I’m sure no one else has been as devastated by the slow decline and decay of this blog as I am personally. I began blogging here with the best of intentions. I teach people every day that the key to a positive presence in social media is consistency in content and a commitment to building relationships over time. And yet I’ve been a bad, bad blogger here in the very online space which bears my name.

My negligence and neglect here at larakretler.com are by no means an indication that my interest in PR and social media is waning – on the contrary, I remain as passionate about my chosen field as ever. I continue to spend my working life embroiled in learning about, using and advocating for the latest new media applications for business communications. However, it’s become nearly impossible for me to spend as much of my off-work time focused on those topics because, well, I’ve become completely obsessed with something else since July 2009.

Some of you may be wondering if my new focus is my dog – especially since I’ve blogged about Jack and his time-intensive special needs here before – but that’s not it. Sure, Jack is still a high maintenance dog (God love him!), but he’s actually doing really well these days. Both he and his Facebook fan page are thriving.

In fact, what has been keeping me so busy/occupied/locked in a daydream since July is the happy news that my better half and I are expecting our first child at the ripe old ages of nearly 40. Not a puppy or kitten this time but a real live, honest to goodness human infant. Since learning this news, I’ve been absolutely single-minded of purpose and trying to learn anything and everything I can about pregnancy, childbirth, babies, motherhood, parenting philosophies, kids and family management. I’ve been using social media to do all this, of course, but still – it’s sidelined me from writing about social media.

And so, I’ve finally come to the decision (with the help of a social media poll, of course - thanks again, Twitter friends!) that I’ve had this poor blog on hold long enough. It’s time to embrace my change of focus instead of trying to fight or work around it. I don’t see my obsession about this new little life fading anytime in the next…oh, 21 or so years.

This doesn’t mean that I’ll never blog about PR or social media anymore, but rather that I’m opening my scope to include lots of other things – some of which I’ve mentioned above. I’m not going “full on mommyblogger” (at least, I don’t think I am) but this blog may certainly start to skew in that direction, and may also include a bit more personal content than it has in the past.

I love blogging too much to end this forum completely. Although I maintain a personal/private blog outside of the public eye, I find that I’m learning enough in my new mommyquest that it may be worthwhile to share it here. I also think I have a rather interesting, even unique, perspective on this motherhood thing that I haven’t seen addressed in other blogs – that of someone who has avoided, procrastinated and even debated never having kids at all until this relatively late date. (If you know of bloggers who come at motherhood from that view, will you let me know?)

If you choose to unsubscribe and go your own way due to this change in my content and blog direction, I respect and understand your decision. If, on the other hand, you choose to stick around to see how I’m able to weave some PR and social media content in amidst blogging about late-in-life pregnancy and the quest for cool mommyhood, I can promise that it will be far from boring. I’ll continue to try to keep a good balance between stuff that interests me personally vs. news and information you can truly use and benefit from.

And, as always, I’ll continue to look to you for feedback about what’s working and what’s not. Thanks so much for being part of this journey with me.

It was exciting to be in a room with such smart people sharing ideas about how we can use our blogs and social media networks – aka our “powers” – for good to help nonprofits, support charitable causes and affect real change. We learned that Geoff and the folks at the Columbus Foundation have  been working together on a study about social media for social causes, with full results being released later this spring.

Fellow blogger Shane Haggerty did a great job summing up the afternoon. Many of us also Tweeted as the discussion progressed, so you can find some key insights at the Tweetstream for hashtag #TCF. In fact, the Columbus Foundation was the number three trending topic among Twitter users in Columbus yesterday, as tracked by Happn.in, a Twitter trend aggregator that shows you what people are buzzing about in your particular city.

I can’t lie that in the days leading up to this event, I felt a great amount of pride for our fair city. Forget the coasts – our own little Columbus, Ohio is really making its mark as a social media epicenter with top national bloggers and social media pros coming to visit us. First Central Ohio PRSA brought Brian Solis to town, now the Columbus Foundation reveals it has a terrific partnership with Geoff Livingston, and next month the Ohio Growth Summit event brings Chris Brogan to Columbus as keynote speaker. There’s lots going on in social media in this town, and I’m happy to be part of it. 

While we’re thinking about using social media for social good, here are a couple of good resources:

• Ten ways to change the world through social media
• Beth’s Blog: how nonprofits can use social media
• The 59 smartest nonprofit organizations online today

So you tell me – what’s your favorite cause, social media related or not? Have you thought about how you can use social media to affect change?

