Matrix Group International

Month: May 2010

  • Are You Ready to Ditch Your Paper Subscriptions?

    Are You Ready to Ditch Your Paper Subscriptions?

    More and more of my clients are making the decision to eliminate their print magazines and newsletters. They’re choosing digital versions of their publications over print to eliminate printing and mailing costs, achieve immediate delivery, and occasionally, create personalized versions based on customer preferences.

    All of this makes sense to me.  I get most of my information via e-mail these days, and I’m subscribed to dozens of newsletters via e-mail and RSS.  And in an effort to minimize the “piles” at home, I have canceled all but a few paper subscriptions.

    But I got to thinking:  Am I ready to ditch ALL of my paper subscriptions? Am I ready to cancel my print subscriptions to my favorite magazines, namely TIME, Smithsonian and Stanford magazines?

    Here’s my concern about all digital publications:  it’s easy to ignore an e-mail newsletter as just another e-mail in the hundreds I get every day.  Consider this:  when my copy of TIME magazine arrives on Saturday, it ends up in my “to read” pile. This pile gets shuffled around from dining room table to coffee table to bedroom side table.  Each issue sticks around until I read or skim it, then toss.  But here’s what happens with some of my e-mail subscriptions:  if I have the time, I read them on the spot.  If I don’t have the time, I may leave them in my inbox or move them to a “read” folder for later reading.  Trouble is, with the flood of e-mail that I get, I rarely get to my e-mail read pile. And sometimes, in an attempt to gain back control of my inbox, I delete a huge group of e-mail newsletters and start over.

    Ugh, so much for the future of publishing.  What is the balance that content organizations should try to achieve between print and digital?  And if digital is your only future, how do you ensure delivery and readership? I have some thoughts:
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  • What’s All the Fuss About Facebook’s Open Graph and Privacy Policies?

    Remember when Facebook was a closed network, open only to college students? Then Facebook went mainstream and everyone could create a profile. But even back then, Facebook remained a closed network: you had to have a Facebook profile to see other profiles and connect with friends.  Facebook was closed to Google and other search engines, which meant Facebook profiles and pages never showed up on search results.

    Back in 2005, Facebook’s privacy policy clearly stated the following:

    No personal information that you submit to Facebook will be available to any user of the Web Site who does not belong to at least one of the groups specified by you in your privacy settings.

    The Evolution of Facebook’s Privacy Policies

    But then, slowly and over time, Facebook’s privacy policies changed.

    • In 2007, Facebook made your name, school name and profile photo available to the search engines unless you specifically prohibited this in your privacy settings
    • In 2009, Facebook revamped its privacy settings and gave users more control over who gets to see which aspects of their profile.  Trouble was, the default gave “everyone” access to information.
    • In April 2010, Facebook made the decision to make specific elements of all profiles public (name, hometown, school, interests and fan pages), and eliminate the ability to limit access to these fields.  If you didn’t want those elements to be public, Facebook recommended that you delete the information from your profile.
    • In April 2010, Facebook also launched the Open Graph, which shares user profiles with third party sites so that visits to those third party sites can be personalized based on a person’s Facebook interests.  On the flip side, Facebook opened up its API (application programming interface) so that third party sites can add a Facebook “Like” button to their pages; when clicked, the information would be saved back to a user’s profile.

    The Electronic Frontier Foundation has a great timeline of Facebook’s privacy policies, including links to archived versions of Facebook’s policies.

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  • The iPad vs. the Kindle – An E-Reader Face-Off

    There are more and more iPads are popping up at the office.  Three of us have kids who are addicted to Godfinger.  Me?  I love surfing on the couch and playing games like Rush Hour and TanZen.  Despite the popularity of the iPad at work, I’ve been reading a lot of critical articles and blog posts about the iPad, esp. as a reading device.

    So I decided it was time for a face-off between the iPad and the Kindle. I invited my friend Eileen to come over to the house with her Kindle.  Eileen would represent the Kindle while my 5 year-old would represent the iPad.  Here’s the face-off video where I play host and ask the co-stars to compare the iPad vs. the Kindle in terms of:  e-bookstore experience, screen size and display, resolution, page turning and search.  See for yourself and be the judge.  Who do you think won this face-off?

    This homemade video brings home the point that with the Web and social sharing sites, everyone’s a critic, a moviemaker, or a citizen journalist. Despite a legion of tech writers reviewing the iPad, I felt compelled to create my own iPad review.  And now I’ll reach out to my network of friends, clients, colleagues and followers on Facebook, Twitter, blog and e-mail to share my video, get their feedback and try to influence their thinking about these devices.

    How about you?  Are you publishing your own content to social networking and sharing sites?  What’s your take on the iPad and have you decided to get one?

  • A Great Web Site, Like a Great Event, is a Collaboration Between Client and Vendor

    A Great Web Site, Like a Great Event, is a Collaboration Between Client and Vendor

    Matrix Group Open HouseLast night, Matrix Group hosted an Open House to welcome clients, partners, vendors and friends to our new office in Crystal City (okay, new as of August last year).  We used the occasion to finish decorating the office and brought in Design Cuisine (Design), a leading catering company in the DC area, to orchestrate the event.

    The Open House was wonderful!  The office looked great, the food and drink were outstanding (loved the beef satay and blueberry mojitos!), turnout was great, and by all accounts, guests enjoyed themselves thoroughly.  The Open House made me realize that hosting an event, much like putting up a Web site, should be a collaboration between client and vendor.  When both parties do their part, the result is almost always success. Here’s what I’ve learned:

    • Clients should take the lead when it comes to goals and direction. When Matrix Group is designing a Web site, we ask lots of questions and try to find out what their goals are and what a successful project looks like.  In the same way, Seana Hale from Design Cuisine wanted to know all about Matrix Group, how we interact with clients, and how the Open House would support our client and partner relationships.
    • Clients should define the overall design aesthetic and values. When Matrix Group designers are working on a design project, we don’t try to change the character and image of an organization.  Instead, we strive to understand the client’s brand, represent it well via design and multimedia and enhance it through our work.  Design Cuisine understood that we wanted a nice event that showed off our creativity and our work, was modestly priced, and played up our brand color of purple without overdoing it.
    • Let the experts take the lead but be prepared to give timely feedback.  Once we’re armed with good background information, our UX (user experience team) creates navigation, wireframes and designs.  It’s great when the client trusts our judgment, takes design direction AND lets us know if we’re on the wrong track by giving us specific and timely feedback.  We also love it when clients let us brainstorm and come up with out of the box ideas, knowing that most won’t fly but the creativity that comes out is good for the project.

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  • iPad

    iPad

    A bunch of us at Matrix Group now have iPads. We love this device. It’s different from the iPhone, PC and game console. Love the apps, touch screen and games.