Matrix Group International

Tag: Blogging

  • Tweeting While On Vacation

    Tweeting While On Vacation

    Phone at the BeachI’m headed out for a short vacation today. Before I left the office, several co-workers asked me if I will be tweeting while I’m out. I had to pause for a second before responding with a “no, yes, maybe.” Hmmm….. Just what are the expectations these days about being on vacation and tweeting or maintaining your status on the various social networks?

    When I’m on vacation, I like to really unplug, which is why my husband and I go to places like Japan, Cambodia, Vietnam, Prague, Costa Rica. We go to places where we’re not tempted to go online and work because there is so much to see and do; often, the time difference makes it difficult to stay in touch. (more…)

  • The Campaign is Over, but President Obama Still Committed to Social Networking

    The Campaign is Over, but President Obama Still Committed to Social Networking

    the_white_houseCandidate Obama ran a great campaign and made amazing use of social networking services to get the word out about his campaign, mobilize supporters, create viral messages, and raise money.  When the campaign ended, I wondered if President Obama would continue to use social networking tools or if the constraints of the White House or security would put an end all that open communication and engagement.

    I’ve been so happy to see that President Obama is being just as innovative and engaging online.

    • Google Moderator gives participants a way to submit questions and vote for the ones they want answered.  The White House launched Open for Questions and used Google Moderator to field questions for the President during in online town hall meeting tonight.  92,934 people submitted 104,049 questions and cast 3,604,964 votes.
    • The White House maintains a blog.  Imagine that, a White House blog.  The President himself is not blogging, but the blog does a terrific job of making visitors feel like a White House insider.  Here’s tonight’s post on Open for Questions.
    • The White House has a YouTube channel that features press conferences, the President’s weekly address, briefings and other events.  Some of the videos are available in HD; check out this beautiful HD video of President Obama’s March 21, 2009 address.  If you don’t see the video in HD, click the HD link in the bottom right corner of the video.

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  • The Power of the Relationship

    I tell my staff (especially Project Managers) to jump at any chance to share a meal with a client, vendor or partner. Why? Because I’m convinced that once you’ve shared a meal with someone, it’s a lot harder for them to demonize you, blow you off, ignore your calls and e-mails, or fire you for a small mistake.

    A meal, however, is simply a metaphor for creating, nurturing and maintaining a relationship. The relationship is what matters. A meal is one really great, fun way to establish or further a relationship. Face to face meetings and social events are others. Can social networking help you nurture your relationships?  Here’s how.

    • A really great blog lets you connect with your staff, customers, members. A blog lets you share your perspectives, talk about what’s important to you or your field, speak more conversationally about a highly technical or complicated topic.
    • An authentic social networking strategy lets you share aspects of your organization’s culture and values. So don’t just tweet about your press releases!  Share tips and tricks through a video, tweet about Web sites that move you, and upload photos of your staff in action.

    How about you?  How are you using social networking to support your relationship goals?

  • Your Social Networking Strategy Doesn’t Have to Include the Kitchen Sink

    Your Social Networking Strategy Doesn’t Have to Include the Kitchen Sink

    Social NetworksBy popular demand and client request, I conducted a webinar on Tuesday with esteemed Project Manager Cat Lee from Matrix Group on “Creating a Social Networking Strategy (SN) for Your Organization.” Why do a webinar on a topic that is already getting a lot of coverage?  Our reasons:  Clients are looking for help, they want to know why and how to set up their social networking toolbox, and they’re looking for best practices on ways to use SN to help them achieve their overall goals.

    The key take aways from the webinar were the following:

    • The social networking services (e.g., Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, etc.) complement the social networking that non-profits and associations have been offering to their members for years through meetings, e-mail discussions and bulletin boards.
    • It’s no longer enough to have a communications strategy that includes a Web site, e-mail, direct mail and newsletters. Customers, members and staff alike are craving, indeed demanding, engagement and conversation.
    • Every organization needs, at the very least, a listening strategy so that you know what is being said about you, your organization and industry; you are aware of the conversations taking place between members; and you get a sense of the most pressing issues of the day for your field.
    • We organize the SN universe into the following platforms: networking sites; friend networks; broadcasting (with conversation); rating and recommender sytems; sharing systems; and SN community platforms.
    • Social networks are reaching close to 50% of all active Web users and 3 of the top 5 sites in the US (MySpace, YouTube and Facebook) are SN sites.
    • You can use SN to recruit staff, raise money, provide thought leadership, engage members in conversation, provide customer service, promote meetings and events, and extend the learning and networking of events.