Blogging here for the past year has been a great experience for me. Keeping the content smart and fresh is a commitment requiring a lot of discipline – I vow to improve my frequency and consistency in year two –  but I do love it. Blogging publicly has opened me up to visibility, opportunities, learning and connections I could not have gained any other way. Blogging has also made me a better PR person and a more informed and credible social media practitioner as well. And although it sounds trite, I truly couldn’t have done it without the support and engagement of  each of you who read and comment on this blog.

Leo Bottary does a phenomenal job thanking all of the commentors on his blog and I’ve always admired that practice. You all are the cupcakes at this blog’s birthday party. Please enjoy a little link love as I celebrate this blogaversary with you – and if you see a blog or person below that you don’t know, I encourage you to pay them a visit. We enjoy all flavors here.

Thank you!

Chris Brogan – Joel Postman – Leo Bottary - Carlson’s Loveable Llamas - Andrea Hill - BlogWorldExpo - PR4Pirates - ITS Insider – Cool Moms Rule - The Cheezits - Best Seller Authors - The 270 - Rocky Van Brimmer - Mike McBride - Jennifer Laycock - Saul Colt - Carlita Pitts - Sameer Vasta - Alaina Sheer - David Mullen - Nathaniel Fuller - Cara Keithley - How Not to Write - Girlfriendology – Wine Me Dine Me – Advergirl - Daniel Johnson, Jr. - Thought Gadgets - Radian 6 - Megan Hofmann - Shane Haggerty – Kensington Victoria – Holly Michael - Ryan Swigert – Sarah Zaenger - PR Buzzsaw - Joseph Hurtado – Brandy J – Dawn Friedman – Ryan Squire – Jody Dzuranin – Cliffieland – Dan Rockwell – Sara Nichols Barton – Christina Christian – Oberers Flowers - Sundays with Stretch Pants – Scott Risner - Angelo Mandato – Mary Wehrle – Katie McCartney - Katawi Cato - Carl McKinney – Walker Evans - Nice Genes - Fabulously in the City – Bike Columbus – Buckeyes Blog – Restaurant Widow – Tell A Friend Promotions – Christina Mack – TechLife Columbus - CMH Gourmand – Richard Brennan – Kelley Bell - Linas Simonis - Country Savvy – Chris Abraham – Tarot by Arwen – Gary Hunt – Jenny McCutcheon – Tim Eby – Gary Moneysmith – James Seay – InnoGage – Andrew Miller - William Hessian – Savvy Auntie - Fernway Manor – Biffy Beans – Sandy Blanquera - Webbed Marketing – Maureen McCabe – Clinton Middleton – Andrew Miller – Awake and Dreaming – Tip Tail – Applesassy - Sean Carpenter - Kim Ratcliff – Sandeep Arora – The Social Path – Sparkplug 9 – Nathan McGee – Amy Johnson - Columbus ImPRessions – George Black – Dan Harris – Krista Holloway – Fahlgren Mortine PR - Patty Seybold – Hoye Mastery Center – Experience Columbus - LJ Jones - Jason Baer – Lee Odden - Fahlgren Advertising – Matt Betts – Alison Bolen – EyeCube – Social Media Showdown – Online Media Boot Camp – Brian Solis – Baskets by Bonnie – Barbara Wayman – Marina Goldshteyn – Ralf Appelt

My gift to you

Now, a gift for those who have read this far. Walking down a street in SoHo, New York recently, I noticed a long line of people queueing up at a small window in the side of a building. One by one, each person handed over cash and walked away with a small white box. I was intrigued, so we crossed the street to take a closer look. There to my delight was a storefront cupcake vendor selling the tiniest miniature cupcakes I’d ever seen.

Please meet my new obsession - tiny, adorable stuffed cupcakes from Baked by Melissa. Launched in 2009, Daily Candy, The New York Times and the world’s best cupcake blog, Cupcakes Take the Cake, have already raved about them, but these little gems are still a pretty well kept secret even among New Yorkers. You have to be in the know or just get lucky to find your way to the corner of Broadway and Spring in SoHo and pick yourself up a couple. If I could, I would send you all a delicious, tiny cupcake from Baked by Melissa – but since I can’t, I’ve at least shared my story about them. So now you know, and I hope you treat yourself next time you’re in the vicinity!

