I joined Facebook in October or November of 2004 – less than a year after it’s inception – so I guess you could say that I’m “old school” when it comes to the social network du jour. I’d usually consider myself an early adopter, but being midway through my sophomore year at PSU, it was a case of right place right time. So I joined and watched as it grew and grew. I watched as it let high school kids join, and then as it let everyone join. I watched as it grew from under 800k users when I signed up, to it’s current notch of over 34 million users. And I watched in May as it opened it’s API – unleashing a flood of new apps.

But here’s what I’m seeing now.

“Old school” Facebookers – people like me, age 20-24 who have been on the site since the early days – are slow to jump on the application bandwagon. They’re not used to the gizmos and gadgets you can add to your profile. Instead of a flood of incumbent users adding cool new stuff, it’s been more of a trickle. Social Media Marketers are quick to sing the praises of the new open API and it’s possibilities, but at least to me, it looks like it’s following a slow version of the Rogers Innovation Adoption Curve.

Just now, I’m noticing that more of my friends are starting to add some of the utilitarian apps such as the video player or “where I’ve been” module. And yes, even some of the more “interesting” apps are growing in popularity (I’m a level 35 Pirate in the Pirates Vs. Ninjas App) but there’s a long road ahead.

So while I think all the hooplah about Facebook is warranted – it’s my favorite social network – we have to be careful not to forget about the people that built it up and got it to where it is today.