As of this month, at the ripe old age of five, it’s ancient in Web 2.0 terms. But for being a senior citizen of the web, Facebook sure has managed to stay fresh and relevant. What started as a social experiment in Mark Zuckerberg’s Harvard dorm room has grown to capture over 150 million users.

icanhascheezburger.com

Here are some ways Facebook has managed to grow and adapt so far…

-  its supernatural ability to help you reconnect with old high school buddies, network  professionally (ahem), plan killer bashes, and showcase your wit via status message

- the ever-growing collection of third-party Facebook applications, integration with Twitter, built-in Instant Messaging, blog importation capability, and more

These all allow users to express themselves in a rather addictive way.

Here at the IMA, we utilize Social Networking to reach a more diverse and (presumably) younger audience.  And, like any institution, we are always looking for ways to stay fresh and relevant.

However, TIME ’s tech writer, Lev Grossman makes a humorous argument as to why Facebook is for ‘Old Fogies.’  After all, Facebook’s fastest-growing demographic are those 30+. Could this be the kiss-of-death?

Illustration by John Cuneo for TIME

Others are predicting Facebook’s demise. Blogger Devin Johnston argues that unless Facebook changes drastically, it will fizzle out in just three years.

Sites like Facebook are doomed unless they radically alter their business and development models to reflect the needs, interests, and capabilities of internet users. There is room for Facebook to move away from providing service and toward assembling the services of others in a single location. Frankly, I think that this is the only way that Facebook will survive the coming revolution in social computing.

That’s a lot to ask of a five year old.

Do YOU think Facebook’s days are numbered? Will it continue to adapt, or be wiped out by something better-faster-stronger?

IMA Blog Categories

So, instead of making an elaborate design-based effort that would no doubt involve too many hours of Matt Gipson’s time, we thought it might be useful to show you how you can already customize your blog reading experience and see how that goes.

I am going to cover a couple of basic things here…RSS feeds and news readers or aggregators.  For some of you this may be old hat.  My feelings on the subject are best captured by a well-traveled flight attendant beginning a safety lecture to a plane full of impatient flyers…”Listen carefully, or at least be quiet.  It is always the first time for somebody.”  And so it is…so, if you’re a blog readin’ aficionado, then you might as well go back to your reader…that is if you ever clicked through…

For those of you who are now on the edge of your seat, let’ press on.

First thing to know about is the IMA Blog’s categories.  Each post we write has at least one category attached.  Most have several.

This is a feature that easily allows you to focus on what you want to read.  When you land on the IMA Blog page…notice that there is a list of categories to the right. (You see them pictured above.)  You can click in to that category page and bookmark it.  Voila! You have just created your own horticulture-only blog, or whatever category you selected.

My Blogs on Bloglines

Another option is to click that inviting orange RSS icon.  It beckons to you from the far right.  Click on it to be directed to a new page that allows you to sign up for a feed.  You can choose from a plethora of news-readers.  My personal fav is Bloglines.

I find it easy to use and has no weirdness when you move between Mac and PC worlds as I do.  News readers allow you to sign up for a nearly endless stream of content.  You can go out onto the internet and start clicking your little heart out wherever you see that orange icon and amass quite a list of things you just can’t live without reading.  Then your news reader sorts it into a list, shows you what has been recently updated and allows you to preview bits from any feed.

When I discovered the ease and joy of the news reader it was my new BFF for at least a week (which is at least a month in “online time,” it works like dog years), so I hope that you will feel the same way.

And of course, you can just visit the IMA Blog the “old-fashioned way.”  Don’t you think it is funny that there is already an old-fashioned way to read a blog?  Pretty cool in my opinion.

Okay, what kind of blogger or marketer would I be if I actually did that? Recently, I’ve been pondering the possibilities so-to-speak. After reading Richard’s insightful post on the use of Twitter in museum conservation and then spotting Nick Brien’s article, Strategic Thinking 3.0, in ADWEEK, my fingers have been set on the keys with no clear song in mind. I’m overwhelmed by possibility. Sometimes it is comforting to have boundaries to narrow and contain one’s scope of thought. But in the coming years, I am not sure we will have that luxury because of technology.

Picking from Brien’s general media forecast for 2009, I would like to apply several of his predictions to the arts and the IMA in particular:

1. Digital media enables easier marketing access. Have you heard of Web 2.0? These tools are booming in the arts sector. With limited budgets and expertise, groups like dance companies and symphonies are using blogs and other tools to market to wider audiences with a direct focus. See the San Francisco Ballet Blog. How about providing digital perks for members? As I mentioned above, the range of tools is just going to become more expansive. At the IMA, I think our challenge will be to use these tools wisely. And with our crack team of Web programmers, designers and Nugget Factory, maybe we will push the limits with a few of our own.