Now… what’s your favorite way to celebrate your blog, birthday, or both?

Personal branding is all the buzz in the blogosphere again this week due to a popular new book - plus several social media movers and shakers changed jobs and took their personal brands with them. Personal branding will continue to be a hot topic while we’re in this recession because with many folks seeking jobs, it’s one of the best ways to differentiate yourself and rise above the rest.

In my presentation last night and in this post, I don’t cover how to find or develop your personal brand – I don’t claim to have any expertise in that beyond my own personal experiences. I will however offer my tips on managing your personal brand. These are taken right from an answer I provided on LinkedIn yesterday in response to a question by Perry Maughmer.

My top tips for managing personal brand through social media and real-world networking are:

1. Offline, online and at all times, be sure your actions match your words. Be a person of integrity. Be consistent whether in public or in private and whether at work or on personal time. Remember that what you say online to one person, one time you are really saying to all people, for all time. Confused about whether you can maintain a separate personal brand and “professional identity” online? I’ve seen people attempt to manage multiple identities, but my take is that it’s best to have one unified personal brand online that incorporates your personal side and your 9 to 5 side. Everything you do online leaves tracks, and it’s pretty easy for those in the know to connect the dots between your two profiles or identities. Social media can get you hired… but it can also get you fired.

2. Google yourself (set up Google Alerts or an automatic calendar reminder to do this monthly) to be sure the results that come back are positive and reflect well on you, your personal brand, your family and your profession/chosen career. Know that you’re being Googled by others including employers, future and current employers, colleagues, clients, prospects, lawyers checking you out for jury duty, even friends and family members. Act accordingly (see #1 above).

3. If something comes up in your Google results that you view as negative – or if there are no results at all for you – take steps to correct that if you can. Be sure you are consistently producing enough good content through blogging and blog commenting, meaningful social networking and other forms of online content generation and participation so that the good stuff far outweighs the bad and pushes the negatives down farther in the search rankings. I’m no pro on search engine optimization, but I know where to find the good stuff to learn what I need. When in doubt, check the most popular bookmarks on Delicious tagged SEO.

4. Build a strong network online and off by making genuine, authentic connections wherever and whenever you can. Be yourself, be memorable and share knowledge and value – whatever that means for you and your situation. Always seek to give more than you get. The people I know with the best personal brands are the ones who are constantly connecting by sharing their knowledge and giving away tips, info and resources. For example, a colleague and friend of mine just started a job networking group specifically for marketers in career transition.  Great stuff. And to that end, I’m including a few more useful links – Me 2.0 is a hot new book on personal branding by Gen Y expert Dan Schwabel (give it a preview here), plus I’ve amassed a few other relevant resources on Delicious.

So, what have I missed. What are your favorite personal branding tips? Any other good insights for job seekers or folks in career transition?

Welcome to the Friday Five – be sure to check out past posts in this ongoing series.

If you’re new to Twitter, you may be wondering why certain words in many Tweets begin with a hashtag (#). This is a system of organizing, grouping and tracking Tweets that started back in 2007. You can read all about it on the Twitter Fan Wiki. My take on hashtags is that they allow you to watch only the Twitterstream for a particular topic or theme, uninterrupted, without any of the constant distractions and clutter that can be ever-present on Twitter.

A recent update to the hashtag phenomenon is a hand sign (or gang sign, to those in the know) attributable either to Brian Solis or Robert Scoble. At the SXSW conference this year, this hand sign was all the rage with the digerati and was even featured in a clever game of SXSW bingo.

So why should you care about hashtags? Because they’re the best way to track conversation threads across Twitter. By using Summize (aka Twitter Search) and monitoring for particular hashtags, you can parse and group Tweets about a particular subject for easy monitoring or to follow along with a live event or real-time conversation. Most social media events have a pre-assigned hashtag – #SXSW being an obvious example – so it’s easy to follow the conversation stream as people Tweet live from the scene of the action.

So what are the hottest hashtags right now? In past posts I’ve blogged about #journchat, which heats up Twitter on Monday nights for PR folks and journalists. Now, here’s my guide to five other popular hashtags and how best to follow along.

1. Hot hashtags for PR pros: I keep a Summize screen open all day tuned to “#pradvice OR #PR” in order to follow Tweets tagged specifically for PR pros. This is a great way to find smart PR people to follow or find out what topics or blog posts are popular at the moment. 

