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	<title>The MatriX Files &#187; Blog</title>
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	<link>http://www.thematrixfiles.net</link>
	<description>a blog by Joanna Pineda, CEO, Matrix Group</description>
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		<title>Although I Love my iPad, I&#8217;m Not Buying E-Books</title>
		<link>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/although-i-love-my-ipad-im-not-buying-e-books/</link>
		<comments>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/although-i-love-my-ipad-im-not-buying-e-books/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 03 Sep 2010 04:18:55 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>jpineda</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Blog]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.thematrixfiles.net/?p=2338</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[On September 1, Sony announced 3 new E-Readers priced between $149.99 and $299.99.  Last month, Amazon announced new versions of its WiFi and 3G Kindles; these devices are less expensive, lighter, more responsive and prettier than previous models.
And then of course, there&#8217;s the iPad, my beloved iPad.  On my iPad, I have the Apple iBooks, Amazon Kindle and Barnes &#38; Noble Nook apps.  I have purchased and enjoyed books on all 3 apps.  And I have downloaded and enjoyed dozens of free books that are out of copyright.
While I love, love, love the idea of having hundreds of books on one device, [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/although-i-love-my-ipad-im-not-buying-e-books/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>10</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>What Happens When Your Facebook Page or Blog Gets More Traffic Than Your Web Site?</title>
		<link>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/what-happens-when-your-facebook-page-or-blog-gets-more-traffic-than-your-web-site/</link>
		<comments>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/what-happens-when-your-facebook-page-or-blog-gets-more-traffic-than-your-web-site/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 26 Aug 2010 04:47:47 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>jpineda</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Blog]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Facebook]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[marketing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[social networking]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[strategy]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.thematrixfiles.net/?p=2326</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Every week, I check out the usage reports for the Matrix Group Web site and blog.  I also look closely at the analytics reports from Facebook for our Facebook fan page.  In the last year, traffic on this blog has overtaken the traffic on the public Web site.  And as we increase the number of fans on our Facebook page, our interactions have grown steadily as well.
A recent article in Ad Age explores how some of the top consumer brands have Facebook pages with a fan base  and interactions that far outstrip that of their official Web sites. Starbucks has 12.9M fans; Coke [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/what-happens-when-your-facebook-page-or-blog-gets-more-traffic-than-your-web-site/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>3</slash:comments>
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		<item>
		<title>National Day of Action on 8/25th: CitizenEffect, Social Media Club, and More to Help the Gulf</title>
		<link>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/national-day-of-action-on-aug25-to-benefit-gulf-families/</link>
		<comments>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/national-day-of-action-on-aug25-to-benefit-gulf-families/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 19 Aug 2010 04:13:11 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>jpineda</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Blog]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[social networking]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Twitter]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.thematrixfiles.net/?p=2309</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Guest blog post by Jill Foster
Since joining CitizenEffect&#8217;s Gulf fact-finding mission trip last month (also called the #CitizenGulf project), it&#8217;s been a non-stop learning curve on my end, plus tough emotional processing.
The social media factor and the #CitizenGulf fact-finding trip
CitizenEffect, a nonprofit that helps anyone online be a citizen philanthropist, formed the social media team seven weeks ago to personally visit the Gulf, meet with fishing families impacted by the oil spill, and figure out ways to help them. Local nonprofits in Louisiana met with us too, clarifying perspective and the needs of parishes there.   We published content (audio, video, photo essays, written [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/national-day-of-action-on-aug25-to-benefit-gulf-families/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>3</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Will Facebook Survive? And Does It Really Matter?</title>
		<link>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/will-facebook-survive-and-does-it-really-matter/</link>
		<comments>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/will-facebook-survive-and-does-it-really-matter/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 10 Aug 2010 02:49:42 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>jpineda</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Blog]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Facebook]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[social networking]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[trends]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[YouTube]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.thematrixfiles.net/?p=2295</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Last week, I had the pleasure of being a speaker at the Benefits Communications Conference of the International Foundation of Employee Benefit Funds. During the closing session, one of the attendees asked me which social networks I thought were going to survive into the future.  The dialogue went something like this:
Me (Joanna): I can&#8217;t predict the future, but I think Facebook and YouTube will stick around for a while.  Not sure about the smaller networks, especially those without solid revenue models.
Participant: But I&#8217;ve heard that the younger audiences are leaving Facebook now that their parents are signing up.
Me: Yes, I&#8217;ve read that as well, [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/will-facebook-survive-and-does-it-really-matter/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>7</slash:comments>
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		<item>
		<title>Blogging Best Practices – Part Two</title>
		<link>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/blogging-best-practices-part-two/</link>
		<comments>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/blogging-best-practices-part-two/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 29 Jul 2010 03:12:08 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>jpineda</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Blog]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Content Strategy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[marketing]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.thematrixfiles.net/?p=2287</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[This week, I&#8217;m doing part two of a blog post I started last week on Blogging Best Practices.  This post is inspired by a webinar that I conducted with my friend, blogger and activist Shaun Dakin, Director of Business Development at Infield Communications.  Here are additional take-aways from the webinar.

How Long Should Your Posts Be? We suggest that each post be no more than 4-6 paragraphs.  If your posts are too long, your followers may decide to read them at a later time and not come back.  But you want enough length to be able to cover a topic with enough substance.


Create Visual Interest. [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/blogging-best-practices-part-two/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>6</slash:comments>
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		<item>
		<title>Blogging Best Practices &#8211; Part One</title>
		<link>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/blogging-best-practices-part-one/</link>
		<comments>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/blogging-best-practices-part-one/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 22 Jul 2010 03:21:59 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>jpineda</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Blog]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Content Strategy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[marketing]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.thematrixfiles.net/?p=2267</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[A couple of months ago, I had the pleasure of conducting a webinar on Blogging Best Practices with my friend, blogger and activist Shaun Dakin, Director of Business Development at Infield Communications.  Shaun and I are passionate bloggers and we each had a lot to say about what we think it takes to be a good blogger and have a successful and well-read blog!  Here are some of the take-aways from the webinar:

What Are Your Goals? The most important thing is to align your blog&#8217;s goals with your organization&#8217;s goals. Are you trying to engage your target audiences?  Influence?  Foster specific actions?  Your goals should [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/blogging-best-practices-part-one/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>4</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>My GPS Is Making Me Stupid!</title>
		<link>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/my-gps-is-making-me-stupid/</link>
		<comments>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/my-gps-is-making-me-stupid/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 15 Jul 2010 02:38:08 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>jpineda</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Blog]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Gadgets]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Productivity]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.thematrixfiles.net/?p=2258</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I had an early meeting in Hyattsville this morning.  I was armed with my Garmin GPS and printed directions from Google Maps &#8212; I still got lost. I had to call my husband for extra navigational assistance.  He was incredulous on the phone: &#8220;Don&#8217;t you have Jane (the GPS) with you?  Did you follow the directions from Google?&#8221;  Yes and yes, but I was still lost.
How is this even possible?  For the last nearly 20 years (how did I get so old?), I have been in sales in the DC area.  I feel like I have driven to most corners of the region.  I know [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/my-gps-is-making-me-stupid/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>9</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Do You Have Your Party of 5 Mentors To Guide Your Success?</title>
		<link>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/do-you-have-your-party-of-5-mentors-to-guide-your-success/</link>
		<comments>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/do-you-have-your-party-of-5-mentors-to-guide-your-success/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 08 Jul 2010 03:45:06 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>jpineda</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Blog]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[leadership]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.thematrixfiles.net/?p=2240</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Last month, I had the pleasure of attending and speaking at the Women Grow Business Boot Camp in Washington, DC.  Organized by the Women Grow Business Community blog (sponsored by Network Solutions), the event brought together women business owners and entrepreneurs from around the region to learn about starting and growing a business.
It was during this conference that I heard Kathy Korman Frey,  Chief Hot Mamma of the Hot Mammas Project, talk about the Sisterhood of Success and how every successful business person needs a Party of five that she can turn to for advice and support.
The Hot Mammas Project is creating a giant library [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/do-you-have-your-party-of-5-mentors-to-guide-your-success/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>7</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>How We Doubled Our Facebook Fans and Raised Money for the Gulf Recovery Effort</title>
		<link>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/how-we-doubled-our-facebook-fans-and-raised-money-for-the-gulf-recovery-effort/</link>
		<comments>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/how-we-doubled-our-facebook-fans-and-raised-money-for-the-gulf-recovery-effort/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 01 Jul 2010 04:30:51 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>jpineda</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Blog]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Facebook]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[marketing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Matrix Group]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[strategy]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.thematrixfiles.net/?p=2226</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[10 days ago, the Matrix Group Facebook fan page had 280 fans.  As of tonight, we have 576 fans, more than double our starting number. How did we do it?  We launched a campaign and created an incentive for people to &#8220;Like&#8221; us.
The Background
Matrix Group has had a Facebook fan page for a couple of years now and we had been slowly building up our fan base.  We did all the usual things to generate new fans: we let our customers know about our Facebook page, we linked to it from our Web site and blog, we asked staff to invite their friends to [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/how-we-doubled-our-facebook-fans-and-raised-money-for-the-gulf-recovery-effort/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>2</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>What&#8217;s So Fun About FourSquare?</title>
		<link>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/whats-so-fun-about-foursquare/</link>
		<comments>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/whats-so-fun-about-foursquare/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 25 Jun 2010 03:43:58 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>jpineda</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Blog]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[privacy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[social networking]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.thematrixfiles.net/?p=2215</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[In my quest to try out new social networks, I signed up for FourSquare last year.  I didn&#8217;t start using the service until a couple of months ago, when I get my new Palm Pre and I felt ready to dive into another social network.
FourSquare is a location-based social network. The idea is that you share your location with your friends and followers by &#8220;checking into&#8221; locations.  For example, every time I go to a restaurant, I pull up the FourSquare app on my phone, let the app determine my GPS coordinates and show me possible options.  I can select one of the venues select [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/whats-so-fun-about-foursquare/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>2</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Moving the Matrix Group Underground to the Foreground</title>
		<link>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/moving-the-matrix-group-underground-to-the-foreground/</link>
		<comments>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/moving-the-matrix-group-underground-to-the-foreground/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 17 Jun 2010 04:31:00 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>jpineda</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Blog]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[corporate culture]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Matrix Group]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.thematrixfiles.net/?p=2202</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[With all the hiring we&#8217;re doing right now, my team decided that we better revisit all of our orientation guides. Orientations work like this at Matrix Group:  we ask staff members from all teams to help with the orientation; we give them an outline and they do the session.  Spreading the orientation schedule around means we cover more in a short period of time and new staff get introduced to all teams in a more meaningful way.
When we started reviewing our existing guides, we found that the majority of them were too sparse. If you were lucky enough to do orientation with an earnest old-timer, [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/moving-the-matrix-group-underground-to-the-foreground/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>5</slash:comments>
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		<item>
		<title>What&#8217;s Behind Those Long URLs? Tracking Codes, Of Course!</title>
		<link>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/whats-behind-those-long-urls-tracking-codes-of-course/</link>
		<comments>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/whats-behind-those-long-urls-tracking-codes-of-course/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 10 Jun 2010 04:02:28 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>jpineda</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Blog]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[e-mail]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Google]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[marketing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Web site traffic]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.thematrixfiles.net/?p=2193</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Every day around 3pm, I get my afternoon update of The Washington Post via e-mail.  Each update contains a summary of about a dozen stories and links to the full story on the Post Web site.  Every time I get an update from Facebook about a message from a friend or a comment on one of my updates, I get a URL to click on.
Have you ever noticed how long these Web addresses are?  Ever wonder why these URL are so long?
The answer is simple: tracking codes. Tracking codes are strings of text added to the end of a URL that let you track the [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/whats-behind-those-long-urls-tracking-codes-of-course/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>2</slash:comments>
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		<title>Am I Really Going to Pay $4.99 for One Issue of Time Magazine?</title>
		<link>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/am-i-really-going-to-pay-4-99-for-one-issue-of-time-magazine/</link>
		<comments>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/am-i-really-going-to-pay-4-99-for-one-issue-of-time-magazine/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 04 Jun 2010 04:49:41 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>jpineda</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Blog]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Content Strategy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[marketing]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.thematrixfiles.net/?p=2183</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I blogged last week about how excited I am that some of my favorite magazines are now available on the iPad.  Last week, I discovered that TIME Magazine has a free iPad app.  Turns out, the app is free, but issues are not.  Each issue is $4.99.  $4.99!  When a print subscription is $20 through Amazon!
A recent article in Ad Age Daily tries to explain why we should expect to pay more for online subscriptions on the iPad.  According to Ad Age, we should expect to pay $4.99 for an issue of TIME, Popular Science, Maxim, Popular Photography, Sound and Vision, Transworld Skateboarding and Islands [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/am-i-really-going-to-pay-4-99-for-one-issue-of-time-magazine/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>6</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Are You Ready to Ditch Your Paper Subscriptions?</title>
		<link>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/are-you-ready-to-ditch-your-paper-subscriptions/</link>
		<comments>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/are-you-ready-to-ditch-your-paper-subscriptions/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 27 May 2010 04:06:53 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>jpineda</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Blog]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Content Strategy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[e-mail]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[marketing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[User-Generated Content]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.thematrixfiles.net/?p=2172</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[More and more of my clients are making the decision to eliminate their print magazines and newsletters. They&#8217;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&#8217;m subscribed to dozens of newsletters via e-mail and RSS.  And in an effort to minimize the &#8220;piles&#8221; 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 [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/are-you-ready-to-ditch-your-paper-subscriptions/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>3</slash:comments>
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		<item>
		<title>What&#8217;s All the Fuss About Facebook&#8217;s Open Graph and Privacy Policies?</title>
		<link>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/whats-all-the-fuss-about-facebooks-open-graph/</link>
		<comments>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/whats-all-the-fuss-about-facebooks-open-graph/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 20 May 2010 04:05:13 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>jpineda</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Blog]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Facebook]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[privacy]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.thematrixfiles.net/?p=2131</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[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&#8217;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 [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/whats-all-the-fuss-about-facebooks-open-graph/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>3</slash:comments>
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		<item>
		<title>The iPad vs. the Kindle &#8211; An E-Reader Face-Off</title>
		<link>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/the-ipad-vs-the-kindle-an-e-reader-face-off/</link>
		<comments>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/the-ipad-vs-the-kindle-an-e-reader-face-off/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 14 May 2010 04:01:16 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>jpineda</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Blog]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[User-Generated Content]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Video]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[YouTube]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.thematrixfiles.net/?p=2102</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[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&#8217;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.  [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/the-ipad-vs-the-kindle-an-e-reader-face-off/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>4</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>A Great Web Site, Like a Great Event, is a Collaboration Between Client and Vendor</title>
		<link>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/a-great-web-site-like-a-great-event-is-a-collaboration-between-client-and-vendor/</link>
		<comments>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/a-great-web-site-like-a-great-event-is-a-collaboration-between-client-and-vendor/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 07 May 2010 03:58:02 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>jpineda</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Blog]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Design]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Web Design]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.thematrixfiles.net/?p=2111</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Last 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, [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/a-great-web-site-like-a-great-event-is-a-collaboration-between-client-and-vendor/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>3</slash:comments>
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		<title>&#8220;Become a Fan&#8221; Has Been Replaced with &#8220;Like&#8221; on Facebook Fan Pages</title>
		<link>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/become-a-fan-has-been-replaced-with-like-on-facebook-fan-pages/</link>
		<comments>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/become-a-fan-has-been-replaced-with-like-on-facebook-fan-pages/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 29 Apr 2010 03:49:24 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>jpineda</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Blog]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Facebook]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.thematrixfiles.net/?p=2085</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[In late March, Facebook announced that &#8220;Become a Fan&#8221; would be replaced by &#8220;Like&#8221; on Facebook fan pages.  The change rolled out in early April and today, the ubiquitous Facebook &#8220;Like&#8221; button is on all Facebook fan pages, next to the company/organization/page name.

Facebook&#8217;s Rationale for the Change to &#8220;Like&#8221;
Facebook says it changed &#8220;Become a Fan&#8221; to &#8220;Like&#8221; to offer businesses a more light-weight and standard way to connect with people, things and topics in which you are interested.
In addition, changing to &#8220;Like&#8221; aligns with Facebook&#8217;s overall strategy of populating the Web with &#8220;Like&#8221; buttons so that Web surfers can announce their like of pages anywhere [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/become-a-fan-has-been-replaced-with-like-on-facebook-fan-pages/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>4</slash:comments>
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		<title>Dear Restaurant Owner, Please Ditch the All-Flash Web Site</title>
		<link>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/dear-restaurant-owner-please-ditch-the-all-flash-web-site/</link>
		<comments>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/dear-restaurant-owner-please-ditch-the-all-flash-web-site/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 22 Apr 2010 02:45:34 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>jpineda</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Blog]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Google]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[marketing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Web Design]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.thematrixfiles.net/?p=2076</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Why do restaurant owners love Flash so much that their entire Web sites are in Flash?  Don&#8217;t get me wrong, I love Flash and I make a living selling Flash movies, branding areas, yada, yada.  But most Web sites should not be all Flash!
Here&#8217;s an example of an all Flash site that is annoying and borderline useless.  I was scheduling lunch with a friend, who asked me to recommend a restaurant and send him the physical and Web addresses.  No problem, right?  Wrong.
Check out the Web site for Kora in Crystal City - http://www.korarestaurant.com/ The Web site is pretty, but [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/dear-restaurant-owner-please-ditch-the-all-flash-web-site/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>6</slash:comments>
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		<title>Sometimes It Pays To NOT Listen To Your Customers</title>
		<link>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/sometimes-it-pays-to-not-listen-to-your-customers/</link>
		<comments>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/sometimes-it-pays-to-not-listen-to-your-customers/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 15 Apr 2010 02:48:57 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>jpineda</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Blog]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[leadership]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[strategy]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.thematrixfiles.net/?p=2066</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I got an iPad last week and I&#8217;m already in love with it. Yes, I already have an iPod Touch and I&#8217;m running a lot of the same apps on both devices, but somehow, the iPad experience is new and different.  Is it a tablet PC?  Not quite.  Is it a Netbook?  Definitely not.  So what is it and why do we need one?  More importantly, why do we want one?
I find it fascinating that Apple has managed to capture the zeitgeist of our age and intuit our desires for computers and devices.  And yet, in a review of the iPad, Time Magazine reveals that, [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/sometimes-it-pays-to-not-listen-to-your-customers/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>1</slash:comments>
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		<item>
		<title>Who Watches TV During Regular Broadcast Hours?</title>
		<link>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/who-watches-tv-during-regular-broadcast-hours/</link>
		<comments>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/who-watches-tv-during-regular-broadcast-hours/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 09 Apr 2010 04:18:25 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>jpineda</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Blog]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[trends]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.thematrixfiles.net/?p=2049</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[As I write this, I&#8217;m watching an episode of NCIS that I purchased from iTunes and streamed to my Apple TV.  Last weekend, I was swapping stories with friends about our favorite TV shows and when someone mentioned a show I didn&#8217;t recognize, I asked when it was on.  The answer?  &#8220;I don&#8217;t know, I TiVo everything.&#8221;
That&#8217;s when I realized that I nearly never watch TV shows during regular broadcast hours.  Instead, I rely on recordings and purchases to watch shows I&#8217;m interested in, when I want them.  And since the networks now stream shows on their Web sites and Hulu, who [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/who-watches-tv-during-regular-broadcast-hours/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>5</slash:comments>
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		<item>
		<title>Virgin America Has Made it Fun to Fly Again</title>
		<link>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/virgin-america-has-made-it-fun-to-fly-again/</link>
		<comments>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/virgin-america-has-made-it-fun-to-fly-again/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 02 Apr 2010 03:32:40 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>jpineda</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Blog]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[corporate culture]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[customer service]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[leadership]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.thematrixfiles.net/?p=2032</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Whenever Matrix Group flies Creative Director Alex Pineda to the DC area (from San Francisco, where he is based), he asks to fly Virgin America.  Alex says the Virgin flying experience is &#8220;superior to other airlines.&#8221; Last week, I got to experience why Alex likes Virgin so much.
For my son&#8217;s Spring Break, my family spent a week in San Francisco and we flew round trip on Virgin America.  After two flights, I am a total fan, so much so that I told my husband that from now on, whenever possible, we will fly Virgin.
Just what makes the Virgin America user experience so different?
Virgin America doesn&#8217;t [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/virgin-america-has-made-it-fun-to-fly-again/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>9</slash:comments>
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		<item>
		<title>Saluting the Small Businesses That Support Local Charities</title>
		<link>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/saluting-small-businesses-that-support-local-charities/</link>
		<comments>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/saluting-small-businesses-that-support-local-charities/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 25 Mar 2010 04:01:47 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>jpineda</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Blog]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[corporate culture]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Economy]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.thematrixfiles.net/?p=2022</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[For the past few years, I&#8217;ve had the honor and pleasure of chairing a benefit auction for Doorways for Women and Families, a non-profit that helps women and children who are homeless and/or victims of domestic violence in the Northern VA area.  This year, despite the recession, the silent auction was the best ever, featuring more items, valued at higher levels, than ever before.
I want to offer a great, big, heartfelt THANK YOU to all the businesses that supported the auction. What strikes me about the list of donors is that the vast, vast majority are small businesses.  Once again, they answered the call when [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/saluting-small-businesses-that-support-local-charities/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>3</slash:comments>
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		<title>Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn, Amplify, Posterous &#8211; Which Social Networks Should You Be On?</title>
		<link>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/which-social-networks-should-you-be-on/</link>
		<comments>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/which-social-networks-should-you-be-on/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 18 Mar 2010 03:51:18 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>jpineda</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Blog]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.thematrixfiles.net/?p=1997</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I&#8217;ve been on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn for some time now.  I&#8217;m also on FoodBuzz, Plaxo, Delicious and StumbleUpon.  Most recently, I signed up for FourSquare, Amplify and Buzz.  FourSquare is a location-based social network that allows  subscribers to check-in from their current location using their mobile phones and provides tips and recommendations.  Amplify asks &#8220;users to share news and information they find thought provoking and conversation-worthy,&#8221; not anything and everything about their lives, status and locations.  Buzz is the latest offering from Google that lets you share updates, links, photos and videos.
Now that I&#8217;m signed up for all of these services, I&#8217;m asking myself [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/which-social-networks-should-you-be-on/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>6</slash:comments>
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		<item>
		<title>Why Do We Get So Upset When Facebook Changes Its Interface?</title>
		<link>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/why-do-we-get-so-upset-when-facebook-changes-its-interface/</link>
		<comments>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/why-do-we-get-so-upset-when-facebook-changes-its-interface/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 12 Mar 2010 01:32:45 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>jpineda</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Blog]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Design]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[strategy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Web Design]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.thematrixfiles.net/?p=1977</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[In the last twelve months, Facebook has made some major and minor changes to its interface.  Each time they did this, there was hundreds of blog posts decrying or applauding the changes.  There&#8217;s even a group called &#8220;I Automatically Hate The New Facebook Home Page.&#8221;
Why do we get so upset when Facebook changes its interface?
In looking at some of the blog posts and news articles, I can understand many of the complaints.  For my part, I cannot figure out the difference between News Feed and Live Feed.  But I love that it’s easier to get to my Inbox and see which of [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/why-do-we-get-so-upset-when-facebook-changes-its-interface/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>6</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Companies Beware! Unhappy Customers are Turning to Social Media</title>
		<link>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/unhappy-customers-are-turning-to-social-media/</link>
		<comments>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/unhappy-customers-are-turning-to-social-media/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 05 Mar 2010 04:16:59 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>jpineda</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Blog]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[customer service]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[marketing]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.thematrixfiles.net/?p=1953</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Last week, I blogged about how a social media site like YouTube represent the future of advertising.  But social media can also represent the anti-advertisement: bad reviews from unhappy customers who are eager to spread the word about a company&#8217;s failings. Witness the following:

My friend Tanya runs a blog called NitpickyConsumer.com.  Tanya blogs about good and bad customer service, companies that don&#8217;t seem to care, companies that just don&#8217;t get it.
This disillusioned Dell customer created a Dear Dell rant on YouTube that has garnered over 32,000 views and nearly 1,600 comments!
Check this one out.  Dave Caroll wrote a song and created a video about [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/unhappy-customers-are-turning-to-social-media/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>4</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>The Future of Advertising</title>
		<link>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/the-future-of-advertising/</link>
		<comments>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/the-future-of-advertising/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 26 Feb 2010 03:34:16 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>jpineda</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Blog]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[marketing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[User-Generated Content]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Video]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[YouTube]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.thematrixfiles.net/?p=1936</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[It&#8217;s got to be tough being in the advertising business these days. DVRs (digital video recorders) are allowing viewers to skip commercials, premium channels offer fewer advertising opportunities, circulation numbers for print publications continue to spiral downwards, and research shows that most users avoid anything that looks like a banner ad on a Web page.
Ugh, so what&#8217;s an advertiser to do?
This morning, I had the pleasure of seeing Dave Nelsen, President of Dialog, talk about social media for business.  While discussing YouTube, Dave showed us a video that he called &#8220;the future of advertising.&#8221;  The T-Mobile Dance is a 2:41 minute video of commuters at [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/the-future-of-advertising/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>4</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>In Business, I Get the Chance to Win Gold Every Week</title>
		<link>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/winning-gold-in-business/</link>
		<comments>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/winning-gold-in-business/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 18 Feb 2010 04:30:33 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>jpineda</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Blog]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[corporate culture]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Matrix Group]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[software development]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.thematrixfiles.net/?p=1927</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I&#8217;m watching the Women&#8217;s Downhill competition during the 2010 Vancouver Olympics this evening.   I saw several women crash on the course, their Olympics dreams and year of preparation, go up in smoke.  Business books are full of sports analogies, but for my part, I&#8217;m glad that the world of business is not really like the Olympics.  Here&#8217;s how:
The Olympics are for the Young
Although there are a few 30-something and 40-something athletes, the Olympics are dominated by elite competitors in their teens and 20s.  After a dozen years of competing, their careers are over.  I&#8217;m grateful that after 18 years in the online business, [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/winning-gold-in-business/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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		<item>
		<title>The Great &#8220;Work From Home&#8221; Experiment</title>
		<link>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/the-great-work-from-home-experiment/</link>
		<comments>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/the-great-work-from-home-experiment/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 11 Feb 2010 02:10:50 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>jpineda</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Blog]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Matrix Group]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Productivity]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[project management]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.thematrixfiles.net/?p=1918</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Last Thursday, when the National Weather Service was calling for a blizzard in the DC area, I had a choice to make:  open on Friday but probably close early, close the office OR keep the office open but let everyone work from home.  On Sunday night, with roads still largely impassable, federal and local governments announcing closures and public transportation down for the count, I faced a similar choice: declare the office closed on Monday and give everyone a snow day OR keep the office open and let everyone work from home.
While I&#8217;m sure most of my staff would have loved a snow day or [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/the-great-work-from-home-experiment/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>5</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Is it Easy to Do Business With Your Company?</title>
		<link>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/is-it-easy-to-do-business-with-your-company/</link>
		<comments>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/is-it-easy-to-do-business-with-your-company/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 04 Feb 2010 02:04:30 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>jpineda</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Blog]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[corporate culture]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[customer service]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[marketing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Matrix Group]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Sales]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.thematrixfiles.net/?p=1908</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I was arranging lunch with a vendor and suggested Kora, the hip, new Italian restaurant in Crystal City.  I wanted to e-mail my contact Kora&#8217;s address, phone number and a link to a Google map.  Alas, the entire Kora site is in Flash, which is beautiful, but it&#8217;s not very user-friendly.  The biggest problem?  I can&#8217;t copy and paste the contact info to include in an e-mail and  paste into Google Maps.  I know, I know, it&#8217; s not a big deal to retype the address, but I&#8217;m a picky consumer.  I want to be able to copy and paste easily.  Even better, I&#8217;d love [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/is-it-easy-to-do-business-with-your-company/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>3</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Are Home Pages Dead? Where Are Your Visitors Going?</title>
		<link>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/are-home-pages-dead/</link>
		<comments>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/are-home-pages-dead/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 28 Jan 2010 03:18:17 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>jpineda</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Blog]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Web Design]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.thematrixfiles.net/?p=1899</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[My mom called me up one day to tell me that she loved the Google logo that day and what did I think of it?  (I think the Google logo was commemorating the 40th anniversary of Sesame Street that day, btw.)  At that moment, I realized that it had been weeks, maybe months, since I last visited the Google home page. Of course I use Google every day, but I use the Google search that&#8217;s built into my Web browser.  Whenever I need to do a search, I click into the little box, type my keywords, then hit Enter.  And voila, [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/are-home-pages-dead/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>4</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Dear Doctor, Don&#8217;t You Know Me By Now?</title>
		<link>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/dear-doctor-dont-you-know-me-by-now/</link>
		<comments>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/dear-doctor-dont-you-know-me-by-now/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 22 Jan 2010 02:33:34 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>jpineda</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Blog]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[customer service]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Matrix Group]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.thematrixfiles.net/?p=1881</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I went for my annual physical yesterday.  I love the practice I go to, but I hate feeling like I&#8217;m a nameless, faceless patient, even though I&#8217;ve been a patient for a decade. I also hate that I have to fill out the same infernal forms over and over again and write my name, address and insurance information multiple times.  My check-in went something like this:
Me: Hello, Joanna Pineda, here for a 3:15 appointment.
Receptionist: Hello, please sign in. Has any of your information changed since your list visit?
Me: No.
Receptionist: Okay. Wait, you need to fill out new forms. (Hands me blank forms)
I sit [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/dear-doctor-dont-you-know-me-by-now/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>5</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Crowdsourced Software Development?</title>
		<link>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/crowdsourced-software-development/</link>
		<comments>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/crowdsourced-software-development/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 15 Jan 2010 03:40:40 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>jpineda</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Blog]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[association management]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Productivity]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[project management]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[software development]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.thematrixfiles.net/?p=1839</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[This afternoon, the MatrixMaxx team at Matrix Group held a Town Hall meeting with clients to get feedback on about a half dozen features slated to go into the 10.1 version (scheduled for release in early February).  We could have surveyed clients via e-mail or a Web survey; we could have conducted a focus group; we could have called a select group of clients and consultants; or we could have gone with our gut and made decisions about credit card processing, meeting wait lists, individual relationships, etc.
Instead, we decided to crowdsource the specifications.  Crowdsource?  What does this mean?  Wikipedia defines &#8220;crowdsourcing&#8221; as the &#8220;act of [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/crowdsourced-software-development/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>2</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Does the Social Web Mean the End of Privacy?</title>
		<link>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/does-the-social-web-mean-the-end-of-privacy/</link>
		<comments>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/does-the-social-web-mean-the-end-of-privacy/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 13 Jan 2010 04:34:30 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>jpineda</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Blog]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Facebook]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[privacy]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.thematrixfiles.net/?p=1826</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Facebook Founder Mark Zuckerberg has gotten a lot of flack lately for his pronouncement (during an interview with TechCrunch) that privacy norms have evolved over the years and privacy is essentially dead.  I watched the interview myself and think the criticism is overdone.  I think that Zuckerberg has correctly described the times and his company is taking advantage of our voyeuristic culture.  Facebook did not create this culture.  I think it started with the first reality show on MTV back in 80s. We watched the teens living together and reveled in their pranks and arguments.
Does the social Web mean the end of privacy?  Are MySpace [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/does-the-social-web-mean-the-end-of-privacy/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>3</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>A Look Back at 2009: My Favorite Statistics and Trends Web Sites</title>
		<link>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/a-look-back-at-2009-my-favorite-statistics-and-trends-web-sites/</link>
		<comments>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/a-look-back-at-2009-my-favorite-statistics-and-trends-web-sites/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 08 Jan 2010 03:54:08 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>jpineda</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Blog]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Browsers]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Google]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[trends]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.thematrixfiles.net/?p=1794</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[It&#8217;s the new year and it&#8217;s customary to look at the previous year and make predictions about the upcoming year or decade.  Every day in my e-mail inbox, I get a flood of Top Ten lists.  So where do I go when I need statistics about which Web browser is winning the browser war, how many users Twitter really has, or the gadgets and technologies that will likely shine in 2010?  Here are my favorite sites:

The Pew Research Center has some of the best research about all kinds of trends shaping the US.  The Pew Internet and American Life Project has great information about technology [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/a-look-back-at-2009-my-favorite-statistics-and-trends-web-sites/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>1</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>The New Facebook Privacy Changes: A Primer and To Do List</title>
		<link>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/the-new-facebook-privacy-changes-a-primer-and-to-do-list/</link>
		<comments>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/the-new-facebook-privacy-changes-a-primer-and-to-do-list/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 06 Jan 2010 03:30:42 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>jpineda</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Blog]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Facebook]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[social networking]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.thematrixfiles.net/?p=1770</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[On December 9, Facebook rolled out new privacy options to its 350 million users. When I logged onto Facebook that Wednesday, I was greeted by a message that asked me to review the new privacy policy and review my privacy settings.  Facebook Founder Mark Zuckerberg blogged about the new changes, which were greeted with raised voices on both sides.  Here are some of the major changes:

You have always been able to limit what information from your profile was public and private.  But now, Facebook lets you control access to every status update, link, photo, video, etc.
When controlling access, you can grant access to [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/the-new-facebook-privacy-changes-a-primer-and-to-do-list/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>6</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Why Matrix Group Didn&#8217;t Send Paper Holiday Cards This Year</title>
		<link>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/why-matrix-group-didnt-send-paper-holiday-cards-this-year/</link>
		<comments>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/why-matrix-group-didnt-send-paper-holiday-cards-this-year/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 24 Dec 2009 03:15:04 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>jpineda</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Blog]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Economy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Matrix Group]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.thematrixfiles.net/?p=1757</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[For the past ten years, it&#8217;s been a Matrix Group tradition to send out holiday cards to clients, partners and friends and have staff sign the cards personally.  This year was different.  For the first time ever, we didn&#8217;t send out snail mail holiday cards and instead sent a holiday e-card.
You&#8217;d think that sending out an e-mail over paper would be an easy choice.  But the holiday cards were a big deal.  Each staff member signed the cards for all the clients they supported and partners they worked with.  The new biz, net admin and administration teams signed every single card.  I am famous for [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/why-matrix-group-didnt-send-paper-holiday-cards-this-year/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>2</slash:comments>
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		<item>
		<title>Forget Blu-Ray Discs? Movies on Demand is Here</title>
		<link>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/forget-blu-ray-discs-movies-on-demand-is-here/</link>
		<comments>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/forget-blu-ray-discs-movies-on-demand-is-here/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 18 Dec 2009 04:50:15 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>jpineda</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Blog]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Video]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.thematrixfiles.net/?p=1750</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[The Washington DC area is expecting a huge snowstorm this weekend but I&#8217;m not worried.  I have a fridge full of food and an endless supply of movies through my Apple TV and PS3.
Over the past year, content on demand has matured a lot.  I can now rent and purchase movies, many of them in HD, using iTunes on my Mac, on my Apple TV, and my PS3.  The Apple and Sony networks each have a large database of movies, although the Apple inventory seems larger and the shopping and viewing experience is far superior on iTunes and the Apple TV.  Movies become available on [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/forget-blu-ray-discs-movies-on-demand-is-here/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>5</slash:comments>
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		<title>Matrix Group&#8217;s Gift List for the Techies In Your Life</title>
		<link>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/matrix-groups-gift-list-for-the-techies-in-your-life/</link>
		<comments>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/matrix-groups-gift-list-for-the-techies-in-your-life/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 16 Dec 2009 04:45:43 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>jpineda</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Blog]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Gadgets]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.thematrixfiles.net/?p=1737</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[It&#8217;s the holiday season and if you&#8217;re looking for the perfect gift for the techie in your life, have no fear.  I polled the Matrix Group staff and they came through with these terrific suggestions:

Mini USB Monitor &#8211; Need a little more real estate on your monitor? You&#8217;ll love these mini monitors.
Lego Death Star &#8211; If you have a little one who loves Legos and you love Star Wars, you&#8217;ll enjoy making the Death Star together.
Our Network Administrators say that NetBooks are super hot this season.  NetBooks are a class of laptops that are super small, lightweight and inexpensive.  You can get them from [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/matrix-groups-gift-list-for-the-techies-in-your-life/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>5</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>What I Learned About Marketing From The Candy Man</title>
		<link>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/what-i-learned-about-marketing-from-the-candy-man/</link>
		<comments>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/what-i-learned-about-marketing-from-the-candy-man/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 11 Dec 2009 04:32:34 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>jpineda</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Blog]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[marketing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[strategy]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.thematrixfiles.net/?p=1726</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[What do you do if you make candy, most of your sales in grocery stores are from the checkout lane, and RFID is poised to eliminate checkout lanes?
I attended the holiday reception of the Grocery Manufacturers Association earlier this week.  In addition to mingling with GMA staff and other sister association staff, I got to meet reps from several GMA members, including Tom from The Hershey Company.  I told Tom that Matrix Group has got to be the biggest buyer of the dark chocolate Hershey&#8217;s kisses (the dark chocolate kisses are wrapped in purple foil).  Purple kisses are a staple at nearly every Matrix Group [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/what-i-learned-about-marketing-from-the-candy-man/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>6</slash:comments>
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		<item>
		<title>Top Tips for Creating a Great Facebook Page</title>
		<link>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/top-tips-for-creating-a-great-facebook-page/</link>
		<comments>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/top-tips-for-creating-a-great-facebook-page/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 09 Dec 2009 04:11:39 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>jpineda</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Blog]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Facebook]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.thematrixfiles.net/?p=1661</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Over the past year or so, I&#8217;ve seen more and more non-profits and companies create Facebook fan pages for their organizations.  Facebook calls fan pages &#8220;a customizable presence for an organization, product, or public personality to join the conversation with Facebook users.&#8221; Fan pages are great because they are designed for organizations, but they work a lot like personal pages.  You can customize them; you can post status updates, links, photos and videos; and updates show up on fans&#8217; streams.
So, you&#8217;ve set-up a Facebook fan for your company, now what?  Here are some of my favorite Facebook fan pages and reasons I think they&#8217;re terrific [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/top-tips-for-creating-a-great-facebook-page/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>4</slash:comments>
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		<item>
		<title>Top Tips for Customizing Your Twitter Profile</title>
		<link>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/top-tips-for-customizing-your-twitter-profile/</link>
		<comments>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/top-tips-for-customizing-your-twitter-profile/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 04 Dec 2009 04:42:52 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>jpineda</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Blog]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Design]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[marketing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[social networking]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Twitter]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.thematrixfiles.net/?p=1632</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I&#8217;m following over 700 people on Twitter so I&#8217;ve looked at a lot of Twitter pages.  Yes, I look at pages and tweets closely before making a decision to follow someone.  Some profiles are pretty sparse, while others are fairly elaborate.  What&#8217;s the saying? &#8220;You only have a few seconds to make a first impression.&#8221;   This is especially true on Twitter where people scan your page, then instantly make the decision to follow or not follow.
So how do you customize your Twitter profile page to maximize followers? Here are my top tips:

Make sure you fill out your name so it&#8217;s searchable. This sounds so [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/top-tips-for-customizing-your-twitter-profile/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>3</slash:comments>
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		<title>The Amazon Effect: What Amazon Has Done to the E-Tailing Experience</title>
		<link>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/the-amazon-effect-what-amazon-has-done-to-the-e-tailing-experience/</link>
		<comments>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/the-amazon-effect-what-amazon-has-done-to-the-e-tailing-experience/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 02 Dec 2009 04:16:39 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>jpineda</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Blog]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[customer service]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[e-commerce]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[marketing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Sales]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.thematrixfiles.net/?p=1616</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Like the rest of America, I went shopping on Black Friday.  However, I didn&#8217;t get up at 3am and I didn&#8217;t brave the crowds.  I did my shopping online, largely in response to promotional e-mails that I received throughout the day.  What struck me was how I compared the shopping and checkout experience on all other sites to Amazon.com. I call it &#8220;The Amazon Effect&#8221; (I&#8217;m sure I&#8217;m not the only one to call it that, btw).
I actually hear it all the time from friends, family and clients: why can&#8217;t this (insert name of site here) work like Amazon?  Okay, forget for a moment that [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/the-amazon-effect-what-amazon-has-done-to-the-e-tailing-experience/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>What Are Your Company Traditions?</title>
		<link>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/what-are-your-company-traditions/</link>
		<comments>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/what-are-your-company-traditions/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 25 Nov 2009 05:20:15 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>jpineda</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Blog]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[corporate culture]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Matrix Group]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.thematrixfiles.net/?p=1605</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[On my way to work this morning, I heard a story on NPR about how immigrants to this country have adopted the Thanksgiving tradition and made it their own.  A Greek chef talked about how his mother made a Thanksgiving turkey but every other dish during the meal was Greek.  The story reminded me of the importance of traditions.
We tend to think of traditions as part of our personal and family lives.  But if we look closely, most companies have traditions as well and they bind staff to the company and to each other. Here at Matrix Group, over the past ten years, we&#8217;ve amassed [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/what-are-your-company-traditions/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>1</slash:comments>
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		<item>
		<title>Is This The Life You Want to Lead?</title>
		<link>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/is-this-the-life-you-want-to-lead/</link>
		<comments>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/is-this-the-life-you-want-to-lead/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 20 Nov 2009 04:57:34 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>jpineda</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Blog]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.thematrixfiles.net/?p=1595</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[A harried mom friend of mind sometimes complains that between work and the kids, she doesn&#8217;t have a life.  Another friend tells me he&#8217;ll quit smoking soon.  Yet another friend is too busy to take care of his health, he says.  Somehow, it&#8217;s as if we&#8217;re all waiting to exhale, waiting for the rest of our life to happen, waiting until conditions are just right to lead the life we really want.
I realized about 12 years ago that my life was not a dress rehearsal, that this was my life and I better start leading it the way I wanted to.  I also [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/is-this-the-life-you-want-to-lead/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>5</slash:comments>
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		<item>
		<title>Do You Really Need 500 Friends on That Social Network? Is It Time to Unfriend Some People?</title>
		<link>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/do-you-really-need-500-friends-on-that-social-network/</link>
		<comments>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/do-you-really-need-500-friends-on-that-social-network/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 18 Nov 2009 04:18:25 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>jpineda</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Blog]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Facebook]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[social networking]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Twitter]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.thematrixfiles.net/?p=1583</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I was talking to one of the Cat Herders (Project Manager) at Matrix Group today.  She said she was trimming her Facebook friend list and unfriending some people.  Unfriending.  It sounds so&#8230; ummmm&#8230; unfriendly.
Facebook says that the average user has 130 friends but I know people who have hundreds, even thousands of friends.  500 friends?  I can&#8217;t imagine many people who have that many friends with whom they would willingly share personal updates, photos, even their full birthday.  So I asked around and got some good insight into the friending and unfriending business.  These findings don&#8217;t represent a large group, just my friends! :-)

There is [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/do-you-really-need-500-friends-on-that-social-network/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>11</slash:comments>
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		<item>
		<title>In the Event That Miss Universe is Unable to Serve&#8230;</title>
		<link>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/in-the-event-that-miss-universe-is-unable-to-serve/</link>
		<comments>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/in-the-event-that-miss-universe-is-unable-to-serve/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 13 Nov 2009 03:59:24 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>jpineda</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Blog]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[marketing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Matrix Group]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Sales]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.thematrixfiles.net/?p=1563</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I haven&#8217;t watched a Miss Universe pageant in a long time, but a part of the program will stay with me forever:  the part where Bob Barker says to the 1st runner up something along the lines of:  In the event that Miss Universe is unable to serve, you will take the crown.
What on earth does the Miss Universe pageant have to do with running a business?
Well, it turns out that if you run a business long enough, no matter how successful you, there are times when you don&#8217;t take home the prize.  I can remember deals where we came soooo close to winning the [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/in-the-event-that-miss-universe-is-unable-to-serve/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>1</slash:comments>
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		<item>
		<title>Which Came First? Design or Content? Neither, They Need to be Hatched at the Same Time</title>
		<link>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/which-came-first-design-or-content/</link>
		<comments>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/which-came-first-design-or-content/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 11 Nov 2009 03:18:25 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>jpineda</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Blog]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Content Strategy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Design]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Web Design]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.thematrixfiles.net/?p=1538</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[There is an ongoing discussion at Matrix Group about content and Web design.
One camp says that clients need to have all of their content prepped and ready to go before design on a Web site even begins.  The other camp says this view is not realistic, content is always behind, and clients often need the design to inspire them to update their content.
So which view is right?  I actually think that both sides are right.  But I think the question is misdirected.  The real question is: how do we make content more important, earlier in the Web site design and development process?
Here&#8217;s something every Web [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/which-came-first-design-or-content/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>4</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>I Did It! I Got My Ham Radio License!</title>
		<link>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/i-got-my-ham-radio-license/</link>
		<comments>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/i-got-my-ham-radio-license/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 06 Nov 2009 04:24:31 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>jpineda</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Blog]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[ham radio]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.thematrixfiles.net/?p=1530</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[A couple of months ago, I blogged about how my 5-year old son challenged me to get out of my comfort zone and get my ham radio license.  Wanting to set a good example, I decided to go for it.  On Saturday, October 10, after weeks of studying, I passed the Technician exam! I was assigned the call sign KJ4PSD but I successfully applied for, and was assigned, a vanity call sign &#8211; KA4JMP.
So what does it mean to have my ham radio license? Amateur radio, also called ham radio, was created by the FCC to create a pool of volunteers that can provide assistance [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/i-got-my-ham-radio-license/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>4</slash:comments>
<enclosure url="http://www.emergencyradio.org/video/Katrina.mp4" length="54610698" type="video/mp4" />
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		<item>
		<title>Recruiting Top Job Candidates Through the Barry Deutsch Method</title>
		<link>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/recruiting-top-job-candidates-through-the-barry-deutsch-method/</link>
		<comments>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/recruiting-top-job-candidates-through-the-barry-deutsch-method/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 04 Nov 2009 04:33:25 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>jpineda</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Blog]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[corporate culture]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Matrix Group]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Recruiting]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.thematrixfiles.net/?p=1508</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[A few years ago, Matrix Group was looking for a Network Administrator. We had been looking for 18 months with no success.  The situation was bleak. The candidates coming in were awful, my team was overworked and desperate to make a hire, and recruiters were failing us miserably.
Then I attended a presentation by Barry Deutsch, CEO of Impact Hiring Solutions, an executive search firm.  Barry&#8217;s presentation had such an impact on me and my company that Barry Deutsch is now a verb at Matrix Group.
When a job announcement is not pulling in the candidates we need, I tell my staff to &#8220;Barry Deutsch&#8221; the description.
Barry [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/recruiting-top-job-candidates-through-the-barry-deutsch-method/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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		<item>
		<title>My Favorite Twitter Applications</title>
		<link>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/my-favorite-twitter-applications/</link>
		<comments>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/my-favorite-twitter-applications/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 30 Oct 2009 02:16:26 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>jpineda</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Blog]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Twitter]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.thematrixfiles.net/?p=1500</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Twitter was super smart when they created their API and encouraged developers all over the world to come on in, use their API and develop their own applications using Twitter data.  But wait, what&#8217;s an API, you say?
API stands for Application Program Interface.  Wikipedia defines an API as &#8220;an interface that a software programs implements in order to allow other software to interact with it.&#8221;  In the Web world, APIs allow systems to talk to each other, request each other&#8217;s data, write to each other&#8217;s systems, etc., within a defined structure.  In Twitter&#8217;s case, the Twitter API allows software developers to request information from Twitter, [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/my-favorite-twitter-applications/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>6</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Did You Forget Your Order? &#8212; My Favorite Customer Service E-Mails</title>
		<link>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/my-favorite-customer-service-e-mails/</link>
		<comments>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/my-favorite-customer-service-e-mails/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 28 Oct 2009 02:43:56 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>jpineda</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Blog]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[customer service]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[marketing]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.thematrixfiles.net/?p=1488</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Last Sunday, I logged onto Snapfish.com and started creating a customized calendar using mostly photos of my son (who else should be featured on my homemade calendar?).  I ran out of time before I could finish the order, so I saved it and logged off.  Tonight, I got a really cute and friendly e-mail reminder that there&#8217;s something in my shopping cart and it&#8217;s not too late to complete my order. There was even a direct link to my cart so it was easy for me to check out.
In e-commerce lingo, my Snapfish shopping cart was abandoned because I left the site without completing the [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/my-favorite-customer-service-e-mails/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>1</slash:comments>
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		<item>
		<title>Customer Discounts Shouldn&#8217;t Cost You More Money</title>
		<link>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/customer-discounts-shouldnt-cost-you-more-money/</link>
		<comments>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/customer-discounts-shouldnt-cost-you-more-money/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 22 Oct 2009 23:40:56 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>jpineda</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Blog]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Productivity]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.thematrixfiles.net/?p=1473</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I was at Union Station a few weeks ago and on my way out, I validated my parking ticket, which would have given me a dollar or two off the total charge.  As instructed by all the signage, I paid for my ticket at the automated station, then hopped into my car and exited the garage.  Later that evening, I realized that the discount had NOT been taken off the charge.  Annoyed, I called Union Station and was told that in order to get the discount, I had to pay at the ticket booth to a live person.
Okay, so this does not make any sense:  [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/customer-discounts-shouldnt-cost-you-more-money/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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		<item>
		<title>Does the Social Web Mean an End to E-Mail?</title>
		<link>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/does-the-social-web-mean-an-end-to-e-mail/</link>
		<comments>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/does-the-social-web-mean-an-end-to-e-mail/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 21 Oct 2009 02:36:23 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>jpineda</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Blog]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[e-mail]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[social networking]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.thematrixfiles.net/?p=1463</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[During a recent interview, the candidate asked me if Matrix Group still uses e-mail to promote its services and events.  Curious, I asked her why she asked that question.  She replied that she thought e-mail was obsolete, that all marketing is moving to the social Web.  My first reaction was &#8220;no way, you&#8217;re crazy, e-mail is never going away.&#8221;
But then I read a study by Nielsen that reports &#8220;member communities, which includes both social networks and blogs, has become the fourth most popular online category – ahead of personal email.&#8221; Whoa!  Social networking and blogging have overtaken personal e-mail?  Could this signal another monumental shift [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/does-the-social-web-mean-an-end-to-e-mail/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>4</slash:comments>
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		<item>
		<title>What I Learned About Marketing From a Recipe on a Box</title>
		<link>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/what-i-learned-about-marketing-from-a-recipe-on-a-box/</link>
		<comments>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/what-i-learned-about-marketing-from-a-recipe-on-a-box/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 16 Oct 2009 01:14:14 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>jpineda</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Blog]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[marketing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Sales]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.thematrixfiles.net/?p=1454</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[A couple of years ago, I was reading about the health benefits of barley.  So I decided to pick up a box of Quaker Oats barley at the grocery store.  Having never cooked with barley before, I searched for recipes online.  Finally, my husband said, &#8220;Hey, there&#8217;s a recipe on the box. Why don&#8217;t you try that one?&#8221;  So I did.  Guess what?  The chicken barley chili recipe on the side of the box was really good. In fact, I&#8217;ve made this dish for friends (who rave) and cut up a box to stash the recipe in my recipe box.
Since then, I&#8217;ve made made pasta, [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/what-i-learned-about-marketing-from-a-recipe-on-a-box/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>3</slash:comments>
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		<item>
		<title>The Art and Science of Business Cards</title>
		<link>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/the-art-and-science-of-business-cards/</link>
		<comments>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/the-art-and-science-of-business-cards/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 14 Oct 2009 03:21:06 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>jpineda</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Blog]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[corporate culture]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Design]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[marketing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Matrix Group]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.thematrixfiles.net/?p=1440</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[When we moved to our new office in Crysta City, it meant reprinting all of our marketing materials.  While it was simply a matter of updating and reprinting most of our collateral, we decided to redesign our business cards.  Matrix Group Creative Director Alex Pineda wanted to update the design with the refreshed logo and show some more personality.
Here are some sample cards that demonstrate what we were trying to achieve.

Here&#8217;s my card.  The front is purple so it&#8217;s easy to find on a cluttered desk or stack o cards.  The corners are curved because Alex says the Matrix Group brand is curvey, node-y.  The [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/the-art-and-science-of-business-cards/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>5</slash:comments>
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		<item>
		<title>Making Sense of the Twitter Speak and Twetiquette</title>
		<link>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/making-sense-of-the-twitter-speak-and-twetiquette/</link>
		<comments>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/making-sense-of-the-twitter-speak-and-twetiquette/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 09 Oct 2009 02:46:50 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>jpineda</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Blog]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[social networking]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Twitter]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.thematrixfiles.net/?p=1413</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I was at a conference recently where one of the attendees mentioned that although she&#8217;s on Twitter, she doesn&#8217;t understand half of what&#8217;s being said. &#8220;What&#8217;s a DM?,&#8221; she said.  &#8220;And what&#8217;s the difference between RT and via?&#8221;
Twitter is deceptively simple.  You get 140 characters to speak your mind or share some news.  In some ways, Twitter is a lot like instant messaging ((IM) because people use acronyms to shorten common expressions. I found a good list of acronyms that pop up a lot of Twitter on the Examiner.com site.  My favorites?

LOL &#8211; laughing out loud
BTW &#8211; by the way
IMHO &#8211; in my humble [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/making-sense-of-the-twitter-speak-and-twetiquette/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>6</slash:comments>
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		<item>
		<title>At Work, as in Marriage and Friendship, A Sense of Humor Rocks</title>
		<link>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/humor-in-the-workplace/</link>
		<comments>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/humor-in-the-workplace/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 07 Oct 2009 00:15:14 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>jpineda</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Blog]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[corporate culture]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Matrix Group]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.thematrixfiles.net/?p=1400</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Last Wednesday afternoon, I was harried and stressed.  I was leaving for a conference on the West Coast. and if I didn&#8217;t leave the office by 2:30pm, the drive to BWI was not going to be pretty.  But I had two people to call, five e-mails to write, three people to see and it was already 2pm.  I decided to delegate a couple of the tasks to Ray, my new biz manager.  Just at that moment, he walked into my office and I said, &#8220;oh, thank goodness you&#8217;re here.&#8221;  Without missing a beat, Ray deadpanned, &#8220;You&#8217;re surprised I&#8217;m here?  I&#8217;m always here.  I work for [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/humor-in-the-workplace/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>2</slash:comments>
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		<item>
		<title>Creating an Integrated Marketing Strategy for Your Organization That Blends Traditional Marketing and Social Networking</title>
		<link>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/creating-an-integrated-marketing-strategy-for-your-organization/</link>
		<comments>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/creating-an-integrated-marketing-strategy-for-your-organization/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 02 Oct 2009 01:27:31 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>jpineda</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Blog]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[marketing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Sales]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[social networking]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.thematrixfiles.net/?p=1392</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Clients often ask me how to add social media to their marketing and communication initiatives.  Rather than viewing social media as a separate program, I recommend adding social media to existing marketing activities.
In addition, I recommend against blasting the same message across the different platforms.  Instead, I urge clients to create a layered approach that uses each platform according to its strengths and capabilities.  Here are some examples:

Example #1: Trade Association Wants to Promote a Conference

Create a microsite for the conference that contains information about the conference, the venue, the program and speakers, and benefits to attendees
Use Twitter to broadcast conference updates and deadlines, industry [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/creating-an-integrated-marketing-strategy-for-your-organization/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>2</slash:comments>
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		<item>
		<title>Integrating Traditional Marketing with Social Media</title>
		<link>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/developing-social-media-with-traditional-marketing/</link>
		<comments>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/developing-social-media-with-traditional-marketing/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 30 Sep 2009 02:11:41 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>jpineda</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Blog]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Facebook]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[LinkedIn]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[marketing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Sales]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[social networking]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Twitter]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.thematrixfiles.net/?p=1373</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I had the pleasure of being part of a panel at today&#8217;s Grow Smart Biz conference, sponsored by Network Solutions.  Our topic was &#8220;Integrating Traditional Marketing with Social Media.&#8221;  Despite being the last panel of the day (we started around 4:20pm), I estimated that over 80% of the conference attendees attended the panel.  And by the number of questions raised, this is a hot topic for sure.
You can read a nice recap of the panel on the Solutions are Power blog, but here were my take-aways:

Your customers, prospects, staff and potential staff are increasingly using social media and they expect your business to have a [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/developing-social-media-with-traditional-marketing/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>1</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Using the Crowd to Attract a Bigger Crowd To Your Events</title>
		<link>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/using-the-crowd/</link>
		<comments>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/using-the-crowd/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 25 Sep 2009 01:39:08 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>jpineda</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Blog]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[marketing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[social networking]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.thematrixfiles.net/?p=1322</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I&#8217;m going to be a panelist at the Grow Smart Biz conference next Tuesday, September 29, 2009 at the Renaissance Hotel in Washington, DC.   In my opinion, this conference will be a must-attend event for small business owners and entrepreneurs (more on that later).  This blog post is about how the conference planners are using the crowd to attract a bigger crowd. Here&#8217;s how:
The planners of Grow Smart Biz have assembled a powerhouse group of speakers and panelists, which is not unusual for a conference.  What is new is this: the planners have actively engaged the speakers in promoting the conference through their blogs, [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/using-the-crowd/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>1</slash:comments>
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		<item>
		<title>&#8220;Just Try It, Mama&#8221; or Lessons from the 5-Year Old</title>
		<link>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/just-try-it-mama/</link>
		<comments>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/just-try-it-mama/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 23 Sep 2009 01:29:04 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>jpineda</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Blog]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[leadership]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.thematrixfiles.net/?p=1305</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I have a rule when it comes to food: you have to try it before you render judgment. This is a rule that my husband and I have impressed on our son from the time he was little.  My mantra: Don&#8217;t tell me you don&#8217;t like it; you have to try it first.  In fact, I say this a lot when it comes to just about everything: food, places, experiences.  So imagine my surprise when CJ turned the tables on me and started saying, &#8220;Just try it, mama!&#8221;
I had purchased Rock Band for the PS3 a few months ago after borrowing the game from a [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/just-try-it-mama/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>8</slash:comments>
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		<item>
		<title>Are You a Book Lover? Check Out Google Books!</title>
		<link>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/google-books/</link>
		<comments>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/google-books/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 18 Sep 2009 04:37:11 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>jpineda</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Blog]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Google]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.thematrixfiles.net/?p=1298</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Google is doing it again.  Google is turning the publishing world upside down with Google Books, currently in beta.  Google Books allows the public to download more than a million public domain books in PDF and EPUB formats.  
 Google has been quietly scanning the world&#8217;s books for inclusion into Google Books, which is both a search and a library.  Here&#8217;s how it works:

Users like you and me and go to Google Books and use the Book Search, which functions just like a regular Google search.