2. Marketing means selling. Performance is always important but not always measurable. At the IMA, you have ads in the Star, on the radio and on billboards, while at the same time you’re sending out evites, traditionally mailed invitations, Facebook notifications and blog posts…you don’t even remember where you first heard about the event. While we try to capture this type of data as well as attendance on the IMA’s Dashboard, it’s worth faithfully tracking and rejecting the tools that don’t produce desired results.

3. Collaboration drives integration. This has been happening at the IMA for as long as I’ve worked there (more than a year). When Marketing, Development, New Media, Education, Curators, MIS, Horticulture and many others come together, it’s hard to tell who belongs to who. Diverse personalities and backgrounds allow for anyone to bring an idea to the table that may become the next golden nugget. Cross-departmental collaboration is key.

4. Data drives decision-making. Amen. I think this repeats #2 in making time for evaluation and being bold enough to let the data drive change rather than trying to do it all.

5. New players bring new perspectives. Both international and local competition in the arts and Museum world will awaken us to new thought and possible collaboration. Read our blogroll to check out what everyone else is up to. The IMA’s Professional Development team (which is cross-departmental by the way) is planning a staff exchange program with other institutions for just this purpose.

6. Social networks enable better listening. We’re working on this one. Through polls, comments, rating options, calls for user-generated content and social media applications on Facebook, the IMA is hoping you’ll talk to us. We truly desire a conversation and “raw” feedback on the material we are providing. Having this conversation can be difficult for an organization without a single representative or without time devoted to personal response.

7. Mobility matters. I predict we’ll see increasing opportunities for on-site interactivity inside and outside (think 100 Acres) the IMA galleries. The Newseum in Washington, D.C., does a nice job of creating popular and educational user-experiences in exhibitions with mobile devices.

So those are my current thoughts, which are not very well thought out because I’m busy trying to keep up with it all in real time. To speak to the IMA’s collection, you could say I’m just a girl at the piano recording sound.

Ever wondered how web designers make those little icons up in the address bar? Can’t figure out how to make a glossy button, complete with faded out reflective web 2.0 goodness? Or how about how to create those little badges and buttons you see gracing the sidebars and footers of your favorite blogs? I’m here to help.

Contrary to popular belief, you don’t have to own an $3,000 software package and a bleeding-edge beefed up computer. In fact you can pass as a pro without even opening up Photoshop… for, dare I say, free! Thanks to the advancement of web technology and all of the love being spread by the web design community, you should have no problem convincing your friends you’ve spent back-breaking hours creating a pixel-perfect masterpiece.

I’ve compiled a list of 10 great online tools to help you become a web design (insert musical genre of choice here) star.

favicon.ico Generator
This tool is great for creating favicons. You have the option of importing an image to trace over with a very intuitive user interface making this task a snap. Favicon.cc even gives you the ability to create an animated icon! What more do you need? I’ll answer that, nothing.

Button Maker
This Button Maker by Adam Kalsey is the perfect tool for creating your own zany badge & button images. Choose your own custom messages, colors, and crispy pixel perfect positioning options.

Websnapshot 1.0
This is an Adobe Air application, which means you have to download and install it, but it’s free. This tool takes snapshots of any given website and creates 3 different sizes on your command. Perfect for bloggers and web content publishers.

Photoshop Express
Did you know Photoshop has an online web application that let’s you “Upload, tweak, rotate, edit, share and store your photos” for free? I’ve used this in a pinch a few times, and it’s very handy. There are a few filters as you see in the thumbnail.

Silk Icons
This set from famfamfam.com has over 700 icons you can use for any purpose, and make any changes you like. We use these on our in-house project management system, Athena. This is the most expansive free icon set I’ve seen.

stock.xchng
I can’t stress enough how great this site is. Users get hundreds of thousands of high quality, hand picked stock photos and graphics – all free! It’s also a great way for you to share your own self-produced stock art as a way to give back to this wonderful community.

Squidfingers’ Patterns
The web design community truly is a sharing bunch these days. Squidfingers has been sharing these beautiful pixel patterns for years, before it was trendy to be so giving. If your looking for web page background ideas, don’t sleep on this site.

Web Developer Firefox Extension
This tool comes in pretty handy if you dabble in html and/or CSS at all. It gives you easy access to actions such as: validating html and css, displaying image information, clearing your browser cache, viewing outlined css page elements, and much, much more.

ColorZilla Firefox Extension
This tool is perfect for grabbing a color for inspiration in your own designs. With two clicks you’re armed with the HSB, RGB, and Hex values for any given color on a webpage.

MeasureIt Firefox Extension
All too often we need to know the dimensions of areas on a web page. This is the rich man’s version of “print-screen, fire up Photoshop, paste, selection marquee”. If you understood that last sentence, congratulations, you are just as geeky as me.

I hope you find these gems as useful as I have. Feel free to share your favorite tools I left out in the comments!