2. Hot hashtags for healthcare: There appears to be a sudden influx of hospital and other health industry folks on Twitter right now, many of whom are tagging Tweets with “#healthcare OR#hcsm OR #hcmktg.” Those are all good tags to watch – and you can watch all three simultaneously using that link.

3. Hot hashtags for women in tech: This week I noticed both Ada Lovelace Day” and hashtag #ALD09 were trending on Twitter. After a quick visit to the Tweetstream on Summize, I found the Finding Ada blog which explained it all: Ada Lovelace Day is an international day of blogging to draw attention to women excelling in technology. It was great to see women on Twitter and in blogs around the world extolling the successes of women in tech. Now I know for next year – March 24, 2010 I definitely plan to blog about my favorite unsung woman in tech.

4. Hot hashtags for social media info: Another screen I leave up all day is Summize tuned to “#smbiz OR #socialmedia OR social media OR #scrm” to keep up with the latest social media news, trends, links and blog posts shared via Twitter. It’s hard to stay on top of everything, but this and other shortcuts (like checking Delicious for what’s popular in social media) can go a long way to keeping you informed.

5 – Hottest hashtag of all for you: This may not require a hashtag at all, according to blogger Matt Browne who claimed last summer that hashtag use is dying. I think time has proven him wrong – more people are using hashtags than ever before, and there’s now a nice reference site that catalogs them all – but he makes a good point. The best search term or keyword for you to search on may still be hashtag-less. Just search on your hottest industry keyword or buzz phrase – whatever search term matters most to you or your business. This could even be your own Twitter @ name, so you never miss a Tweet that mentions you. Or, it could be your company or brand name, a competitor or a hot industry issue or trend.

Ultimately, it makes sense to keep a Summize screen open and rotate through your top keywords and hashtags throughout the day to ensure you never miss an important Tweet.

What are some other hot hashtags I’ve missed? Let me know which ones you’re tracking.

1. Personal branding vs. The Community (aka Jason Falls vs. Geoff Livingston). On Thursday of this week, I caught sight of these two well-respected social media gurus duking it out on Twitter over a commonly discussed topic in social media - that of the individual vs. the whole. As a longtime reader of both blogs, I was well aware of the differences in opinion between Jason and Geoff on the topic of personal branding – Geoff in particular seems to have a real aversion for that phrase and phenomenon – but it was still intriguing to “listen” to their at-times heated debate on Twitter. I even checked in with them both to confirm that it was a friendly debate (they reassured me) and to ask permission to share their spirited sparring here (they said go for it). The conversation is well worth a read. Where do you fall on the topic of personal brand? I’m probably closer to Jason’s view than I am to Geoff’s, though I can certainly see both sides. In fact, I like Todd Defren’s take on personal branding best: it’s essential for any PR professional these days.

2. Who Owns Social Media? (aka PR vs. Marketing vs. Advertising vs. Interactive). This is one argument that you really can’t win because there are good points on all sides. Ultimately, it comes down to who’s doing social media well, who’s measuring it, and who’s showing great results. I don’t think it’s hard to figure out where I fall in this debate – social public relations FTW – and I’m proud to see so many amazing, smart PR people leading the way in social media. Even Charlene Li, whose fantastic Altimeter Group Wiki is shaping up to be a top resource for social media pros of all stripes, includes a special section for social media PR firms. The jury’s still out on this debate but I think as time goes by, we’ll see PR continuing to take the lead on social. After all, it’s all about relationships.

3. Paid Posts vs. Purists. I’ve posted about this topic before, but it continues to be a hot one in the blogosphere. I envision the WalMart ElevenMoms on one side, with their prolific giveaways and sponsored posts, and the true purists on the other side refusing to even take part in a free cupcake tasting. It’s a big, wide, social world out there – good thing there’s room for us all.

4. Jon Stewart vs. Jim Cramer. It’s hard to imagine anyone who didn’t hear about the great Daily Show smackdown this week of CNBC’s Jim Cramer by the victorious Jon Stewart. The battle may have started on late night cable TV, but it continues to play on in social media. Jon Stewart was a trending topic on Twitter for days and Twendz, the new Twitter sentiment measurement tool released this week by Waggener Edstrom, even featured Stewart vs. Cramer on the front page at launch. Poor Cramer… did he ever even have a chance?