If the book is out of copyright, or the publisher has given Google permission, you&#8217;ll be able to see [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/google-books/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>1</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Burglars Are Shopping for Victims Online</title>
		<link>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/burglars-are-shopping-for-victims-online/</link>
		<comments>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/burglars-are-shopping-for-victims-online/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 16 Sep 2009 01:21:08 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>jpineda</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Blog]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.thematrixfiles.net/?p=1281</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I&#8217;m online a lot and yes, I update my Facebook and Twitter accounts all day long. For some, updating their status on a minute by minute basis is almost a religion.  I follow some people who tweet ALL the details of their day, all day long.  Heck, I know where they are eating, that they&#8217;re on the metro, the books they&#8217;re reading, which family member is visiting, etc.  I have always been wary, however, of providing TMI (too much information) because it&#8217;s overkill and just not that interesting.  More recently, I have become extremely careful about updating my status and providing some types of information [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/burglars-are-shopping-for-victims-online/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>3</slash:comments>
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		<item>
		<title>The Myth of Multitasking</title>
		<link>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/the-myth-of-multitasking/</link>
		<comments>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/the-myth-of-multitasking/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 11 Sep 2009 03:06:47 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>jpineda</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Blog]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Productivity]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.thematrixfiles.net/?p=1273</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Multitasking is everywhere. People are texting while driving, e-mailing during meetings, talking on the phone while walking their kids, tweeting while watching TV and IMing while working. Many people even brag about their multitasking prowess.
But can we really do two, even three, things at once?  Research shows that we can&#8217;t really multitask.  Not well at least.
Way back in 2001, researchers at the American Psychological Association set out to find out if multitaskers are more efficient.  Their findings: multitasking isn&#8217;t more efficient; shifting mental gears wastes time. More recently, a group of researchers at Stanford University found that &#8220;(p)eople who are regularly bombarded with several streams [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/the-myth-of-multitasking/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>3</slash:comments>
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		<item>
		<title>Is Your Business Ready to Make the Switch to Google Apps?</title>
		<link>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/google-apps/</link>
		<comments>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/google-apps/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 09 Sep 2009 03:27:52 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>jpineda</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Blog]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Google]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Productivity]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.thematrixfiles.net/?p=1263</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[We&#8217;ve been kicking around ideas for making the Matrix Group intranet better.  During a recent meeting, the Director of Software Engineering wondered if we should switch from our intranet calendar to the Google calendar.  Whoa, I thought. Put my company calendar and personal schedule on Google? My mission-critical data that I would die without?  No way.
But then I got to thinking. Gmail is a seriously good e-mail service.  Google Analytics is so ridiculously good that yes, I would pay for it; in fact, I would pay lots of money for it (don&#8217;t get any ideas, Google.)  And before Google bought Postini, it was already [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/google-apps/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>5</slash:comments>
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		<item>
		<title>I&#8217;m Following Martha Stewart on Twitter, But Is It Really Martha?</title>
		<link>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/im-following-martha-stewart/</link>
		<comments>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/im-following-martha-stewart/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 03 Sep 2009 00:40:14 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>jpineda</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Blog]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Twitter]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.thematrixfiles.net/?p=1253</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I started following Martha Stewart on Twitter because I had heard that she tweets recipes.  How hard can a recipe be if it&#8217;s tweeted?  But then I got to wondering: am I following the real Martha Stewart? What if someone is impersonating Martha on Twitter?  I know this happens a lot because there are dozens of Sarah Palin and Barack Obama accounts.
It turns out that Twitter now offers Verified Accounts. When an account is verified by Twitter, it means they&#8217;ve been &#8220;in contact with the person or entity the account is representing&#8221; and verified that it is indeed the official Twitter account for that person.  [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/im-following-martha-stewart/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>1</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Netiquette for The Boss While on Twitter, Facebook, and Other Social Networks</title>
		<link>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/netiquette-for-the-boss/</link>
		<comments>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/netiquette-for-the-boss/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 28 Aug 2009 03:47:10 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>jpineda</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Blog]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Facebook]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[leadership]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[LinkedIn]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[social networking]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Twitter]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.thematrixfiles.net/?p=1247</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I was on LinkedIn yesterday and the LinkedIn search engine helpfully recommended a couple of people for me to add to my network.  The list included a couple of people who currently work at Matrix Group.  While it&#8217;s every CEO&#8217;s dream to have a large network, I did not invite the staff to get linked up.  Why?  Because I think that for bosses, managers,and CEOs, there are unwritten rules of netiquette. Here are some of the rules I abide by when using Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and other social networks.

Except for a few direct reports, I don&#8217;t invite staff to be my friend or get linked [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/netiquette-for-the-boss/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>2</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Who&#8217;s Afraid of User-Generated Content?</title>
		<link>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/user-generated-content/</link>
		<comments>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/user-generated-content/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 26 Aug 2009 02:32:11 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>jpineda</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Blog]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Facebook]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[strategy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Twitter]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[User-Generated Content]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Web 2.0]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.thematrixfiles.net/?p=1238</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[From homemade movies on YouTube, to movie and book reviews, comments on blogs, and entries in Wikipedia, user-generated content (UGC) has changed the Web forever.  I can&#8217;t imagine the Amazon shopping experience without comments and ratings from other moms, the posts from the 500 or so people I follow on Twitter could keep me occupied and interested all day, and I thank God every day for the thousands of homemade Thomas the Tank Engine movies on YouTube that keep my five-year old enthralled on a rainy day.  Mashable reported that more than 82 million people in the US created content online in 2008.
So how [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/user-generated-content/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>5</slash:comments>
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		<item>
		<title>Post-Launch Tasks = Project Overhang</title>
		<link>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/project-overhang/</link>
		<comments>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/project-overhang/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 20 Aug 2009 05:25:01 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>jpineda</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Blog]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[project management]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[software development]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.thematrixfiles.net/?p=1215</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[After each Web site launch, I ask the Project Manager in charge what&#8217;s left to do. Why?  Because inevitably, there are items that didn&#8217;t make the launch. I call this Project Overhang and it can be deadly to a firm&#8217;s profitability and productivity.
Project Overhang is what we call tasks that are left over from a project.  The project, site or application can be up, tested and launched, but there are tweaks we didn&#8217;t complete, post-launch fixes or small change orders.  Often, Project Overhang does not generate additional revenue and the items are so small that they can slip off our radar if we&#8217;re not careful.  [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/project-overhang/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>What&#8217;s So Cool About Cooliris?</title>
		<link>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/whats-so-cool-about-cooliris/</link>
		<comments>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/whats-so-cool-about-cooliris/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 19 Aug 2009 03:26:26 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>jpineda</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Blog]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Browsers]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Gadgets]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Web 2.0]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.thematrixfiles.net/?p=1203</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I just discovered CoolIris, a browser plug-in that lets me surf images and videos in a cool, new way. Browser plugs-in are small pieces of software that extend the capabilities of your Web browser.  In this case, I downloaded the CoolIris plug-in for Firefox, installed it, restarted, and I was good to go.  So what&#8217;s so cool about this plug-in?
Cooliris lets me scroll through images and videos on my computer and sites that support Cooliris.  For example, if I want to browse photos from my son&#8217;s birthday party, I point Cooliris to the proper directory and the photos will appear as a wall of photos [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/whats-so-cool-about-cooliris/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>2</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Why is Facebook so Addictive?</title>
		<link>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/why-is-facebook-so-addictive/</link>
		<comments>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/why-is-facebook-so-addictive/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 14 Aug 2009 03:44:04 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>jpineda</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Blog]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Facebook]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[social networking]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.thematrixfiles.net/?p=1176</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I called a friend last Sunday to say hello and her husband said she was deep in Facebook, and had been for several hours.  Several hours!  This is a woman who holds a challenging job, has an 18-month old, and even has hobbies on the side. Facebook for several hours?  And I know she&#8217;s not alone.
Facebook says that it has 250 million users, of which 120 million login once a day, and spend 5 billion minutes doing &#8220;stuff.&#8221;  Just what what are we all doing on Facebook and why is it so addictive? Here are my thoughts:

It&#8217;s really fun to catch up [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/why-is-facebook-so-addictive/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>7</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Does Your Corporate Underground Match Your Company&#8217;s Size and Needs?</title>
		<link>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/corporate-underground/</link>
		<comments>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/corporate-underground/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 12 Aug 2009 03:27:36 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>jpineda</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Blog]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[corporate culture]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[leadership]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Matrix Group]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.thematrixfiles.net/?p=1165</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I was working with a prospect recently and lamenting to my team that the organization felt like a bunch of stovepipes, with the VPs competing for resources and influence.  I said something along the lines of &#8220;Arrgh, this organization is too small to be so silo&#8217;d!&#8221;
Then it hit me: the company had gone through a fairly large downsizing recently.  The corporate culture was one I was more likely to find in a much larger organization because the culture had not adjusted to the new realities of the smaller organization!  Ick.
Then I realized the opposite can happen as well.  As an organization grows, the culture, communication [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/corporate-underground/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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		<item>
		<title>How SCRUM Made Our Office Move Great</title>
		<link>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/how-scrum-made-our-office-move-great/</link>
		<comments>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/how-scrum-made-our-office-move-great/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 06 Aug 2009 02:59:03 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>jpineda</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Blog]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Matrix Group]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Productivity]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[project management]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.thematrixfiles.net/?p=1147</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Office moves are never fun. Our move was months in the planning, but we were still scrambling last Friday night, the day before the movers arrived.  The plan was to complete the physical move on Saturday, then have all staff come in on Sunday to set-up their own work areas, test the network and phones, and help unpack the common areas.  There were a million tasks to be done?  How was it all going to get done? Then we had a great idea: let&#8217;s use SCRUM, do a one-day sprint and complete as much of the move as possible.  Here&#8217;s what we [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/how-scrum-made-our-office-move-great/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>9</slash:comments>
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		<item>
		<title>Does Your Staff Know What Your Company Does?</title>
		<link>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/does-your-staff-know-what-your-company-does/</link>
		<comments>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/does-your-staff-know-what-your-company-does/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 31 Jul 2009 01:34:36 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>jpineda</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Blog]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[customer service]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[marketing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Sales]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.thematrixfiles.net/?p=1135</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[A couple of weeks ago, I called Harris Teeter to order a Thomas the Tank Engine birthday cake for my soon-to-be 5 year old son. The conversation went something like this:
Me:  Good morning, I want to order a birthday cake with the Thomas design.
HT staff:  Sorry, we don&#8217;t have Thomas cakes.
Me:  But you have a Thomas cake on display in your bakery section.
HT staff:  Sorry, we don&#8217;t have Thomas cakes.  I think that display is old.
Me:  I saw Thomas cakes in your catalog.
HT staff:  I haven&#8217;t seen the catalog lately.
Me:  Okay, I guess I&#8217;ll call Costco.
Lucky for Harris Teeter, I am a big fan of [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/does-your-staff-know-what-your-company-does/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>3</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>How Many Times Do I Need to Pay For This Song?</title>
		<link>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/paying-for-songs-and-videos/</link>
		<comments>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/paying-for-songs-and-videos/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 29 Jul 2009 02:35:01 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>jpineda</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Blog]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[marketing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Sales]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.thematrixfiles.net/?p=1125</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I love Rock Band for the PS3.  A friend lent his set a couple of weeks ago to me and my husband and we&#8217;ve been enjoying learning how to &#8220;play&#8221; drums and guitar, as well as do vocals.  Rock Band comes with a collection of songs but you can buy scores of other songs (in different genres) on the Sony store.
So last night, I paid $1.99 for the Police&#8217;s Synchronicity.  I love this song.  I loved the album when it came out.  I even saw the Police in concert for this tour.  So I was happy to shell out $2 to be able [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/paying-for-songs-and-videos/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>5</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Measuring the ROI on Social Media Initiatives</title>
		<link>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/social-media-roi/</link>
		<comments>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/social-media-roi/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 24 Jul 2009 02:48:40 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>jpineda</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Blog]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[marketing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Sales]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[social networking]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.thematrixfiles.net/?p=1112</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I met with a group of CEOs this morning and social media came up in conversation.  More than several members of the group wondered if a social media strategy is worth the effort. In other words, how do we measure the return on investment (ROI) of our social media initiatives?
This is a topic that comes up a lot at Matrix Group.  Unfortunately, there isn&#8217;t a magic formula for calculating ROI on social media activities. Mashable says that you can measure the ROI in two ways:

Qualitative &#8211; Are you part of the conversation in your industry? Are you able to demonstrate that you or [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/social-media-roi/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>2</slash:comments>
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		<item>
		<title>An Office Buildout Is Just Like a Web Site Redesign</title>
		<link>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/office-buildout/</link>
		<comments>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/office-buildout/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 22 Jul 2009 02:15:01 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>jpineda</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Blog]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Matrix Group]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[project management]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.thematrixfiles.net/?p=1103</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Matrix Group is getting close to moving to its new space at 2711 Jefferson Davis Highway in Arlington (Crystal City), VA.  This is the first time that we&#8217;re doing a buildout and I&#8217;m looking forward to seeing how our physical space can support how we collaborate and do our work.  I&#8217;ve also been fascinated to realize that a construction project is like a Web site design project in many ways:
User Experience

Our construction project began with our Architect visiting our existing space, interviewing staff, and learning how people work together and on their own. This is akin to the user experience part of all of our [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/office-buildout/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>1</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>What&#8217;s Your Elevator Speech?</title>
		<link>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/whats-your-elevator-speech/</link>
		<comments>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/whats-your-elevator-speech/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 17 Jul 2009 02:52:49 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>jpineda</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Blog]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[marketing]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.thematrixfiles.net/?p=1097</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I moderated a strategy meeting yesterday and a redesign kick-off meeting this afternoon.  During both meetings, I started the discussion with a simple question: what&#8217;s your elevator speech? It sounds so trite and overused to ask about one&#8217;s elevator speech, so we did something different.
We asked each person how they would explain their job or company to:

Their spouse
A high school student
A neighbor
A member of the press
A Fortune 100 CEO

As expected, we got a wide variety of answers.  Surprisingly, the best responses were from people trying to explain their business to a high school student. How can this be?  I think it&#8217;s because when talking [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/whats-your-elevator-speech/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>2</slash:comments>
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		<item>
		<title>Celebrating 10 Years With a Microsite</title>
		<link>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/10-year-microsite/</link>
		<comments>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/10-year-microsite/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 15 Jul 2009 02:39:40 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>jpineda</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Blog]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Matrix Group]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[User-Generated Content]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Web 2.0]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Web Design]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.thematrixfiles.net/?p=1085</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[We did it! We launched a microsite for the Matrix Group 10th anniversary! It took us several months and a whole lot of research, but we did it.  Why create a site for the occasion?
10 years feels like a real milestone to us, especially to me.  Like I say in my &#8220;Where We&#8217;re Going&#8221; letter, when I started the company, I wasn&#8217;t thinking about balance sheets or Web standards.  I just wanted to help companies with their Web sites.  And when my Advisory Board Chair asked me about my five-year plan (during year one), I just laughed; I was so focused [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/10-year-microsite/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Your Web Site Is Done, Now Who Owns The Design Files?</title>
		<link>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/ownership-of-design-files/</link>
		<comments>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/ownership-of-design-files/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 10 Jul 2009 02:46:06 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>jpineda</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Blog]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Design]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Web Design]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.thematrixfiles.net/?p=1070</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[A client whose Web site we recently implemented asked us to make changes to their Web site.  What is normally a routine request turned into a major affair.  The problem?  The design firm that had created their original designs had gone out of business.  The contract specified that the design firm owned the design and the all source files.  So when the company went out of business, gone went the files. Ugh.
I attended a wedding recently where the couple had hired a much sought after photographer.  I asked him if he gave clients their digital files and he said yes.  He said that he believed [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/ownership-of-design-files/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>2</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Beer and Cream Cheese SCRUM</title>
		<link>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/beer-and-cream-cheese-scrum/</link>
		<comments>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/beer-and-cream-cheese-scrum/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 08 Jul 2009 02:57:47 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>jpineda</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Blog]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[software development]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.thematrixfiles.net/?p=1050</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Last Thursday, the MatrixMaxx team celebrated a successful SCRUM sprint with a beer and cream cheese party.  So what do beer and cream cheese have to do with software development, specifically SCRUM? Read on and find out.

MatrixMaxx is Matrix Group&#8217;s Web-based association management software product.  For about a year, the team had been exploring agile development methodologies.  Maki, our CTO and Chief Architect for MatrixMaxx, was really hot to implement SCRUM.
There is a lot to SCRUM, but here&#8217;s what SCRUM means to a non-techie, manager type like me:

SCRUM is all about roles and process.
There are 3 main roles in SCRUM: the ScrumMaster (who serves as [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/beer-and-cream-cheese-scrum/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>5</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Will Social Networks Trump Traditional Networks In The Future?</title>
		<link>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/social-networks-vs-traditional-networks/</link>
		<comments>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/social-networks-vs-traditional-networks/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 01 Jul 2009 02:27:24 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>jpineda</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Blog]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Facebook]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[social networking]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Twitter]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.thematrixfiles.net/?p=1024</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[One of the people I&#8217;m following on Twitter (who shall remain nameless) recently commented: &#8220;Prefer getting updates from my friends via Twitter. Much more efficient and I don&#8217;t need to see them.&#8221;   Hmmm&#8230;.
I don&#8217;t know about you, but even though I love Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, yada, yada, I still really like getting together with my college buddies, grad school buddies, fellow DC Web Women, fellow volunteers for Doorways, etc..  Yes, it&#8217;s &#8220;efficient&#8221; to get updates from friends in far away lands via their social network pages, and I have strengthened ties with folks via Twitter and FB, but will my social networks ever [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/social-networks-vs-traditional-networks/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>3</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Is Cloud Computing In Your Future?</title>
		<link>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/cloud-computing/</link>
		<comments>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/cloud-computing/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 26 Jun 2009 02:30:33 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>jpineda</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Blog]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[software development]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.thematrixfiles.net/?p=973</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Cloud computing is hot, hot, hot.  Early this year,  PC World predicted that cloud computing would shape up as a big trend in 2009.  We all know Amazon as a giant Internet retailer, but its newest business is cloud computing; you can now buy processing power and storage from Amazon!  Last year, Google launched Google App Engine, a service that lets developers write applications and host them on Google infrastructure.  SalesForce has a similar cloud that lets developers build and host systems on top of the SalesForce engine.
But what exactly is cloud computing and why does it matter?
Wikipedia defines cloud computing as &#8220;a style of [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/cloud-computing/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>3</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>My Favorite Twitter Visualization Sites</title>
		<link>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/twitter-visualization/</link>
		<comments>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/twitter-visualization/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 24 Jun 2009 02:00:04 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>jpineda</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Blog]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[social networking]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Twitter]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Web Design]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.thematrixfiles.net/?p=964</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I love Twitter.  Yes,  it&#8217;s information overload and there&#8217;s a lot of noise, but I love the commentary and the interesting links.  I also appreciate the updates from friends and family.  More recently, I am loving the Twitter visualization sites that are popping up everywhere.
So, what the heck is a Twitter visualization?  If you&#8217;re on Twitter, you know that there are millions of individual posts, replies, and discussions every day.  Figuring that people out there would want to do things with this flowing data, Twitter publishes an API (application programming interface) that lets developers have real-time access to tweets and some user information.  The result [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/twitter-visualization/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>4</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>The Browser Wars Are Not Over &#8211; Web Standards Are More Important Than Ever</title>
		<link>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/web-standards/</link>
		<comments>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/web-standards/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 19 Jun 2009 02:10:59 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>jpineda</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Blog]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Browsers]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Design]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[software development]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.thematrixfiles.net/?p=944</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[In reviewing the usage reports for this blog a couple of weeks ago, I realized something startling: the majority of visitors are NOT using Internet Explorer. Check it out:  since January of this year, 46% of all visitors use Firefox, 40% use Internet Explorer, 9% use Safari, and 3% are on Chrome.  In the last 30 days, Safari users were 11% of all traffic, while IE users went down to 39%.  Yeah, okay, this traffic is probably skewed because of the audience, but I&#8217;ve got Google Analytics configured to block traffic from the Matrix Group office where most of us use Firefox as our primary [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/web-standards/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>6</slash:comments>
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		<title>Why Won&#8217;t My Boss Make That Decision?</title>
		<link>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/why-wont-my-boss-make-that-decision/</link>
		<comments>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/why-wont-my-boss-make-that-decision/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 17 Jun 2009 02:44:07 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>jpineda</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Blog]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[association management]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[leadership]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.thematrixfiles.net/?p=927</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I hear it all the time from clients and prospects.  &#8220;My boss isn&#8217;t ready to make a decision and I don&#8217;t know why.&#8221;  &#8220;We are delaying our decision-making.&#8221;  &#8220;We are not ready to move forward and don&#8217;t have a timeframe.&#8221;  &#8220;We&#8217;re just gathering information, we don&#8217;t have a timetable.&#8221;
At first blush, it just doesn&#8217;t make any sense:  organizations expend time and effort needed to put out an RFP (request for proposal), participate in meetings and demos, review proposals, check references, yada, yada &#8212; and then sit and don&#8217;t make a decision.  
So why doesn&#8217;t the CEO just make the decision?  After many years of [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/why-wont-my-boss-make-that-decision/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>1</slash:comments>
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		<title>Get Your Vanity URL on Facebook On June 13, 12:01am</title>
		<link>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/get-your-vanity-url-on-facebook/</link>
		<comments>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/get-your-vanity-url-on-facebook/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 12 Jun 2009 02:36:40 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>jpineda</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Blog]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Facebook]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[social networking]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.thematrixfiles.net/?p=917</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Whenever I sign up for something, I try to get jpineda@matrixgroup.net as my username and jmpineda as the account name. I&#8217;m jmpineda on Twitter, Yahoo!, Delicious, FoodBuzz, FriendFeed, etc.  For example, you can browse my Delicious account by going to http://delicious.com/jmpineda.  You can follow me on Twitter by going to http://twitter.com/jmpineda.
But on Facebook, currently I&#8217;m http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=716098588.  Ugh.  Not exactly a memorable URL.  But all this is changing at 12:01am this Saturday, June 13.  At that time, you&#8217;ll be able to create a vanity URL for your profile.  You guessed it; I&#8217;m hoping very much to be http://www.facebook.com/jmpineda.  Perhaps more importantly, I want a vanity URL [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/get-your-vanity-url-on-facebook/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>9</slash:comments>
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		<title>Dog on Roof: How Social Networking Has Changed The Speed of News and Information</title>
		<link>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/dog-on-roof/</link>
		<comments>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/dog-on-roof/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 10 Jun 2009 02:56:56 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>jpineda</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Blog]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[social networking]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Twitter]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.thematrixfiles.net/?p=909</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[It wasn&#8217;t a call I get every day.  Last week, my nanny called to say that two neighbors had knocked on our door to report that there was a dog on our roof. Yes, a dog, not a cat.  And since it was pouring rain, she wondered if I could come home and help out the poor dog.
The first thing I did was call my husband to see if he could deal with the dog on the roof.  The second thing I did was tweet about the dog on the roof. The third thing I did was contact a few neighbors to try and figure [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/dog-on-roof/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>3</slash:comments>
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		<title>Web Conventions We Can Do Away With &#8211; The Fold and Not Linking to Outside Sites</title>
		<link>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/web-conventions/</link>
		<comments>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/web-conventions/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 05 Jun 2009 02:55:08 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>jpineda</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Blog]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Web Design]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.thematrixfiles.net/?p=897</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I was in a Web design review meeting the other day and the client remarked that he wanted to make sure &#8220;all the important content was above the fold.&#8221;  My initial reaction was to agree but one of the Matrix Group Front-End developers challenged this notion.  The fold, he told me, no longer exists and is a myth that limits our design horizons.  The fold is gone?  What other Web conventions can we/should we do away with?
In Blasting the Myth of the Fold, Milissa Tarquini argues that the myth that users &#8220;won’t scroll to see anything below the fold – is doing everyone a great [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/web-conventions/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>6</slash:comments>
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		<title>Who Do You Believe? National Media, Local Media, Bloggers, or Peer Reviewers?</title>
		<link>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/who-do-you-believe/</link>
		<comments>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/who-do-you-believe/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 03 Jun 2009 01:20:45 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>jpineda</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Blog]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[User-Generated Content]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Web 2.0]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.thematrixfiles.net/?p=888</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I just got back from a week in Mexico. Despite the dire warnings from the national media, my family attended a wedding and vacationed in Playa del Carmen on the Riviera Maya.  Were we nuts to travel to Mexico, home of the dreaded H1N1virus?
If you read The Washington Post, you&#8217;ll think we were insane to go.  The Post has stories about swine flu pretty much every day.  I count no less than 10 stories that feature or mention swine flu in today&#8217;s online edition of the Post.  The Post also tells me that the World Health Organization is set to declare swine flu a [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/who-do-you-believe/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>3</slash:comments>
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		<title>Tweeting While On Vacation</title>
		<link>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/tweeting-while-on-vacation/</link>
		<comments>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/tweeting-while-on-vacation/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sat, 23 May 2009 06:15:00 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>jpineda</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Blog]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Facebook]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[social networking]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Twitter]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.thematrixfiles.net/?p=857</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I&#8217;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&#8217;m out.  I had to pause for a second before responding with a &#8220;no, yes, maybe.&#8221;  Hmmm&#8230;.. Just what are the expectations these days about being on vacation and tweeting or maintaining your status on the various social networks?
When I&#8217;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&#8217;re not tempted to go online and work because there [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/tweeting-while-on-vacation/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>2</slash:comments>
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		<title>Whale Hunting as a Metaphor for Landing Large Accounts</title>
		<link>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/whale-hunting/</link>
		<comments>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/whale-hunting/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 21 May 2009 01:29:59 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>jpineda</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Blog]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[marketing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Sales]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.thematrixfiles.net/?p=844</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[At a recent Vistage meeting, I had the pleasure of hearing Tom Searcy, author and CEO of Hunt Big Sales, a sales consulting and training company, talk about how small businesses can land big sales that will transform their companies.  Tom likens the process to whale hunting, which:  requires planning and skills, can&#8217;t be done by one person (it takes a village, actually), and can keep a large number of people fed (or employed) for a long time.
Tom says that whales are like large companies and we all know that large companies usually buy from other large firms because they:

Are perceived as having more [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/whale-hunting/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>3</slash:comments>
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		<title>Sometimes We Just Need to Ask Our Customers What They Want</title>
		<link>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/ask-our-customers/</link>
		<comments>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/ask-our-customers/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 15 May 2009 02:56:24 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>jpineda</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Blog]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[association management]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Barack Obama]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[customer service]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Google]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[software development]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.thematrixfiles.net/?p=836</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[All day long, I sit in meetings where my staff, clients and I try to intuit what customers and members want.  We look at usage reports, search logs, customer feedback forms, guestbook entries, and survey results.  All of these sources give us insight into what customers do, seek and want.  But after conducting a focus group for a client this evening, I&#8217;m reminded that we need regular face time with our customers and we need to just ask them what they want.
Tonight&#8217;s focus group was amazing.  Nearly two dozen people gave up two hours of their day to discuss why they are members of an [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/ask-our-customers/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>2</slash:comments>
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		<title>How I Became a Cool Kid and Why It&#8217;s All About the Platform</title>
		<link>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/why-its-all-about-the-platform/</link>
		<comments>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/why-its-all-about-the-platform/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 13 May 2009 01:57:25 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>jpineda</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Blog]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Facebook]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Gadgets]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Google]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[software development]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Twitter]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.thematrixfiles.net/?p=826</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[What do the iPhone, Facebook, Twitter and Google have in common?  They have great platforms that have contributed greatly to their success!  What&#8217;s a platform and why does it matter?
Wikipedia defines a platform as &#8220;a place to launch software. It is an agreement that the platform provider gave to the software developer that logic code will interpret consistently as long as the platform is running on top of other platforms.&#8221;
I&#8217;m convinced that Facebook zoomed past MySpace because it launched a developer platform earlier.  The developer-friendly platform lets developers create zillions of cool apps and suck more of our time, energy and loyalty.  How many quizzes [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/why-its-all-about-the-platform/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>6</slash:comments>
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		<title>Don&#8217;t Like Facebook?  Try Another Social Network!</title>
		<link>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/try-another-social-network/</link>
		<comments>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/try-another-social-network/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 08 May 2009 03:00:58 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>jpineda</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Blog]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Facebook]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[social networking]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.thematrixfiles.net/?p=821</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[If Google and Twitter seem to be getting all the press, but they&#8217;re not your cup of tea, don&#8217;t despair!  There is a social network out there for nearly every interest group and demographic.  Here are some I&#8217;ve tried out recently:

FoodBuzz is a social network for people who like food.  You can create a profile and share your recipes, restaurant reviews and photos. In addition, FoodBuzz aggregates content from food blogs and allows food brands to create a presence and interact with users.  Here&#8217;s a link to my jmpineda profile, although I&#8217;m new so it&#8217;s still sparse.
TeeBeeDee is a social network for &#8220;grown-ups&#8221; aka mostly [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/try-another-social-network/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>2</slash:comments>
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		<item>
		<title>Election Day Needs a Marketing Plan or How To Get Voters to the Polls</title>
		<link>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/election-day-needs-a-marketing-plan/</link>
		<comments>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/election-day-needs-a-marketing-plan/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 06 May 2009 02:03:59 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>jpineda</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Blog]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Barack Obama]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[marketing]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.thematrixfiles.net/?p=808</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[It&#8217;s Election Day in Alexandria, VA. Today, we voted for Mayor, City Council and School Board.  These are pretty important positions in our City government.  Here&#8217;s the problem: voter turnout was ridiculously low. When I went to vote at lunchtime, I was the only person in the entire polling station.  The volunteer told me that about 5% of registered voters in my precinct had voted.
Low voter turnout, especially for a non-Presidential race, is nothing new.  Mid-term elections are notorious for having low voter turnout.  Evidently, the millions who turned out for the 2008 Presidential race that elected President Obama have [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/election-day-needs-a-marketing-plan/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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		<title>Happy 10th Anniversary, Matrix Group!</title>
		<link>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/matrix-group-10th-anniversary/</link>
		<comments>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/matrix-group-10th-anniversary/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 01 May 2009 02:54:02 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>jpineda</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Blog]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Matrix Group]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.thematrixfiles.net/?p=785</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I can&#8217;t believe that Matrix Group will be 10 years old tomorrow. A decade.  10 years!  When I started Matrix Group in shared office in Georgetown, little did I know that the journey would be difficult, challenging, exhilarating and deeply satisfying.
It feels like just yesterday that I was renting furniture to impress a dotcom client coming in (year 1), getting our own cabinet at the data center (year 3), and celebrating at the Torpedo Factory (year 5).
Looking Back on the First Five Years
I found the e-mail that I sent out to clients, partners and friends inviting them to our 5th anniversary party back in 2004.  [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/matrix-group-10th-anniversary/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>5</slash:comments>
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		<item>
		<title>What Is a Taxonomy and Why Does Your Site Need One?</title>
		<link>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/what-is-a-taxonomy/</link>
		<comments>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/what-is-a-taxonomy/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 29 Apr 2009 02:17:56 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>jpineda</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Blog]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Design]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Web Design]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.thematrixfiles.net/?p=774</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[If Matrix Group is creating a new Web site for you or updating an existing one, our project plan is almost sure to include development or review of your taxonomy.  Taxonomy?  Doesn&#8217;t that have to do with biology and how we classify organisms?  (you know, kingdom &#8211;&#62; phylum &#8211;&#62; class?)  Sort of.
Taxonomy today refers to more than the classification of organisms.  Wikipedia calls taxonomy &#8220;the practice and science of classification.&#8221;  A taxonomy can help you organize an unstructured collection of information.  On most Web sites, information can be organized by: 

Topic &#8211; these tend to be the topics, issues and special [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/what-is-a-taxonomy/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>3</slash:comments>
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		<item>
		<title>People Want to Follow; Are You Ready to Lead?</title>
		<link>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/are-you-ready-to-lead/</link>
		<comments>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/are-you-ready-to-lead/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 24 Apr 2009 02:04:14 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>jpineda</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Blog]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[leadership]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[social networking]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.thematrixfiles.net/?p=757</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I&#8217;ve been thinking about the terminology that we use to describe our relationships on various social networks.  I &#8220;follow&#8221; people on Twitter and people &#8220;follow&#8221; me back.  I have &#8220;friends&#8221; on Facebook.  I am &#8220;linked&#8221; to people on LinkedIn.  The &#8220;follow&#8221; relationship is the one I find most fascinating.
When you &#8220;follow&#8221; someone, you:

 Accept them as a guide or leader
Imitate or follow their example
Watch their movement or progress

While I understand that my &#8220;followers&#8221; on Twitter probably don&#8217;t see me as a leader, there are certainly people on Twitter who I &#8220;follow&#8221; because I consider them thought leaders and I want to know what they&#8217;re reading [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/are-you-ready-to-lead/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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		<item>
		<title>What We&#8217;ve Learned About the New Facebook Pages</title>
		<link>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/what-weve-learned-about-the-new-facebook-pages/</link>
		<comments>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/what-weve-learned-about-the-new-facebook-pages/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 22 Apr 2009 02:58:35 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>jpineda</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Blog]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Facebook]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[marketing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[social networking]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.thematrixfiles.net/?p=748</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[The dust is finally settling on the Facebook pages for companies and organizations.  The new pages were supposed to go live March 11, but the transition seemed to take a few weeks.  Here&#8217;s what we&#8217;ve learned so far about the new Facebook pages:

Status updates (aka What&#8217;s on your mind?) are definitely posting to the organization&#8217;s Wall and showing up on fans&#8217; streams. Fans can indicate if they like a post, they can comment, and they can share the update.


Only native Facebook applications are showing up on fan&#8217;s streams. In the past, we brought in photos and videos from Flickr and YouTube via RSS.  You can [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/what-weve-learned-about-the-new-facebook-pages/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>7</slash:comments>
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		<item>
		<title>Getting Started with Twitter For Your Organization</title>
		<link>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/getting-started-with-twitter/</link>
		<comments>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/getting-started-with-twitter/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 16 Apr 2009 02:03:02 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>jpineda</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Blog]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[social networking]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Twitter]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.thematrixfiles.net/?p=724</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Many clients ask me how to get started with social networking.  Should they blog, be on Facebook or LinkedIn, or should they start tweeting?  For many organizations, I recommend Twitter.   The concept is simple:  Twitter lets you broadcast short updates (140 characters or less) to the people who &#8220;follow&#8221; or subscribe to your updates. These updates are called &#8220;tweets.&#8221;  Twitter is also called micro-blogging because people tweet about what they&#8217;re doing, thinking, eating, reading, yada, yada.  So how do you get started?

First, you need to set-up an account on Twitter.com. Unlike Facebook or LinkedIn, you don&#8217;t connect your organization&#8217;s Twitter account to a personal account.  [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/getting-started-with-twitter/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>2</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Creating a Content Strategy for your Web Site, Blog, Social Networks</title>
		<link>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/content-strategy/</link>
		<comments>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/content-strategy/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 14 Apr 2009 02:49:26 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>jpineda</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Blog]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[marketing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[social networking]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[strategy]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.thematrixfiles.net/?p=705</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[In my last blog post, I referenced the content strategy that the marketing team at Matrix Group has developed to keep our Web site and social networking pages fresh and interesting.  Several folks asked for more details on our content strategy, so here you go.
Our communication/conversation strategy has several elements:

Communication vehicles. We created an inventory of all the ways that we use to communicate with clients and prospects.  Our inventory includes: the Web site, e-mail newsletter list, blog, Twitter, Facebook, Flickr, and e-mail discussion lists.


Communication schedule. We have mapped out a schedule that delineates what we will post or send out every day, week, month, [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/content-strategy/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>10</slash:comments>
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		<item>
		<title>Time Management and Social Networking: How to NOT make social networking a huge time suck</title>
		<link>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/time-management/</link>
		<comments>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/time-management/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 07 Apr 2009 02:38:19 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>jpineda</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Blog]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Facebook]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Productivity]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[social networking]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Twitter]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.thematrixfiles.net/?p=692</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Over the past couple of weeks, I&#8217;ve met with clients about their social networking (SN) strategy.  A common refrain is this: &#8220;Social networking takes too much time. I don&#8217;t have extra time in the day. And I don&#8217;t want my staff wasting huge amounts of time on social networking.&#8221;
There&#8217;s no question that we can fritter away hours reading Twitter posts, watching random videos on YouTube, updating our Facebook status, yada, yada.
But for organizations that have made the decision to incorporate social networking into their communication, conversation or marketing strategies, how can we be sure that social networking sites aren&#8217;t just a sinkhole of time?
As [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/time-management/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>3</slash:comments>
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		<item>
		<title>What Clients Want: To Be Understood</title>
		<link>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/what-clients-want/</link>
		<comments>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/what-clients-want/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 01 Apr 2009 02:54:35 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>jpineda</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Blog]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[customer service]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Matrix Group]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[project management]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.thematrixfiles.net/?p=660</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[One of my Project Managers (we call them PMs at Matrix Group) was struggling with an account.  The client was frustrated, the Project Manager was frustrated, so of course, now I&#8217;m frustrated.  I called the client, had a long de-brief session, worked through some issues, and with a few tweaks, the project was back on track.  The PM wanted to know how I did that.  My secret? I put myself in the client&#8217;s shoes.
As a business owner, I get to be manager of staff and projects AND client to our many vendors.  As the chief salesperson for the company, I interact [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/what-clients-want/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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		<item>
		<title>The Campaign is Over, but President Obama Still Committed to Social Networking</title>
		<link>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/obama-and-social-networking/</link>
		<comments>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/obama-and-social-networking/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 27 Mar 2009 01:41:29 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>jpineda</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Blog]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Barack Obama]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[social networking]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.thematrixfiles.net/?p=651</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Candidate 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&#8217;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 [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/obama-and-social-networking/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Why Is Going to the Doctor Such a Miserable Experience?</title>
		<link>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/doctors-and-user-experience/</link>
		<comments>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/doctors-and-user-experience/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 25 Mar 2009 02:05:08 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>jpineda</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Blog]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[customer service]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.thematrixfiles.net/?p=641</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Why is it that going to the doctor is such a miserable experience? I don&#8217;t think it&#8217;s just because we&#8217;re usually sick when we see the doctor. From the attitude of the admin staff, to the wait, to the rushed visit with the doctor, I&#8217;m convinced that going to the doctor is usually a horrible user experience.
I went to see a new doctor last week about a lingering chest cold.  The receptionist told me to arrive 10 minutes to fill out the required paperwork and I complied.  Okay, I expect to wait when I see a doctor, but I didn&#8217;t plan on waiting a whole [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/doctors-and-user-experience/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>5</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>The Power of the Relationship</title>
		<link>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/the-power-of-the-relationship/</link>
		<comments>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/the-power-of-the-relationship/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 20 Mar 2009 03:05:04 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>jpineda</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Blog]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[social networking]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.thematrixfiles.net/?p=625</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[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&#8217;m convinced that once you&#8217;ve shared a meal with someone, it&#8217;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 [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/the-power-of-the-relationship/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>2</slash:comments>
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		<item>
		<title>iStockphoto Uses Twitter for Customer Service</title>
		<link>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/istockphoto-uses-twitter/</link>
		<comments>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/istockphoto-uses-twitter/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 18 Mar 2009 01:28:15 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>jpineda</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Blog]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[customer service]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Twitter]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.thematrixfiles.net/?p=606</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Click on the image to see a larger version of a screen shot of the Twitter search I used to get info about the iStockphoto site being down.
I get nearly all of the photos for my blog from iStockphoto, an online photo service. There&#8217;s a good selection and pricing is great. A couple of weeks ago, I was dismayed to find that the iStockphoto Web site was completely down; all I got was a Service Unavailable message.
So what did I do?  I tweeted about the iStockphoto site being down, of course. Then I had a brainwave.  Surely other people were tweeting about the site being [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/istockphoto-uses-twitter/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>1</slash:comments>
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		<title>Getting Started with Facebook &#8211; Part 2 &#8211; The New Facebook Pages</title>
		<link>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/new-facebook-pages/</link>
		<comments>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/new-facebook-pages/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 11 Mar 2009 04:04:41 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>jpineda</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Blog]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Facebook]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[marketing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[social networking]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.thematrixfiles.net/?p=592</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Starting today, March 11, fans of organizations with Facebook pages will interact with their favorite orgs, companies and brands the way they interact with their buddies.  On March 11, all Facebook pages will have status updates, walls, and links, just like personal pages.
What does this mean? Well&#8230;

