the growth curve. Together, they still make up more users than the other three combined, yet it would appear that there aren’t as many new kiddies joining up. The grandmas are not far behind.

These are only US figures. The global Facebook community is exploding. And it’s still among the post-college age crowd. Instead of blaming this growth on over-enthused stroller-keepers with a penchant for showing off their Pride and Joy at every pageclick, a quick look at Facebook history would hint at this [up]turn of events.

Facebook started out as a place for college kids to find each other within their own campus network. If your school didn’t have Facebook, you were left to your own frat-facilitated devices to stalk your peers. As more and more schools were added on, the ability to add “friends” from other networks was introduced. People got to talking. And poking. And using Facebook as an alternative to the usual procrastinator’s method of doodling inappropriate things in notebooks and on foreheads. Soon, the ability to add photos was introduced, and voilà—the [still] main reason for using Facebook took over. Sure, people liked getting messages (though getting “poked” was probably more annoying than kitschy) and filling out a laundry list profile, but posting all your embarrassing photos in a community where your friends already spent time? Perfect. Where MySpace and other social networks lacked in basic technological advances and security [and aesthetics, some/all would say], Facebook excelled. The dynasty hath begun.

The main catalyst in this enormous growth was, of course, the introduction of the open account. You didn’t need to be in college or high school to use Facebook. Hell, you didn’t even need to belong to a network. Facebook was still regarded as a young person’s digital playground, but the doors were opened to anyone. Your mom could join Facebook at any moment. Today, she probably has an account. If not your mom, then your uncle. Your second cousin twice removed, with the snot-faced kid who also has an account, run by his mother. People make accounts for their pets. In an attempt to compete with MySpace Music accounts, bands and artists can have their own pages. Even politicians, video games, abstract ideas… anyone and anything can have a presence on Facebook. You don’t have to be a bourgeois university troll to realize the benefits of joining such a comprehensive [yet targeted] network.

The golden word here is “targeted.” If you weren’t friends with Sal Vinocchio, you didn’t have to see his myriad “Ways to tell you’re from Jersey” updates. After Facebook introduced the controversial “News Feed,” a real-time list of your friends’ every single little activity, options to modify the frequency of certain updates made the site almost perfect. If all you wanted to see were photos and friend acquisitions, everything else could be filtered out. Even after Apps were introduced, you didn’t see anything you didn’t want to, provided that you adjusted the proper settings.

And so, people of all ages are joining Facebook. Older folks see the possibilities in reconnecting with friends, family, and former classmates, making it a less awkward Classmates.com. Younger people just want to get in on the action, and those in between are dealing with the fact that everyone else has Facebook. Do you accept every friend request that comes your way? Where do you draw the line? Your friends list used to be actual friends. Now it consists of friends, barely acquaintances, professional opportunities, PR-driven celebrity profiles… the works. People find it easier to send messages through Facebook than through E-mail. Most people’s birthdays are listed, and you can get reminders sent to you. Organizing events is dead simple. The genius of it all really shines when you deal with the basics.

And that’s where it ends. In an effort to capitalize on everything and be the ultimate web site ever, Facebook has changed. It is no longer the place for finely tuned updates from the people you actually care about. While there are still a few options, the new “Stream” is basically a dumping ground of homogenous non-information. It even looks exactly like Twitter, a supposed threat to Facebook’s empire. After unsuccessfully trying to acquire Twitter, it seems that Facebook will do just about anything to step on anyone who dares gain a following similar to their own. Which is, oh right, everyone.

So while Facebook’s demographics is shifting upward, the actual service is more confused with itself than ever. Brands across the world are hopping on, developing apps and advertising through friend recommendations (and more recently, unwarranted notifications) all in an attempt to capture their own targeted audience. It’s the Facebook users themselves that are losing that ability, and that could backfire with any new demographic.