5. Rick Liebling’s March Marketing/Social Media Madness. Clever writing, great bloggers and a posse of social media rockstars form the basis of this March Madness-style virtual competition. There’s not much to debate here, since all of the bloggers included are worthy of big wins, but it’s a fun rivalry to watch nonetheless. Check out the follow-up posts on Eyecube and we’ll see who ends up the big winner.

That’s the Friday Five for this week. Be sure to catch up on the rest of the series. Do you have a strong opinion or two on any of the rivalries above? What would you like to see in future editions of the Friday Five?

Oh, and TGIF!

1. WordCamp Columbus – May 16. Hosted at Columbus State Community College, WordCamp is a full day of keynotes, breakout sessions and networking focused around the popular blogging platform. I’m really looking forward to this event as I’m a Wordpress girl myself.
2. PodCamp Ohio - June 20. I attended this day-long “UnConference” last year and learned a ton about blogging, social networks, podcasting and new media from local and national social media pros. This year it will be at the Ohio State University’s Mendenhall Laboratory and it’s sure to be another stellar event attracting attendees from all across Ohio and beyond.
3. Ohio Growth Summit 2009 – June 10.  Longtime readers of this blog know that I’m a huge fan of Chris Brogan’s work in the social media space. In the immortal words of Lewis Howes, Chris Brogan is a social media mutant! Now he’s coming to Columbus to speak thanks to the Ohio SBDC. I’ll be the one in the front row with a huge grin on my face.
4. Spring Informal at MoJoe Lounge – March 25. Last night I got a nice email invitation to an event that’s being billed as the “Who’s Who in Columbus Social Media” – an exclusive gathering of our city’s brightest and most influential people in the social media arena. The email gushed “Needless to say, your name was on the short list of bloggers that are making an impact in the vibrantly growing tech scene in the Midwest!” And honestly, what blogger could resist that kind of flattery? I sure can’t, so I’ll be there. You nailed it, MoJoe Lounge.
5. Katie Paine at PRSA Central Ohio - date TBD. This one’s not final or official yet, and I honestly can’t remember if I heard about it at a PRSA board meeting or in the hallowed halls of the midwest’s top PR firm. Either way, I may be in big trouble for scooping it here – but it’s exciting news. Katie Paine is huge – she’s considered THE authority on social media and PR measurement. Watch this space and Central Ohio PRSA for more.

With all these great social media happenings flowing our way this spring and summer, why would anyone leave Columbus? Happy Friday – and be sure to catch up on the rest of my Friday Five series on social media and PR.

After my blog post last week attracted the attention of Beth Harte and other conference masterminds, I managed to finagle an #OMBC nomination or two (or four?!) via Twitter today. It was pretty fun.

So why do I want to go? I’m in awe of the great speaker line-up. I love the idea of a small, intimate conference where real connections and conversations can take place. And, to quote Beth in her video promoting the contest, I’m just that into them.

Now, why do I deserve to win? As you can tell from my blog, I love social media and learning. I’ll be an active, enthusiastic, engaged participant at the conference. I’m high energy and fun to have around. I’ve already blogged about the event twice now, two weeks in a row. Once I’ve won my spot at OMBC and paid my own way there, I’ll live Tweet, live blog and openly share everything I learn. And, last but not least, I’m very handy to have around in case of a zombie attack.

So, what do you think, dear readers - do I deserve a winning ticket? Please leave a comment here or send a supportive Tweet to @onlinemediabc if you want to help my chances!

Blogs and books are great, but sometimes you really need to get away from the daily routine and immerse yourself in learning. With that in mind, here’s my ultimate wish list of social media conferences for communicators this year. I’ve researched and detailed the costs, key speakers and location for each so that you can make smart decisions in these tough economic times.