Fans will interact with organizations the same way they interact with their friends.  Updates from the org/company pages will be added to fans&#8217; home pages.  Fans can view and comment on status updates, they will get notified when other people join a conversations, and they can view photo, videos and links.
Organizations will be challenged to do more with [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/new-facebook-pages/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>11</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>What is a Tag Cloud?  And How Do Tags Connect People?</title>
		<link>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/what-is-a-tag-cloud/</link>
		<comments>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/what-is-a-tag-cloud/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 06 Mar 2009 04:46:06 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>jpineda</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Blog]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[social networking]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[User-Generated Content]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Web Design]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.thematrixfiles.net/?p=573</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Have you visited a Web site recently that had a list of topics and some topics were in a larger font or in a different color? That&#8217;s called a tag cloud and I love them.  But what exactly are they?
Wikipedia says that a tag cloud is a visual depiction of the tags (topics) on a Web site. The tags are usually listed alphabetically and font size or color is used to show the relative importance of a tag.
But first, let&#8217;s talk about tags.  The choice is tags is incredibly important on a Web site or blog.  Your tags should represent what&#8217;s important to you [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/what-is-a-tag-cloud/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>3</slash:comments>
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		<item>
		<title>Subsidized COBRA Coverage in Stimulus Plan = Additional Burden for Small Businesses</title>
		<link>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/cobra-burden/</link>
		<comments>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/cobra-burden/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 04 Mar 2009 03:02:28 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>jpineda</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Blog]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Economy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Productivity]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.thematrixfiles.net/?p=558</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I got a call from my insurance agent today.  He wanted to be sure that I knew about the new COBRA provisions in the stimulus package that went into effect a few weeks ago.  The stimulus plan provides subsidized COBRA benefits to workers (and their families) who lose health care coverage because of involuntary termination of employment (read: if they got fired or laid off).  This sounds like a wonderful benefit and one that many families will find valuable.  But did anyone consider the impact on small businesses?
Under the law, 65% of COBRA premiums will be subsidized by the federal government, [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/cobra-burden/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>10</slash:comments>
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		<item>
		<title>Spirit Airlines Sucks; American Express Rocks</title>
		<link>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/spirit-airlines-sucks/</link>
		<comments>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/spirit-airlines-sucks/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 27 Feb 2009 05:26:36 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>jpineda</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Blog]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[customer service]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.thematrixfiles.net/?p=539</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I am so mad.  I booked tickets on Spirit Airlines to attend a wedding in Mexico later this Spring.  I booked the tickets on the Spirit Airlines Web site, paid extra to check bags, even paid extra to reserve seats.  Here&#8217;s the problem: their system shows us (me, my husband, my son) as leaving and coming back on the same day. I KNOW that I did not make a mistake when I booked the flights.  Yeah, okay, I should have checked the e-mail confirmation more carefully the day I made the reservation, but I only now discovered the problem, a few days later.
So I called [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/spirit-airlines-sucks/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>8</slash:comments>
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		<item>
		<title>Standby Power: Is that Monitor Really Turned Off?</title>
		<link>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/standby-power/</link>
		<comments>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/standby-power/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 25 Feb 2009 03:08:57 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>jpineda</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Blog]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Gadgets]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.thematrixfiles.net/?p=493</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[In my last power bill, Dominion Power reported that &#8220;(n)ationally, 6 percent of our residential electricity consumption goes to &#8230; &#8216;phantom loads&#8217; used by devices &#8211; such as, VCRs, televisions, stereos, kitchen appliances &#8211; that are turned off and not in use.   Holy cow!   6 percent?!
I don&#8217;t know about you, but my power and gas bills  shock me each month.  At home, we upgraded our HVAC system to high efficiency Trane units; we have turned our thermostat down to 68 this winter; we have window film on bedroom windows; all of our light fixtures and lamps use compact flourescent bulbs; well, you get the [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/standby-power/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>4</slash:comments>
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		<item>
		<title>I Love the Serendipity of Twitter and StumbleUpon</title>
		<link>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/serendipity/</link>
		<comments>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/serendipity/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 19 Feb 2009 02:19:28 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>jpineda</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Blog]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Twitter]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[User-Generated Content]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Web 2.0]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.thematrixfiles.net/?p=486</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Many of my friends and family ask me, &#8220;what&#8217;s your favorite site?&#8221;  Recently, my answer has been &#8220;Twitter and StumbleUpon.&#8221;  I love these sites, I keep them open all day long in my browser, and I tell everyone about them.
I can give you all kinds of reasons why I love Twitter.  It&#8217;s terrific for knowing what my friends are up to, it&#8217;s a great way to promote my company and blog, but most of all, I love the crazy variety of sites and pages I learn about.  My favorite tweeters are people who introduce me to new sites, interesting statistics, gorgeous [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/serendipity/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>1</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Getting Started with a Facebook Page For Your Organization</title>
		<link>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/getting-started/</link>
		<comments>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/getting-started/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 17 Feb 2009 04:40:20 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>jpineda</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Blog]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Facebook]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[social networking]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.thematrixfiles.net/?p=475</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[After last week&#8217;s webinar on &#8220;Creating a Social Networking Strategy For Your Organization,&#8221; clients and attendees asked me how they should get started with social networking.  It can be a daunting task when you consider all the platforms, and the additional work needed to keep the pages populated.  A simple way to get started is to create a Facebook for your organization or company.

They&#8217;re called Business Pages on Facebook and they need to be connected to an individual profile.  Click on Create a Page for My Business at the bottom of a company page.  I recommend selecting Category = Brand or Product, then select [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/getting-started/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>108</slash:comments>
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		<item>
		<title>Your Social Networking Strategy Doesn&#8217;t Have to Include the Kitchen Sink</title>
		<link>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/sn-strategy-and-the-kitchen-sink/</link>
		<comments>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/sn-strategy-and-the-kitchen-sink/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 12 Feb 2009 06:10:08 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>jpineda</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Blog]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[social networking]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.thematrixfiles.net/?p=468</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[By popular demand and client request, I conducted a webinar on Tuesday with esteemed Project Manager Cat Lee from Matrix Group on &#8220;Creating a Social Networking Strategy (SN) for Your Organization.&#8221; 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&#8217;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 [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/sn-strategy-and-the-kitchen-sink/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>3</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Keeping Track of Company Mentions on the Web</title>
		<link>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/keeping-track/</link>
		<comments>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/keeping-track/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 06 Feb 2009 03:21:43 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>jpineda</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Blog]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Google]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[marketing]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.thematrixfiles.net/?p=463</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[When I&#8217;m researching a product, I go to the Web.  When I&#8217;m looking to hire a candidate, I go to the Web.  All day long, I&#8217;m running searches in Google and other search engines.  So it only stands to reason that customers, prospective customers and prospective staff are likely running Google searches on my company, Matrix Group.  And when they do, what do they find?
Some call it ORM &#8211; Online Reputation Management &#8211; or the art of managing how you and your company are perceived online.  ORM starts with tracking mentions of your company on the Web, anywhere on the Web, [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/keeping-track/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>1</slash:comments>
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		<item>
		<title>Stalking Chris Sacca (Formerly of Google) via FriendFeed</title>
		<link>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/stalking-chris-sacca/</link>
		<comments>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/stalking-chris-sacca/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 04 Feb 2009 05:36:41 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>jpineda</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Blog]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Google]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[social networking]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Twitter]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.thematrixfiles.net/?p=456</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Last 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&#8217;s like to work at Google, Google&#8217;s core values, the perks, and the future of search.  I was so inspired by Chris&#8217; words that I decided to follow him on FriendFeed.  I&#8217;m relatively new to FriendFeed, but it feels like I&#8217;m stalking Chris Sacca. I can now follow this guy&#8217;s tracks as he views, posts, comments, and bookmarks across the Web.  Do I really want all this information about one person?  [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/stalking-chris-sacca/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>2</slash:comments>
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		<item>
		<title>Oh Where, Oh Where Can My Bookmarks Be?  Magnolia Suffers Huge Outage!</title>
		<link>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/magnolia-outage/</link>
		<comments>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/magnolia-outage/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sat, 31 Jan 2009 00:47:08 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>jpineda</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Blog]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[customer service]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Data Recovery]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[social networking]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.thematrixfiles.net/?p=437</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Every morning, when I boot up my computer and open a browser, I have 4 tabs open to the Matrix Group intranet, Twitter, Facebook and Magnolia. Magnolia is a popular social bookmarking site that I have come to rely on to store and organize my bookmarks.
Imagine my horror when I clicked on the Magnolia home page this morning and found this message:
Dear Ma.gnolia Community Members or Visitor,
Early on the West-coast morning of Friday, January 30th, Ma.gnolia experienced every web service&#8217;s worst nightmare: data corruption and loss. For Ma.gnolia, this means that the service is offline and members&#8217; bookmarks are unavailable, both through the website itself [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/magnolia-outage/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>1</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Conversation and the Zen Tech Warrior</title>
		<link>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/conversation-and-zen-tech/</link>
		<comments>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/conversation-and-zen-tech/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 28 Jan 2009 01:32:50 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>jpineda</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Blog]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[association management]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Browsers]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Google]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[leadership]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[social networking]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Twitter]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.thematrixfiles.net/?p=428</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I 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:

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.
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.
Unified, Integrated Data. I call this the Amazon Effect.  Our customers expect [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/conversation-and-zen-tech/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>2</slash:comments>
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		<item>
		<title>Now You Can Attend Church Online!</title>
		<link>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/online-church/</link>
		<comments>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/online-church/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 27 Jan 2009 02:45:26 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>jpineda</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Blog]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[marketing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Video]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.thematrixfiles.net/?p=423</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I was trying to schedule a time for my new biz team to come to the office on Sunday to finish a proposal.  We were trying to work around church services when Jeniece said, &#8220;don&#8217;t worry about me, I go online.  My favorite church is in Atlanta.&#8221;   Online?  She attends church online?
It turns out that even churches have adopted new media, and in a big way (why am I surprised by this?).  After doing a bunch of Google searches, I realized that not only have many churches created extensive Web sites, many now have sermons and readings online, and yes, [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/online-church/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>1</slash:comments>
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		<title>What Customer Experiences Are Core To Your Business?</title>
		<link>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/what-customer-experiences-are-core-to-your-business/</link>
		<comments>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/what-customer-experiences-are-core-to-your-business/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 22 Jan 2009 02:28:19 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>jpineda</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Blog]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[customer service]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[marketing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Matrix Group]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.thematrixfiles.net/?p=415</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[During the last couple of weeks, I made presentations to a couple of clients.  The first client thinks we&#8217;re good but they&#8217;re not raving fans.  The second client thinks Matrix Group is fantastic, we are a solid partner and we have contributed greatly to their success.  I asked my Client Services Directors: why is there a difference in how these two clients perceive us, our work and our value to them?
The ensuing discussion was an interesting one. We decided that all talk of what we actually do aside (Web design, integration, content management, hosting, yada, yada), what ultimately makes a client a [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/what-customer-experiences-are-core-to-your-business/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>4</slash:comments>
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		<title>Obama Inauguration: Warm and Intimate on the Web, Totally Locked Out in the Cold in VA</title>
		<link>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/obama-inauguration/</link>
		<comments>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/obama-inauguration/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 16 Jan 2009 23:56:43 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>jpineda</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Blog]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Barack Obama]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[social networking]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Twitter]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.thematrixfiles.net/?p=402</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I&#8217;m excited and fascinated by next week&#8217;s Inauguration. And I&#8217;m relying on the Web to keep me up to date with the festivities.

I&#8217;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&#8217;m following the DC Government on Twitter (@Inauguration_DC) and appreciating the news about road closures, tips from the National Park Service, etc.
I&#8217;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 [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/obama-inauguration/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>2</slash:comments>
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		<item>
		<title>What Business Are You In?</title>
		<link>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/what-business-are-you-in/</link>
		<comments>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/what-business-are-you-in/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 15 Jan 2009 01:23:31 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>jpineda</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Blog]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[leadership]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[marketing]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.thematrixfiles.net/?p=396</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[At a meeting of my Vistage CEO group, I sat through a captivating presentation by Max Carey, CEO of CRD, a marketing and sales consulting firm.  He asked each of us to describe what our companies do, which we did.  Then he asked us a question that shook me: What business do your clients and prospects think you are in?
Max days that it doesn&#8217;t matter what business you think you’re in, what matters is what business your prospects and clients think you’re in.  So I got to thinking.  I say that the Matrix Group&#8217;s mission is to use the latest Web technologies to [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/what-business-are-you-in/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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		<item>
		<title>El Cheapo Ways to Announce Your Web Site Launch</title>
		<link>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/el-cheapo-ways-to-announce-your-web-site-launch/</link>
		<comments>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/el-cheapo-ways-to-announce-your-web-site-launch/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 09 Jan 2009 02:23:00 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>jpineda</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Blog]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[marketing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Sales]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.thematrixfiles.net/?p=388</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Matrix Group recently launched a new Web site for the International Association of Chiefs of Police.  Prior to the launch, Chuck and David, our esteemed clients, asked for some suggestions on ways to promote the new launch.  Here were some of my suggestions, including some easy and inexpensive tips:

Send out a special e-blast to your membership or customers. Be sure to highlight new features, new functionality, tips for navigation, links to popular pages, etc.
Include an article in your newsletter or magazine. Consider a series of articles in the next few issues of your publication.  In each issue, focus on something different about the new site, [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/el-cheapo-ways-to-announce-your-web-site-launch/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>1</slash:comments>
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		<title>A Washing Machine That Tweets When the Wash Is Done?</title>
		<link>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/a-washing-machine-that-tweets-when-the-wash-is-done/</link>
		<comments>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/a-washing-machine-that-tweets-when-the-wash-is-done/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 07 Jan 2009 03:41:38 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>jpineda</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Blog]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Gadgets]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.thematrixfiles.net/?p=382</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Engadget posted a story about a guy who hacked his washing machine and got it to tweet (send a message via Twitter) when a load of wash is done.   Here&#8217;s the Twitter account for PiMPY3WASH, which I&#8217;m now following.
I guess it&#8217;s possible this is a true story.  I&#8217;m married to a guy who can install Linux (I mean NetBSD) on practically anything.  But I&#8217;m suspicious about this story for one reason: there&#8217;s too much laundry being done.  There were 3 loads done on December 30 and two loads on December 29.  That&#8217;s too much laundry, especially for a guy (no offense, guys!).
However, I&#8217;m excited about [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/a-washing-machine-that-tweets-when-the-wash-is-done/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>1</slash:comments>
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		<item>
		<title>Girl Scouts, Please Make it Easy to Find Information About the Cookies!</title>
		<link>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/girl-scouts-cookies-info-please/</link>
		<comments>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/girl-scouts-cookies-info-please/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 05 Jan 2009 03:46:10 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>jpineda</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Blog]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[customer service]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[marketing]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.thematrixfiles.net/?p=375</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[It&#8217;s that time of year again: Girl Scout cookie time!  My niece is a Girl Scout and I of course want to support her by ordering lots of cookies and selling lots of cookies.  I wanted to send an e-mail to friends and co-workers with some helpful links, but found the Girl Scouts and Girl Scout Cookie Web sites not at all helpful.  Once again, I had to turn to Google to find information about the cookies!
So here&#8217;s the deal.  I wanted to send an e-mail and include a link to a page describing the cookies &#8212; that&#8217;s it, just the cookies.  [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/girl-scouts-cookies-info-please/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>3</slash:comments>
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		<title>A Technical Requirements Page in English</title>
		<link>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/a-technical-requirements-page-in-english/</link>
		<comments>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/a-technical-requirements-page-in-english/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sat, 03 Jan 2009 19:28:30 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>jpineda</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Blog]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[customer service]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.thematrixfiles.net/?p=362</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[A 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&#8217;t every technical requirements page be this easy to understand?
Last thing: I love how every page on the WP site has this [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/a-technical-requirements-page-in-english/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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		<title>New Year Resolutions From Around the World</title>
		<link>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/new-year-resolutions-from-around-the-world/</link>
		<comments>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/new-year-resolutions-from-around-the-world/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 01 Jan 2009 16:24:52 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>jpineda</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Blog]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Productivity]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.thematrixfiles.net/?p=348</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Happy New Year to all!  We all know it&#8217;s customary to make resolutions for the New Year.  I checked around and here are some resolutions from around the world.

Here&#8217;s my favorite: 10 New Year&#8217;s resolutions for geeks from Wired, including keeping an open mind about the new Star Trek movie.
Jenny Cruise resolves not to do a bunch of stuff.
About.com&#8217;s Albrecht Powell has compiled a list of the most common resolutions.  Yeah, yeah, we all know that we need to get in better shape, do more for others, learn something new, yada, yada.
Veronika from Prague wants to brush her teeth every night even when she&#8217;s tired.
Here [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/new-year-resolutions-from-around-the-world/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>1</slash:comments>
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		<title>I&#8217;m a Victim of Identity Crime!</title>
		<link>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/im-a-victim-of-identity-crime/</link>
		<comments>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/im-a-victim-of-identity-crime/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 31 Dec 2008 02:13:01 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>jpineda</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Blog]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[customer service]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Economy]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.thematrixfiles.net/?p=325</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[A few months ago, a suspicious charge from Carfax.com showed up on my corporate American Express card statement.  I called Amex; Amex promptly reversed the charges.  The next month, another charge appeared; I called Amex and Amex again reversed the charge but also recommended that I change my card number.  I even contacted Carfax but they said they could not provide any information on the charges, that I had to go through my credit card company.  How ridiculous is that?
So I changed my card number but the Carfax charge comes up again.  Now I was really worried.  Does the thief have access to my personal [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/im-a-victim-of-identity-crime/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>5</slash:comments>
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		<item>
		<title>Another Way to Give This Holiday Season</title>
		<link>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/another-way-to-give-this-holiday-season/</link>
		<comments>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/another-way-to-give-this-holiday-season/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 24 Dec 2008 15:12:08 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>jpineda</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Blog]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Economy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[leadership]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.thematrixfiles.net/?p=321</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[This holiday season, we are encouraged to &#8220;give our time, not gifts.&#8221;  I applauded the sentiment but then wondered just what it means to give time.  Here are some ways I have found:

Give List lists ways to support communities and causes this holiday season (and year-round for that matter) that don’t necessarily require writing a check.  Ideas include:  donating frequent fliers to soldiers so they can fly home and visit their families; send a note to someone who works for a non-profit and thank them for their work; and create a video about an organization or cause that is important to you and post it [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/another-way-to-give-this-holiday-season/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>2</slash:comments>
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		<title>Sign O The Times: I Can Feel the Recession Everywhere</title>
		<link>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/sign-o-the-times-i-can-feel-the-recession-everywhere/</link>
		<comments>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/sign-o-the-times-i-can-feel-the-recession-everywhere/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sun, 21 Dec 2008 21:30:12 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>jpineda</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Blog]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Economy]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.thematrixfiles.net/?p=308</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[It&#8217;s the holiday season but it&#8217;s not a joyous time for a lot of people.  I can feel the recession everywhere.

Every time I get together with friends, someone says, &#8220;I have a friend who just got laid off.  S/he is terrific, can you help?&#8221;
A buddy who runs a medium-sized government contracting firm was asked by a government agency to submit a letter from their bank saying they were in good financial standing; this, despite a history of working together that spans many, many years.
Every single candidate we interviewed for a recent Network Administrator position had recently been laid off.

While shopping at Harris Teeter this morning, [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/sign-o-the-times-i-can-feel-the-recession-everywhere/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>4</slash:comments>
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		<item>
		<title>Have You Googled Your Name Lately?</title>
		<link>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/have-you-googled-your-name-lately/</link>
		<comments>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/have-you-googled-your-name-lately/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 18 Dec 2008 02:42:54 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>jpineda</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Blog]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Google]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Matrix Group]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Site search]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.thematrixfiles.net/?p=297</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[One of the goals of the last redesign of the Matrix Group Web site was to make my bio more prominent in search engines.  I had previously resisted putting any information about me on the Web site for a variety of reasons, but my new biz team reasoned that since I do a lot of speaking and writing, people will Google my name; when that happens, we want the Matrix Group Web site to pop-up on the first page, if not first on the list of results.
I typed &#8220;joanna pineda&#8221; into Google tonight and this is what I found:

An interview that I did for [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/have-you-googled-your-name-lately/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>2</slash:comments>
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		<item>
		<title>Retailers: When Soliciting Feedback from your Customers, Be Ready for It!</title>
		<link>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/retailers-when-soliciting-feedback-from-your-customers-be-ready-for-it/</link>
		<comments>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/retailers-when-soliciting-feedback-from-your-customers-be-ready-for-it/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 15 Dec 2008 23:50:35 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>jpineda</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Blog]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[customer service]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[marketing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Sales]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.thematrixfiles.net/?p=290</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[The holidays are all about traditions and last Saturday, my son and I engaged in one of my favorites: we created a gingerbread train.  I&#8217;ve been making gingerbread houses for years, first by myself, then with my niece and nephew. and now with my son.  This year, we updated the tradition to decorate a gingerbread train because CJ is obsessed with trains.
I picked up the gingerbread train kit from Target, the manufacturer is Create a Treat, Ltd.  The cute box says: We want to hear from you, send a photo to myhouse@createatreat.com.
Now, I&#8217;m not one to send photos of my kid to various contests.  But [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/retailers-when-soliciting-feedback-from-your-customers-be-ready-for-it/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>6</slash:comments>
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		<title>Why Your CEO Needs to Be Part of Your Next Web Project</title>
		<link>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/why-your-ceo-needs-to-be-part-of-your-next-web-project/</link>
		<comments>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/why-your-ceo-needs-to-be-part-of-your-next-web-project/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 10 Dec 2008 02:22:07 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>jpineda</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Blog]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Design]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[leadership]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.thematrixfiles.net/?p=286</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Whenever we start a project, especially if the project is related to branding or design, we ask for time with the CEO, Executive Director, President &#8212; the top staff person. It&#8217;s not always easy to get time with the CEO, and we often don&#8217;t get it.  However, we have found that our most successful projects have at least minimal CEO involvement, especially in the early stages, when we define goals, users and organizational identity.
Here&#8217;s why I think your CEO needs to be part of your next Web project.
The CEO can best articulate why your organization needs to exist. Earlier this year, we were kicking off [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/why-your-ceo-needs-to-be-part-of-your-next-web-project/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>2</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Matrix Group&#8217;s Favorite Tech Gifts This Holiday Season</title>
		<link>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/matrix-groups-favorite-tech-gifts-this-season/</link>
		<comments>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/matrix-groups-favorite-tech-gifts-this-season/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 05 Dec 2008 06:13:46 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>jpineda</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Blog]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Gadgets]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[marketing]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.thematrixfiles.net/?p=273</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Okay, so it&#8217;s December 5. I feel like I have tons of time before I celebrate Christmas with my family, but I know that I need to get on the ball with my holiday shopping.  So I asked my staff for their favorite gadget gifts; this is what I got back.  Some items are oldies but goodies, some are outrageous, all are loved by at least one Matrix Group staffer.

