The more we all talk about the evolution of Facebook, and how it’s bringing people together, there seems to be one group that has been slower to get to the party. The trend is now becoming very clear that demographics on Facebook have been trending older. Nielson reports that 17.5 million seniors are now online- a 55% jump in the last 5 years.

Currently, the average age of a Facebook user is 33. While we don’t expect that number to range up much more, one demographic that has been getting most of the press lately are the seniors. While this may be surprising to some, it’s just a natural progression towards social media critical mass which will encompass all age groups.

While this may might confound the “Tweet Elite”, it may be even more surprising seeing 4 and 5 year olds updating their parent’s status and right below seeing your 75 year old mother’s update about her “enjoyable” weekend.

The total social media integration is now becoming a tidal wave, and it’s not the first time we’ve had a mass migration in media. In 1947, the first World Series was televised. Does this sound familiar to those who watched the U2 concert on YouTube? In 1948, there were 1 million TV sets in the US with 4 networks broadcasting and in 1949, the first Emmy Awards were broadcast. Do you see a trend here? Most people can remember setting up their first email account. But the fact remains, people’s media time will be spent where the best content is located, whether it’s broadcast TV, Yahoo!, Facebook or whatever the next social media network is that becomes fills a need.

In 50 years, we will all be laughing that we all shared one social media network. For now, it’s simple. Facebook is providing the best content, and access to content, for its multi-generational audience. Social media will fragment and social media will become more customized, but social media has arrived.