The stories have been reported for awhile now – Facebook is getting older. By now, most people have heard that the fastest growing group is women 55 and older. For many, this signals the beginning of Facebook’s downfall. When a middle age uncle is commenting on his teenage niece’s page, that’s sure to drive the kids away.

But I don’t see it that way.

What makes Facebook in particular, and social media in general, powerful is that you choose who is and isn’t in your network. The growth of older adults doesn’t need to have an effect on younger users because they don’t need to interact, if they don’t want to.

I know what you may be thinking – that’s not what’s happening. Almost everyone I know who uses Facebook has received friend requests from bosses, co-workers they never talk to, people they’ve met twice in their lives and so on. In short, people who are not their friends.

Like so many other things, it’s not the tool, it’s how you use it.

I think it’s likely people’s behavior on social networks will change. For many people, social media is like a new toy. You want to see what it can do. But in the future people will do what is useful to them. Reaching out to everyone you ever met may not serve a purpose. But being more engaged with the most important people in your life, or continuing to develop a relationship with an old friend you reconnected with, may be.

The same thing is true in using social tools for business. What is useful for your business? How does it enhance your ability to serve customers, find customers, increase customer satisfaction? The race for more fans, followers and friends will abate. While the focus on how it helps you create value will be critical. As it always is.