Japanese toilet &#8211; I&#8217;ve asked Santa for a Japanese toilet this year.  Japanese toilets have heated seats, front and back sprays (heated, too), blow dryers, and even music.  I cannot understand why they are not more [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/matrix-groups-favorite-tech-gifts-this-season/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>3</slash:comments>
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		<item>
		<title>Surviving in this Hellish Economy</title>
		<link>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/surviving-in-this-hellish-economy/</link>
		<comments>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/surviving-in-this-hellish-economy/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 03 Dec 2008 03:17:50 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>jpineda</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Blog]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Economy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[marketing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Matrix Group]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.thematrixfiles.net/?p=268</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Okay, it&#8217;s official. The economy is in a recession, but what are you doing about it? What is your company or organization doing to weather the storm or even thrive in it?
I was recently interviewed by Jill Foster for the Network Solution blog on a variety of topics, including using social media for recruiting and what we&#8217;re doing here at Matrix Group to survive this hellish economy.
When our fiscal year ends next June, I want to be able to say that we were counter-trend and that our company grew, despite the recession.  Here are my top strategies for surviving this economic bloodbath.

Stay close to our [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/surviving-in-this-hellish-economy/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>2</slash:comments>
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		<item>
		<title>Why Citizen Journalist Sites are Worrying Mainstream Media</title>
		<link>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/why-citizen-journalist-sites-are-worrying-mainstream-media/</link>
		<comments>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/why-citizen-journalist-sites-are-worrying-mainstream-media/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 26 Nov 2008 02:42:35 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>jpineda</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Blog]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[social networking]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Web 2.0]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.thematrixfiles.net/?p=262</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Every morning, while drinking my green tea, I peruse The New York Times online.  Like millions of people around the world, I have canceled my paper subscription to a local or national newspaper and instead rely on the Web to deliver the news.
But here&#8217;s a news flash: an increasing of us are getting our news from citizen journalist sites, or sites that feature news, photos and videos from people like you and me. Armed with camera phones and video cameras, average folks are reporting on news in their neighborhood and covering news from their perspective.
Here are some of the most popular citizen journalist sites [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/why-citizen-journalist-sites-are-worrying-mainstream-media/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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		<item>
		<title>Who Are These People and Why Are They Following Me?</title>
		<link>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/who-are-these-people-and-why-are-they-following-me/</link>
		<comments>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/who-are-these-people-and-why-are-they-following-me/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 21 Nov 2008 02:27:15 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>jpineda</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Blog]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[social networking]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Twitter]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.thematrixfiles.net/?p=236</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Unlike some of my friends and many staffers at Matrix Group, I&#8217;m relatively new to Twitter, the mini-blogging site that lets you broadcast your status, location and thoughts.  I&#8217;ve been &#8220;twittering&#8221; for just a few months, but I&#8217;m addicted.  I &#8220;tweet&#8221; all day long and read most of the tweets of the people I follow.  On Twitter, btw, I&#8217;m jmpineda.
For those of you who are new to all this, you can &#8220;follow&#8221; people on Twitter and people can follow you. When you follow someone, their tweets are posted to your Twitter home page all day long.  In my case, I&#8217;m following [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/who-are-these-people-and-why-are-they-following-me/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>13</slash:comments>
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		<title>Can the Web Help Us Track the Spread of Diseases?</title>
		<link>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/can-the-web-help-us-track-the-spread-of-diseases/</link>
		<comments>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/can-the-web-help-us-track-the-spread-of-diseases/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 19 Nov 2008 00:33:56 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>jpineda</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Blog]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Google]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.thematrixfiles.net/?p=231</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[As if it weren’t enough that Google catalogs the Web, tracks traffic to our site, and helps us get from point A to point B, a new service from Google claims to be an early warning system for outbreaks of the flu.
Google flu trends, a service from Google.org, the search giant’s philanthropic arm, analyzes search terms that are related to the flu and creates maps of the US that presumably show where there are outbreaks of the flu. So, if I type “flu symptoms” into my browser, Google will take my search terms and my IP address, and interpret that someone in VA has the [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/can-the-web-help-us-track-the-spread-of-diseases/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>1</slash:comments>
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		<item>
		<title>Says Anne: So Long and Thanks for the Case Studies</title>
		<link>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/says-anne-so-long-and-thanks-for-the-case-studies/</link>
		<comments>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/says-anne-so-long-and-thanks-for-the-case-studies/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sun, 16 Nov 2008 19:45:21 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>jpineda</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Blog]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[marketing]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.thematrixfiles.net/?p=229</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[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&#8217;t know MarketingSherpa, you should.  MarketingSherpa is my favorite source for news, information, case studies, how-to guides &#8212; 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, [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/says-anne-so-long-and-thanks-for-the-case-studies/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Yes, Even Companies are Twittering!</title>
		<link>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/yes-even-companies-are-twittering/</link>
		<comments>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/yes-even-companies-are-twittering/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 13 Nov 2008 00:08:23 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>jpineda</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Blog]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[social networking]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Twitter]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.thematrixfiles.net/?p=222</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I used to think that twittering was for individuals who wanted to broadcast their whereabouts and activities to friends and family. Most of my tweets have to do with where I am, what I&#8217;m reading, yada, yada.  But I&#8217;ve found a growing number of companies using Twitter to raise awareness, reach new audiences, raise money, and disseminate news.
I can&#8217;t think of a more fitting match between Twitter and CNN&#8217;s breaking news.  My god, Twitter is nothing but a bunch of headlines!  Today, nearly 54,000 people follow CNN&#8217;s headline news on Twitter.
The National Wildlife Federation does a great job of using Twitter to promote events, broadcast [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/yes-even-companies-are-twittering/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>1</slash:comments>
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		<title>What the Shoe Saleman Has to Say About the Economy</title>
		<link>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/what-the-shoe-saleman-has-to-say-about-the-economy/</link>
		<comments>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/what-the-shoe-saleman-has-to-say-about-the-economy/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 07 Nov 2008 03:40:27 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>jpineda</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Blog]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Economy]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.thematrixfiles.net/?p=216</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[President-elect Obama has a lot on his plate.  Perhaps most importantly, he&#8217;s got to get the economy moving again.  I&#8217;m not convinced that getting people to spend money should be the top priority, but let me tell you about Mike, a shoe salesman I met at Nordstrom at Pentagon City last weekend.
I was looking for navy shoes and Mike was my guy.  While I was trying on shoes, I asked him about business.  Mike said that in his 15 years in the shoe department at Nordstrom, this is the worst he&#8217;s seen.  I looked around, the store was packed.  The food court had been packed.  [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/what-the-shoe-saleman-has-to-say-about-the-economy/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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		<title>Matrix Group&#8217;s Favorite Election Resources</title>
		<link>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/matrix-groups-favorite-election-resources/</link>
		<comments>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/matrix-groups-favorite-election-resources/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 04 Nov 2008 22:24:06 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>jpineda</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Blog]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.thematrixfiles.net/?p=207</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Every election, I give everyone in my office the corny speech about how I grew up under martial law in a country where people couldn&#8217;t vote, how voting is a privilege, how every vote counts, yada, yada.  Well, this is the first year where everyone on my staff is interested in the election.  I think nearly everyone eligible to vote actually voted.  We had a staff meeting at noon today and only people who voted (or who are not eligible to vote) got free pizza.
I polled my staff and asked them for their favorite election resources.
Here are our favorite sites for tracking the voting results.

Here [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/matrix-groups-favorite-election-resources/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>1</slash:comments>
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		<item>
		<title>Why Perfect References Aren&#8217;t Always a Good Thing</title>
		<link>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/why-perfect-references-arent-always-a-good-thing/</link>
		<comments>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/why-perfect-references-arent-always-a-good-thing/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 31 Oct 2008 04:00:30 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>jpineda</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Blog]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[leadership]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Matrix Group]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.thematrixfiles.net/?p=200</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[My favorite business guru, Tom Peters, blogged recently that &#8220;hiring is the most important aspect of business&#8221; and I couldn&#8217;t agree more.  I know down to my core that if we hire the right people, they will take care of our customers, they will be passionate about our business, and they will always strive to do the right thing.
Why is why, in addition to interviewing well and having great writing/coding samples, candidates for positions at Matrix Group must have great references.  Paradoxically, we&#8217;re less inclined to hire a person with a perfect track record and perfect references, you know, the person who has [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/why-perfect-references-arent-always-a-good-thing/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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		<title>Where Do Broken Web Pages Go?  The Internet Library, Of Course</title>
		<link>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/where-do-broken-web-pages-go-the-internet-library-of-course/</link>
		<comments>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/where-do-broken-web-pages-go-the-internet-library-of-course/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 29 Oct 2008 01:27:55 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>jpineda</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Blog]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Data Recovery]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Google]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Matrix Group]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Site search]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Web 2.0]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.thematrixfiles.net/?p=196</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Whitney Houston sings &#8220;Where do broken hearts go?&#8221;  Me, I have often wondered what becomes of broken or lost Web pages &#8212; you know, the URLs that used to work but now display a 404 or file not found error.  Are these pages deleted from the servers?  Or have they just been unlinked?  And what do I do if I really need the information and it&#8217;s now gone?
You&#8217;ll be glad to know that there is a whole movement devoted to changing the content of the Internet from ephemera to artifacts.  Internet libraries are springing up everywhere to catalog and preserve [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/where-do-broken-web-pages-go-the-internet-library-of-course/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>1</slash:comments>
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		<item>
		<title>We&#8217;re Now Designing to 1024 Resolution</title>
		<link>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/were-now-designing-to-1024-resolution/</link>
		<comments>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/were-now-designing-to-1024-resolution/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 24 Oct 2008 03:38:34 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>jpineda</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Blog]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Browsers]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Design]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.thematrixfiles.net/?p=190</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Sometime last year, we started designing sites to a 1024 screen resolution.  Based on feedback from clients that they wanted more real estate for their content, and usage reports that showed users having a minimum 1024 x 768 screen resolution, we decided to change our default practice.  Today, we design to 1024 unless circumstances warrant otherwise.

According to data from the w3schools, 86% of users use computers with screen sizes of 1024 x 768 pixels or higher as of January 2008. All new laptops and monitors ship with at least 1024 resolution, usually higher, so this statistics does not surprise.  My new Sony VAIO laptop shipped [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/were-now-designing-to-1024-resolution/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>2</slash:comments>
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		<title>Start Wearing Purple</title>
		<link>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/start-wearing-purple/</link>
		<comments>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/start-wearing-purple/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 17 Oct 2008 01:20:08 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>jpineda</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Blog]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[marketing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Matrix Group]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.thematrixfiles.net/?p=180</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[It seems purple is the color of the season and I&#8217;m not complaining. If you know me, have been to my office, or spent any time on the Matrix Group Web site (or this blog for that matter), you know that purple is an integral part of the Matrix Group experience.
I was pleased to see that Yahoo! has launched a Start Wearing Purple campaign. Even though the logo on the Yahoo Web site is red, it seems that purple has long been the company&#8217;s official color.  Why purple?  Yahoo says purple is associated with innovation and imagination.
Hmmm&#8230;. I always thought purple was associated [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/start-wearing-purple/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>5</slash:comments>
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		<item>
		<title>What&#8217;s Your E-Mail Address Worth?</title>
		<link>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/whats-your-e-mail-address-worth/</link>
		<comments>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/whats-your-e-mail-address-worth/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 15 Oct 2008 02:24:54 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>jpineda</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Blog]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[e-mail]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[marketing]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.thematrixfiles.net/?p=176</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Last weekend at the mall, while purchasing a pair of shoes, the saleswoman gave me a tantalizing offer: give us your e-mail address and we&#8217;ll give you 10% off the price of the shoes.
I had a lot of time to think about the offer because everyone in front me willingly gave up their e-mail address and contact information.  Me, it took about 30 seconds to realize that saving less than $5 on a pair of shoes worth $49.95 was NOT worth getting spam from a store I don&#8217;t visit often (even though the shoes were really cute).
My shopping experience went from bad to worse. [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/whats-your-e-mail-address-worth/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>I&#8217;m in Technology Hell</title>
		<link>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/im-in-technology-hell/</link>
		<comments>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/im-in-technology-hell/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 10 Oct 2008 01:14:21 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>jpineda</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Blog]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[customer service]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Productivity]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.thematrixfiles.net/?p=172</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[My laptop is being rebuilt, my cell phone has stopped ringing &#8212; but all my equipment is new! I&#8217;m in technology hell, and if it weren&#8217;t for Maki and my senior network administrator, I would lose my mind.
When I ordered a new laptop three months ago, I asked for Vista as my operating system.  I figured it was time to get Vista; it&#8217;s been out for ages and resistance is futile, it was time to upgrade.  Alas, my brand new Sony VAIO laptop with 2 GIG of RAM was slooooow to boot up and slow to shut down, it took 5-10 minutes to recognize an [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/im-in-technology-hell/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>8</slash:comments>
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		<item>
		<title>Are You Sick of the 2008 Election Yet?  Here are a Few More Sites to Visit!</title>
		<link>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/are-you-sick-of-the-2008-election-yet-here-are-a-few-more-sites-to-visit/</link>
		<comments>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/are-you-sick-of-the-2008-election-yet-here-are-a-few-more-sites-to-visit/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 08 Oct 2008 02:03:57 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>jpineda</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Blog]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Barack Obama]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Google]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Twitter]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.thematrixfiles.net/?p=166</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[In 28 days, we Americans get to vote for a new President. On the one hand, I have been glued to the TV during both conventions and the debates, and I&#8217;m reading everything I can about the candidates and their platforms.  On the other hand, I&#8217;m completely sick of the politics, the inflated promises, and the false statements.  Since I&#8217;m a bit of a political junkie, I have been scouring the Web for some of the most informative and innovative resources on the election. Here are some of my favorite sites:
My Election Decision is aimed that the coveted undecided voters.  You take [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/are-you-sick-of-the-2008-election-yet-here-are-a-few-more-sites-to-visit/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>2</slash:comments>
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		<title>The National Parks &#8211; America&#8217;s Best Idea</title>
		<link>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/the-national-parks-americas-best-idea/</link>
		<comments>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/the-national-parks-americas-best-idea/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 30 Sep 2008 23:38:46 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>jpineda</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Blog]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.thematrixfiles.net/?p=160</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Last week, I had the honor of attending a private screening of a new film by Ken Burns: The National Parks &#8211; America&#8217;s Best Idea. The film will air on PBS next September 2009 and was supported in part by the National Park Foundation, an esteemed Matrix Group client.
Even if you&#8217;re not a PBS kind of person, you probably know Ken Burns.  His documentaries have helped us understand the Civil War, Thomas Jefferson, baseball, jazz and Lewis &#38; Clark (among other things).  And for all you Mac users out there, you know that iPhoto has a check box for &#8220;Ken Burns Effect&#8221; which [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/the-national-parks-americas-best-idea/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>1</slash:comments>
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		<item>
		<title>My Love-Hate Relationship with CAPTCHA</title>
		<link>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/my-love-hate-relationship-with-captcha/</link>
		<comments>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/my-love-hate-relationship-with-captcha/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 24 Sep 2008 01:45:40 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>jpineda</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Blog]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.thematrixfiles.net/?p=153</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[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&#8217;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 [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/my-love-hate-relationship-with-captcha/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>2</slash:comments>
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		<item>
		<title>Thank Goodness for Citizen Journalists During Hurricane Ike</title>
		<link>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/thank-goodness-for-citizen-journalists-during-hurricane-ike/</link>
		<comments>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/thank-goodness-for-citizen-journalists-during-hurricane-ike/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 17 Sep 2008 02:12:52 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>jpineda</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Blog]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Web 2.0]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.thematrixfiles.net/?p=132</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[When my in-laws were told to evacuate their home in Houston last week, they were lucky; they managed to book a flight out to our home in VA before the two Houston airports closed down.  We spent Saturday and Sunday watching the news and hoping their friends and home were safe.  The most frustrating part about watching the news was the lack of local news &#8212; news about the neighborhoods, the houses, the schools, the people. Thank goodness for the citizen journalists of Houston.
While CNN, MSNBC, and all the networks showed the same footage of the Hilton&#8217;s wall falling off, and the Houston highway that [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/thank-goodness-for-citizen-journalists-during-hurricane-ike/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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		<item>
		<title>Millions Commemorate 9/11 on the Web</title>
		<link>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/millions-commemorate-911-on-the-web/</link>
		<comments>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/millions-commemorate-911-on-the-web/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 12 Sep 2008 01:44:16 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>jpineda</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Blog]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.thematrixfiles.net/?p=130</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[On the anniversary of that fateful day seven years ago, many of us paused, reflected, read the news, watched TV, and yes, many of us turned to the Web to help us remember.
Here&#8217;s a roundup of the some of the official or particularly good 9/11 sites I&#8217;ve seen.
The Pentagon Memorial was dedicated today.  This is the first of the 9/11 memorials at the official sites to be built and completed.  There&#8217;s a separate site for the fundraising effort.
The Twin Towers Memorial and Museum site has videos and information about the memorial.
The Flight 93 Memorial Fund has a tribute to the heroes who died in Shanksville, [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/millions-commemorate-911-on-the-web/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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		<title>My Favorite Free (Or Nearly Free) Road Warrior Tools</title>
		<link>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/my-favorite-free-or-nearly-free-road-warrior-tools/</link>
		<comments>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/my-favorite-free-or-nearly-free-road-warrior-tools/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 10 Sep 2008 00:28:34 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>jpineda</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Blog]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Productivity]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.thematrixfiles.net/?p=128</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Here&#8217;s my dilemma: I want to be able to resize images, but I am not a designer, I don&#8217;t need to do fancy designer-y things and I don&#8217;t want to shell out $650 for Photoshop or even $90 for Photoshop Elements.  I feel the same way about Adobe Acrobat: I just want to create PDFs, not manipulate them or optimize them, and I don&#8217;t want to pay $280 for Acrobat (the full version, just the reader).
For the not-so-power-users like me, it doesn&#8217;t make sense to pay hundreds of dollars for programs that are overkill for my needs.  Luckily, I&#8217;ve found a host of free [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/my-favorite-free-or-nearly-free-road-warrior-tools/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>8</slash:comments>
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		<item>
		<title>It&#8217;s an HD World</title>
		<link>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/its-an-hd-world/</link>
		<comments>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/its-an-hd-world/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 04 Sep 2008 04:45:31 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>jpineda</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Blog]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Gadgets]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Microsoft]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Video]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.thematrixfiles.net/?p=126</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[High Definition (HD) is everywhere. The Blu-ray format has won the HD DVD war and I&#8217;m seeing a lot more Blu-ray movies at my local video store and retail stores.  As I mentioned in a previous post, Apple TV and the PS3 now have HD videos on demand.
Earlier this year, Microsoft released Silverlight, their answer to Adobe&#8217;s Flash.  The official Web site describes Silverlight as &#8220;a cross-browser, cross-platform, and cross-device plug-in for delivering the next generation of .NET based media experiences and rich interactive applications for the Web.&#8221;  I downloaded Silverlight in order to watch the Democratic National Convention live, in HD. [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/its-an-hd-world/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>2</slash:comments>
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		<item>
		<title>Who Needs E-Mail When There&#8217;s Facebook?</title>
		<link>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/who-needs-e-mail-when-theres-facebook/</link>
		<comments>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/who-needs-e-mail-when-theres-facebook/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 29 Aug 2008 04:15:20 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>jpineda</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Blog]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[e-mail]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Facebook]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[social networking]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.thematrixfiles.net/?p=118</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I&#8217;m noticing a curious trend lately.  Instead of sending me e-mail, friends and family are sending me messages through Facebook.
My niece (age 17) and nephew (age 20) ignore my e-mails.  But when I send either of them a message via Facebook, I&#8217;m likely to get a message back.  When Facebook sends an automated messages about what I&#8217;m doing or posting, I might get a hello or an update.  My older sister says she gets the same kind of treatment &#8212; that she needs to contact her kids through Facebook.
A friend who lives in Philaldelphia wrote on my Facebook wall to let [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/who-needs-e-mail-when-theres-facebook/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>3</slash:comments>
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		<item>
		<title>This is Not Your Father&#8217;s Democratic Convention</title>
		<link>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/this-is-not-your-fathers-democratic-convention/</link>
		<comments>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/this-is-not-your-fathers-democratic-convention/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 27 Aug 2008 03:32:31 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>jpineda</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Blog]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[social networking]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.thematrixfiles.net/?p=115</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[The first night of the Democratic National Convention in Denver was watched by 22 million people who watched the speeches and commentaries on the major networks and cable outlets.  Apparently, more people watched the convention proceedings than in previous years.  But the real story is the proliferation of alternate news outlets that are providing real-time photos, video, news and commentary on the convention activities.
The array of outlets for political junkies is truly breathtaking.
The official DNC Web site offers a real-time feed in HD, in English and Spanish.  There was about a 15 second delay, presumably to encode the feed.  But HD in real-time?  Amazing.
The DNC [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/this-is-not-your-fathers-democratic-convention/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>2</slash:comments>
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		<item>
		<title>Does Your CEO Need a Blog?</title>
		<link>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/does-your-ceo-need-a-blog/</link>
		<comments>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/does-your-ceo-need-a-blog/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 22 Aug 2008 02:47:57 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>jpineda</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Blog]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.thematrixfiles.net/?p=112</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Several times a week, clients and colleagues ask me if they or their boss should be blogging.  My answer is usually a resounding Yes!, but I also know that a CEO blog usually involves writing on the part of the CEO and CEOs are rarely excited about adding another regular task to their already full plates.  As one client put it, &#8220;Joanna, when do you think I have time to blog?&#8221;
Seth Godin, one of my favorite bloggers and Web marketing mavens, says CEOs can&#8217;t and shouldn&#8217;t blog because they can&#8217;t get away from the corporate speak.
But I say that CEOs can and should blog in [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/does-your-ceo-need-a-blog/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>3</slash:comments>
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		<item>
		<title>When Google is More Than a Search Engine</title>
		<link>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/when-google-is-more-than-a-search-engine/</link>
		<comments>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/when-google-is-more-than-a-search-engine/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 20 Aug 2008 01:58:46 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>jpineda</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Blog]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Google]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.thematrixfiles.net/?p=111</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Last week, I needed to convert miles to kilometers.  A couple of weeks ago, I wanted to find a sushi restaurant in Alexandria.  In both cases, I turned to Google.
We normally think of Google as a really terrific search engine where you type in a keyword or phrase and get results, but here are my favorite tips for getting the most out of your Google searching:

You can use Google as a calculator; simply enter the calculation you&#8217;d like done into the search box.  Example:  5*9+(sqrt 10)^3=
If you want the status of a flight, enter the airline and flight number.  Example:  American 2182
If your caller ID [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/when-google-is-more-than-a-search-engine/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>2</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Happy Anniversary, Matrix Group!</title>
		<link>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/happy-anniversary-matrix-group/</link>
		<comments>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/happy-anniversary-matrix-group/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 14 Aug 2008 21:02:15 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>jpineda</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Blog]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Matrix Group]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.thematrixfiles.net/?p=103</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Lots happening at Matrix Group these days.  Matrix Group celebrated nine years in business last May 1, 2008, but we didn&#8217;t get around to celebrating until a couple of weeks ago.  We also launched a redesign of our Web site last Friday.  The Web site is not quite where we want it to be yet, but check out our website if you want a sneak peak.
Over nine years ago, around May 1, 1999, I started Matrix Group International, Inc.  We&#8217;ve come a long way and we have much to be thankful for &#8212; amazing staff, loyal and wonderful clients, supportive friends and partners.  The Washington [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/happy-anniversary-matrix-group/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>5</slash:comments>
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		<item>
		<title>Video on Demand from Apple and Sony Not Quite There Yet</title>
		<link>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/video-on-demand-from-apple-and-sony-not-quite-there-yet/</link>
		<comments>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/video-on-demand-from-apple-and-sony-not-quite-there-yet/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 07 Aug 2008 01:56:21 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>jpineda</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Blog]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Gadgets]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Video]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.thematrixfiles.net/?p=102</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Over the past couple of weeks, my family and I had the opportunity to check out the video on demand services from Apple and Sony. We found the services to be easy to use and competitively priced, but there are still a few kinks to work out in the business models.
Apple TV vs. Sony PS3
Let&#8217;s start with the Apple service.  We have an Apple TV (we bought ours for $199), which is a device that hooks up to your TV and connects via wireless to your Macintosh computer.  Using the Apple TV, we can stream photos, music and podcasts to our big screen TV.  Perhaps [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/video-on-demand-from-apple-and-sony-not-quite-there-yet/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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		<item>
		<title>Google Searches Amazon Better Than Amazon</title>
		<link>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/google-searches-amazon-better-than-amazon/</link>
		<comments>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/google-searches-amazon-better-than-amazon/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 01 Aug 2008 01:00:46 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>jpineda</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Blog]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Google]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Site search]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.thematrixfiles.net/?p=100</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Amazon.com is really lucky that Google.com indexes its content and then adds the fabulous Google search algorithms to searches.  In order to find something on Amazon.com, I had to find it on Google.com.
My son begged me to purchase software based on the Dr. Seuss ABC Book. We had previously seen the program at the Apple Store.  Even though I have a Mac at home, CJ&#8217;s computer is a PC and I wanted the PC version for him.

So I went to Amazon.com and typed &#8220;dr. Seuss alphabet software.&#8221;  I got nothing. I tried &#8220;dr. seuss alphabet&#8221; and didn&#8217;t get any software.
I should have typed &#8220;dr. seuss [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/google-searches-amazon-better-than-amazon/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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		<item>
		<title>I Registered for This Fact Sheet?  Why I&#8217;m Mad At WebTrends</title>
		<link>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/i-registered-for-this-fact-sheet-why-im-mad-at-webtrends/</link>
		<comments>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/i-registered-for-this-fact-sheet-why-im-mad-at-webtrends/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 30 Jul 2008 01:29:51 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>jpineda</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Blog]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[marketing]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.thematrixfiles.net/?p=99</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[While preparing for a Matrix Group seminar on usage reports, I decided to get the latest news about Google Analytics and WebTrends on Demand.  I found all the information about Google Analytics on the Google site with no problems.  The WebTrends site advertised a Fact Sheet that promised more technical details about features and implementation, but I had to register.
Okay, I figure, I&#8217;m already a customer of the server software, why not register to get the Fact Sheet?  The registration process was two screens, then I was directed to the PDF of the Fact Sheet.  Guess what?  The fact sheet was nothing but a page [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/i-registered-for-this-fact-sheet-why-im-mad-at-webtrends/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>4</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Who Needs a Clipping Service When There&#8217;s Google Alerts?</title>
		<link>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/who-needs-a-clipping-service-when-theres-google-alerts/</link>
		<comments>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/who-needs-a-clipping-service-when-theres-google-alerts/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 25 Jul 2008 04:46:02 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>jpineda</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Blog]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Google]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.thematrixfiles.net/?p=97</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[A while back, I signed up for several Google Alerts. Google Alerts is a free service that alerts you when your choice of keywords or phrases shows up on news pages, the Web, blogs, videos, and Google group searches.
Google recommends setting up Google Alerts to:

monitor a developing news story
keep current on a competitor or industry
track medical advances
get the latest on a celebrity or sports team (yeah, we all need more news about Britney)
watch for new videos that match a specific topic

Me, I set up Google Alerts for my name (Joanna Pineda) and my company name (Matrix Group International, Inc.).  I had to experiment with [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/who-needs-a-clipping-service-when-theres-google-alerts/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>3</slash:comments>
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		<item>
		<title>I Love Firefox 3!</title>
		<link>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/i-love-firefox-3/</link>
		<comments>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/i-love-firefox-3/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 23 Jul 2008 12:50:05 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>jpineda</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Blog]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Browsers]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.thematrixfiles.net/?p=94</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Firefox 3 launched June 18 and over 8 million people downloaded the new version. As of July 2, there were 28,340,281 total downloads!
I procrastinated at first but after a few weeks, I finally clicked on the download link. And boy, am I glad I did! Let me tell you why:

Firefox 2.0.0.16 was bogging down my entire laptop (which had 4MB of RAM) when I had 20+ tabs open. 20 tabs?  Some of you may think I deserved a slow browser for having that many tabs open. But I always have my address book, calendar, intranet, to do list, NY Times, Twitter, Facebook, Matrix Group Web [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/i-love-firefox-3/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>3</slash:comments>
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		<item>
		<title>Can the Web and Twitter Help Find Jeddah?</title>
		<link>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/can-the-web-and-twitter-help-find-jeddah/</link>
		<comments>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/can-the-web-and-twitter-help-find-jeddah/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 18 Jul 2008 02:24:41 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>jpineda</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Blog]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[social networking]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Twitter]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.thematrixfiles.net/?p=86</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Last Thursday, John and Ronia Weisner were at Dulles Airport, on their way to Saudi Arabia for a year-long assignment.  Accompanying them was their beloved dog, Jeddah.  Somehow, something went terribly wrong, Jeddah&#8217;s crate was damaged, and the dog escaped.  Now, there is a Web site &#8211; http://www.HelpFindJeddah.com &#8211;  devoted to finding Jeddah, as well as a Twitter account to keep people abreast of any news related to Jeddah&#8217;s whereabouts.
Just think about it.  In the past, if a dog or cat went missing, we put up flyers in the neighborhood and told all our friends.  Today, we use the Web, especially social networking sites, to tell [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/can-the-web-and-twitter-help-find-jeddah/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>14</slash:comments>
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		<item>
		<title>Barack Obama is Following Me on Twitter</title>
		<link>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/barack-obama-is-following-me-on-twitter/</link>
		<comments>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/barack-obama-is-following-me-on-twitter/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 16 Jul 2008 00:14:03 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>jpineda</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Blog]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Barack Obama]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Twitter]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.thematrixfiles.net/?p=79</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[A friend of mine boasted that she is following Barack Obama on Twitter and he is following her  back.  Curious, I logged on to my Twitter account and started following Barack Obama. Lo  and behold, within a few minutes, I got an e-mail from Twitter saying  that Barack Obama was following me back on Twitter. 
Why on earth would a presidential candidate follow every Tom, Dick and  Harry who wants to follow him on Twitter?  And is some poor soul on his  staff really assigned to monitor the Twitter posts?
And then it hit me.  Looking at Obama&#8217;s Twitter page, you&#8217;ll [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/barack-obama-is-following-me-on-twitter/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>2</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Where Did All My Traffic Go?</title>
		<link>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/where-did-all-my-traffic-go/</link>
		<comments>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/where-did-all-my-traffic-go/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 10 Jul 2008 22:11:50 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>jpineda</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Blog]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[e-mail]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[RSS]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Web site traffic]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.thematrixfiles.net/?p=78</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[In recent months, several clients reported declines in their Web site traffic.  &#8220;Where did all my traffic go?&#8221; they asked anxiously.  Turns out, the traffic is still there, but it&#8217;s dispersed and these clients have to look at usage reports from different sources to learn their true usage patterns and volume.
The number one reason for the seeming decline is splitting up Web traffic over multiple domains.  For example, many clients are moving to Web-based membership databases hosted by their providers.  Which means they now have usage at www.association.org and www2.association.org. Their Web traffic is now on two different servers, in different log files.  So, if [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/where-did-all-my-traffic-go/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Full vs. Partial RSS Feeds &amp; E-Mail Updates &#8211; That is the Question</title>
		<link>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/full-vs-partial-rss-feeds-e-mail-updates-that-is-the-question/</link>
		<comments>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/full-vs-partial-rss-feeds-e-mail-updates-that-is-the-question/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 07 Jul 2008 13:40:38 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>jpineda</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Blog]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[e-mail]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[RSS]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.thematrixfiles.net/?p=77</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[There is a raging debate in the office re: full vs. partial RSS feeds and e-mail updates.
The question is which option drives more traffic to the Web site?
This blog publishes partial RSS feeds and e-mail updates. You get the title and the first 60+ words and a link to the full article. The thinking is that you would get the gist of the article, then click through to read the rest of the article. While viewing the full article on the site, you might be enticed to click on past postings, the favorites on the right, or perhaps the related projects at the bottom.
Sounds logical [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/full-vs-partial-rss-feeds-e-mail-updates-that-is-the-question/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Cryogenics for the Terminally Dead Hard Drive</title>
		<link>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/cryogenics-for-the-terminally-dead-hard-drive/</link>
		<comments>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/cryogenics-for-the-terminally-dead-hard-drive/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 01 Jul 2008 14:42:32 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>jpineda</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Blog]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Data Recovery]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Urban Legends]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.thematrixfiles.net/?p=66</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[This topic is certainly not new. In fact, I first read about it many years ago, didn’t really believe it, but I must have filed the info in the old brain drive.
Last week, I went to pick up my son from his preschool. As soon as I walked in, the preschool Director came up to me, surprisingly calm for the news she was about to deliver.  She said “My computer won&#8217;t boot ever since the power outage last week.  Can you help?”  She had a back-up of her work, but it was not current.  (Rule number one: keep a current back-up [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/cryogenics-for-the-terminally-dead-hard-drive/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>6</slash:comments>
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		<item>
		<title>2520 Logos and Counting!</title>
		<link>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/2520-logos-and-counting-2/</link>
		<comments>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/2520-logos-and-counting-2/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 27 Jun 2008 20:56:51 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>jpineda</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Blog]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Web 2.0]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.thematrixfiles.net/?p=61</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[That’s how many logos are listed in the largest directory of Web 2.0 applications and services http://www.go2web20.net/ as of today, June 27, 2008.  I want to thank Ani Matson from the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) for alerting me to this site.
Some of the Web 2.0 applications I like:

Bubbles &#8211; http://bubbleshq.com/ &#8211; your social life on your desktop
ekko TV &#8211; http://www.ekko.tv/ &#8211; instantly start a video chat with 2 of your friends
Lunchn &#8211; http://www.lunchn.com/about.aspx &#8211; where are you going for lunch? (my husband&#8217;s favorite)
Luminotes &#8211; https://luminotes.com/ &#8211; personal wiki notebook
FeedTweeter &#8211; http://www.feedtweeter.com/ &#8211; feeds your RSS items to Twitter with some spice
Wallowr Air &#8211; [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/2520-logos-and-counting-2/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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		<title>The Driving Force Behind Good Leaders</title>
		<link>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/what-it-takes-to-be-king/</link>
		<comments>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/what-it-takes-to-be-king/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 24 Jun 2008 14:34:23 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>jpineda</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Blog]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[leadership]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.thematrixfiles.net/?p=58</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[At a recent CEO forum, I had the pleasure of meeting Peter Schutz, former President of Porsche AG and author of the book “The Driving Force: Getting Extraordinary Results with Ordinary People.”   Peter calls himself the former king of Porsche because, as he put it, Porsche is a cult, and when you become President, you become King.
I was captivated by Peter&#8217;s stories about Porsche&#8217;s turnaround during the early 80s.  He
talked about the 24 hour Le Mans race that began the company&#8217;s turnaround.  Porsche was not expected to win; the company was broke and did not have a new car to showcase. [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/what-it-takes-to-be-king/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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		<title>Live Support a Boost to Customer Satisfaction</title>
		<link>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/live-support-a-boost-to-customer-satisfaction/</link>
		<comments>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/live-support-a-boost-to-customer-satisfaction/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 17 Jun 2008 10:49:33 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>jpineda</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Blog]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[customer service]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.thematrixfiles.net/?p=55</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[The National Electrical Contractors Association recently launched a new website. Dramatic improvements were made in  navigation, authentication, visual design, etc. These improvements meant  change; never mind that they’re all positive, it’s still change.
Matrix Group anticipated the typical human behavior &#8212; resistance to  change &#8212; and recommended setting up live support to hedge off any  frustrations when users discover that their favorite button is not there  anymore or the link they always click on has been moved. We implemented  LivePerson because it&#8217;s easy to set-up,  user-friendly and inexpensive.  The results have been terrific.  Adrianne, the staffer behind [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/live-support-a-boost-to-customer-satisfaction/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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		<title>You Call That a Site Search?</title>
		<link>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/you-call-that-a-site-search/</link>
		<comments>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/you-call-that-a-site-search/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 13 Jun 2008 22:37:32 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>jpineda</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Blog]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Site search]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.thematrixfiles.net/?p=51</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[A friend works for Levi Strauss, so I always ask for her opinion when  buying jeans.  I was looking for skinny jeans; she recommended a pair of  503 jeans.  So I went to Levi.com, typed &#8220;503&#8243; and got nothing.  I tried  &#8220;levis 503&#8243; and got nothing.  I typed &#8220;skinny jeans&#8221; and finally got  some results, but nothing for 503 jeans.
So I went to Amazon.com and typed &#8220;levis 503&#8243; and got a hit for 503 jeans,  as well as other jeans.  It turns out that 503 jeans are no longer being  sold directly by Levis, [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/you-call-that-a-site-search/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>6</slash:comments>
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		<title>Are You HyperConnected?</title>
		<link>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/are-you-hyperconnected/</link>
		<comments>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/are-you-hyperconnected/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 10 Jun 2008 18:12:42 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>jpineda</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Blog]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[e-mail]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[social networking]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.thematrixfiles.net/?p=10</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[A recent study by Nortel and IDC showed just how wired and connected we have become.  The study found that:

16% of global workers are already “hyperconnected,” fully embracing a world of multiple devices and intense use of new communication applications. The hyperconnected worker uses a minimum of seven devices for work and personal access, plus at least nine applications like IM, text messaging, web conferencing, and social networks.
36% of global workers were designated as “increasingly connected,” meaning they use a minimum of four devices for work and personal access to six or more applications.
The most hyperconnected country is China and the United States. The [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/are-you-hyperconnected/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>1</slash:comments>
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		<item>
		<title>No E-Mail Fridays</title>
		<link>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/no-e-mail-fridays/</link>
		<comments>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/no-e-mail-fridays/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 06 Jun 2008 18:15:23 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>jpineda</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Blog]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[e-mail]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.thematrixfiles.net/?p=11</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I got a wondrous e-mail today, from a Senior VP at the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB).  NFIB is a Matrix Group client and I sent him a routine e-mail.  Here is what I got back:
“Please call me today.  In an effort to facilitate better communication, I am not going to be communicating by email on Fridays.  I look forward to meeting / speaking with you directly.  Otherwise, I will respond to your email request on Monday.  I encourage you to consider participating.  Have a great day.”
Wow, no e-mail on Fridays.  I’m not sure I can [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/no-e-mail-fridays/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>6</slash:comments>
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		<title>New Blog on the Block &#8211; MatriXFiles</title>
		<link>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/new-blog-on-the-block-matrixfiles/</link>
		<comments>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/new-blog-on-the-block-matrixfiles/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sun, 01 Jun 2008 18:16:49 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>jpineda</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Blog]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Matrix Group]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.thematrixfiles.net/?p=12</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Okay, we finally did it!  Matrix Group launched a blog, MatriXFiles.  After helping dozens of clients develop their blog strategies, I decided it was high time we had one. We established our own blog strategy and brand, created an awesome design, put together the content plan and now we’ve launched! I’d love your comments about the site.
The strategy, which includes the site title, is most critical. It sets the tone and image you want to communicate. So, the Matrix Group blog had to have a movie-themed title. You see, every person at Matrix Group is assigned to a team and every team is [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.thematrixfiles.net/blog/new-blog-on-the-block-matrixfiles/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>5</slash:comments>
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