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  • Stalking Chris Sacca (Formerly of Google) via FriendFeed

    Stalking Chris Sacca (Formerly of Google) via FriendFeed

    friendfeedLast week, I had the pleasure of attending a keynote session by Chris Sacca, former Head of Special Initiatives at Google, during the ASAE Technology Conference.  Boy was it fun to hear about what it’s like to work at Google, Google’s core values, the perks, and the future of search.  I was so inspired by Chris’ words that I decided to follow him on FriendFeed.  I’m relatively new to FriendFeed, but it feels like I’m stalking Chris Sacca. I can now follow this guy’s tracks as he views, posts, comments, and bookmarks across the Web.  Do I really want all this information about one person?  Even for me, this is starting to feel like TMI (too much information).

    But first, let me tell you about Chris’ speech, which was terrific.  Among the things he talked about:

    • What is Google’s secret sauce? Chris says that Google has become a powerhouse because they take really talented engineers, present them with really big problems, and then give them lots of computing power to solve those problems.
    • The 20% Rule. Evidently, everyone at Google can allocate 20% of their time to whatever they want, so long as: they log their actiivities in the projects database and they present their work to their peers every few weeks.  If a project is deemed worthy, the responsible staff will be given more staff time and computers.
    • You only get laughed at when your ideas are too small. Google leaders Eric Schmidt, Sergey Brin and Larry Page want all Google staff to think big and use their brains and computers to solve really big problems.
    • The 150 feet rule. In addition to having over a dozen cafes on the Google campus, there are snacks every 150 feet to feed the body, feed the mind, and encourage socializing and networking.
    • Search is going to get a whole lot better soon. Although the Google home page looks the same, the search technology behind it is getting better every day.  Google now tracks what we click on when we search; in the future, the search results for the same keywod may be different for you and me, based on our individual preferences and past history.
    • Google Trends is not only cool, it’s surprising what we can learn from search patterns. Chris says that Google Trends can predict the box office success of a movie and where the flu will hit.

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  • Conversation and the Zen Tech Warrior

    Conversation and the Zen Tech Warrior

    ASAE Technology ConferenceI had the pleasure of speaking at the ASAE Technology Conference, taking place until tomorrow at the DC Convention Center.  My topic? Dealing With Big Trends in a Small Staff Organization. Here are the 5 big trends I discussed:

    1. Your Browser as the New Operating System. The Web browser is increasingly the platform for mission critical applications, like association management systems, intranets, document management systems and e-mail.
    2. Conversation is King. We used to talk about creating a communications strategy.  Today, we need to create a conversation strategy because customers are interested in engagement, in two-way conversations.
    3. Unified, Integrated Data. I call this the Amazon Effect.  Our customers expect us to know who they are, communicate with them in a personalized way, and give them personalized offerings.  We can’t do this unless we have a unified view of their activities and interactions.
    4. Zen Tech Warrior. These warriors want information on specific topics, when they want it, on the device(s) of their choice.  Take me, for example.  I might want my magazine in print, news via e-mail, and alerts via text.  Can your database handle these preferences and can you execute on this information?
    5. Green Computing. We all know that we need to do our part to reduce energy consumption and save the planet.  Data centers represent 1.5% of the electricity demand in the US.  Think green when you buy computers and peripherals.

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  • Obama Inauguration: Warm and Intimate on the Web, Totally Locked Out in the Cold in VA

    Obama Inauguration: Warm and Intimate on the Web, Totally Locked Out in the Cold in VA

    US Capitol BuildingI’m excited and fascinated by next week’s Inauguration. And I’m relying on the Web to keep me up to date with the festivities.

    • I’m following the Presidential Inaugural Committee (PIC) (@obamainaugural) and loving the YouTube contest, the news about the inaugural activities, and the updates about various balls.
    • I’m following the DC Government on Twitter (@Inauguration_DC) and appreciating the news about road closures, tips from the National Park Service, etc.
    • I’m impressed with the Web site of the Presidential Inaugural Committee, especially the blog.    I have enjoyed reading about the rehearsal and the stand-ins, the concert at Lincoln Memorial is going to be fabulous, and the videos from Barack and Michelle Obama were a nice touch.
    • The PIC’s Flickr account is full of beautiful photos of DC and the preparations for next week’s events.
    • I plan to be part of the Facebook crowd watching the inauguration live and updating my status when the new President is sworn in.

    For the first time ever, I feel like I’m getting an insider’s view of what goes into an inauguration and know about a lot of the activities.  The blog and photos especially are creating an intimacy to the event that I did not think possible, considering that hundreds of thousands (millions?) are going to be here next week. (more…)

  • A Technical Requirements Page in English

    A Technical Requirements Page in English

    wplogoA client recently asked if they could run a WordPress blog on their dedicated server.  Matrix Group normally hosts WordPress sites on a LAMP (Linux, Apache, PHP/Python) box, but this client has a Windows server, so I checked the WP site to find out about hosting on Windows.  I found this technical requirements page and I loved its simplicity and user-friendliness – WordPress Requirements page

    The requirements were laid out easily and I appreciated the sample message to send to your Web host. Why can’t every technical requirements page be this easy to understand?

    Last thing: I love how every page on the WP site has this simple phrase in the bottom, right corner:  Code is Poetry.

  • Says Anne: So Long and Thanks for the Case Studies

    Earlier this week, Anne Holland, founder of MarketingSherpa.com posted her last blog entry on the Sherpablog.  November 10 was her last day as a formal company employee and she used the occasion to recount how MarketingSherpa began.

    If you don’t know MarketingSherpa, you should.  MarketingSherpa is my favorite source for news, information, case studies, how-to guides — everything about online marketing.  MarketingSherpa e-mails are the few e-newsletters that I read in their entirety.  I pass the articles along to my staff and clients.  The knowledge in MarketingSherpa case studies is amazing, the writing is terrific, and the know-how is real.

    I remember meeting Anne at an iBreakfast, a pitchfest hosted by Alan Brody back in 1999.  Anne had an idea to pitch, a marketing plan, no money, but a lot of passion and knowledge about online marketing and research.  MarketingSherpa became one of Matrix Group’s first dot com clients.  At first, we helped her develop her technical platform and prototypes so that she could show investors more than a business plan. (more…)

  • My Love-Hate Relationship with CAPTCHA

    My Love-Hate Relationship with CAPTCHA

    By now, most of us are familiar with CAPTCHA graphics, or the graphics with squiggly text that we have to retype correctly in order to submit a form.  I understand that CAPTCHA was developed to stop spam, prevent bots from hijacking forms and surveys, and prevent dictionary attacks against sites. But I’ve noticed recently that these tests are getting harder and harder, to the point where they are preventing me from submitting forms on the first, second, even third try.

    CAPTCHA stands for Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart. A CAPTCHA is a type of challenge-response test used mainly on Web pages to ensure that the response is not generated by a computer. For example, humans can read distorted text on a graphic, but computer programs (most of them at least) cannot.

    Here are some examples of CAPTCHA:

    • On the Matrix Group Contact Us form, you have to pass a CAPTCHA test in order to fill out the form.
    • If you click on Email Us on the same form, you have to pass another CAPTCHA test to view and click on the e-mail address.
    • To send a message to John Grau on his blog, you have to follow the instructions and type “transmissions” in a box.

    Here’s the problem.  Computer programs are getting smarter and smarter. “Spammers and malware authors are able to break Captcha process,” says Carl Leonard in an article in The Guardian.  As a result, CAPTCHAS are getting harder and harder. (more…)