1. Online Media Boot Camp – April 9 in King of Prussia, PA – $349 plus hotel/travel (1 day). This conference has a lot packed into just one day so it’s reasonably priced, easy to get to and won’t take a lot of time – basically, there’s no reason not to go. Plus, Mack Collier is speaking and he has a cool social media contest going right now so you can win a free ticket. Hey, you never know. Go for it! And either way, follow the brilliance using the #OMBC hashtag here.
2. Inbound Marketing Summit (formerly New Marketing Summit) – either San Franciso in April, Dallas in May or Boston in September – $695 plus hotel/travel (2 days). This is a Chris Brogan joint, so it’s pretty much The One Social Media Event to Rule Them All. Even the conference website is cool, detailing the big names behind the summit and listing their blogs and Twitter info so you can follow them. Wish I could go, but I’m following them all (blogs and Twitter) so I’ll be able to catch some of the flow.
3. Social Media for Communicators – Las Vegas in March – $995 plus hotel/travel (3 days). This is the annual Ragan Communications event and it’s in Vegas, baby, Vegas. Peter Shankman, Forrester’s Josh Bernoff and Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh are all speaking. Can’t swing the pricetag or time commitment for this one? Follow all the speakers on Twitter and read their blogs – you’ll still get great content without the neon-and-cigarette-smoke induced headaches of Vegas. Also, watch the live #socmedlv Twitter stream here.
4. New Communications Forum – co-located with the San Francisco Inbound Marketing Summit in April (remember what I said above about “The One Event”?!) - $795 plus hotel/travel (2 days). This event features an incredible line-up and is extremely well respected in the industry. I’ll be watching for the #NCF hashtag on Twitter and doing my best to follow along.
5. Digital Impact Conference - April in NYC – $799 plus hotel/travel (2 days). This is PRSA’s event and the one event on this list I’ll actually be attending live and in person. I’m looking forward to hearing Brian Solis speak again, as well as PR rockstar Sarah Evans and SEO guru Lee Odden. I will blog and tweet from the conference so you’ll feel like you got to go too. And, it’s my birthday weekend so not a bad time to be back in my old stomping ground, the Big Apple.

What do you think – is this your social media event wishlist too, or are there others you’d rather attend? Will you be attending any social media conferences in 2009?

1.  TopicHawk. Just as Twitter answers the question “What are you doing?”, monitoring post TopicHawk answers the question “Right now, people are talking about…” Just plug in any keyword and up pops a steady stream of real-time findings which may include mentions from Twitter, Technorati, Friendfeed, Google News, Yahoo News, Wikipedia and more. TopicHawk also shows you what hot topics and keywords are currently trending on Twitter and Google. Here’s an example – just for fun, I put in the keywords “Lost TV” to see what it would bring back about ABC’s Lost. Imagine the impact of having this on your big screen, with your client’s brand as the keyword entered, next time they stop in for a meeting.

2. Spy. Not unlike TwitterHawk, Spy is another way to quickly and easily see conversations in social media based on keywords you enter. Early adopter Louis Gray enthused about Spy, calling it an interesting offering that offers the ability to watch not just Twitter, but also blog posts, Google Reader shares and FriendFeed. At a September social media club breakfast, Best Buy showed off Spy as a way to demonstrate how the company engages in social media. I plugged in another TV show, American Idol, to see what Spy would bring back. It’s pretty entertaining to sit back and watch the conversation flow.

3. Addictomatic. This is a fun, user-friendly little site which allows you to set up a social media listening dashboard for instant access to all the online buzz on a particular topic or keyword. Addictomatic’s tagline is “Inhale the web” and that’s exactly what it allows you to do. Some time ago, I set up a vanity page on myself and now I visit it every once in a while to be sure everything is as it should be. This is something I recommend as part of a personal online reputation management strategy, and certainly it makes sense for companies or brands to have their own Addictomatic pages as well.

4. TwitterFountain. A widget rather than a site, TwitterFountain mashes up Twitter and Flickr search results into a visually pleasing flow on your blog or social network profile page. It’s a little quirky and was created in the Netherlands so you may see some Dutch words pop up here and there, but I think it’s pretty fun. You can see the TwitterFountain widget in action on my PRopenMic page. It’s a bit orange, but I’m sure you can tweak the color if you’re just a little more tech savvy than I am.

5. NetVibes Listening Post. This one requires a special thank you to my colleague Dave Chlastosz, aka the King of NetVibes. I knew about NetVibes but had never spent time with it until I saw what Dave had done with it for a client. It blew my mind. It’s like one-stop shopping for all your social media needs, including blogs, widgets, RSS feeds and more. The thing about NetVibes is that you do need to spend some time – probably a couple of hours – setting it up the way you want it. Once you have it set up though, NetVibes is a thing of beauty and a real time-saver. Here’s a link to mine which is a work in progress. I continue to add blogs, create new category tabs, find new widgets and move things around.

There you have it – my five favorite social monitoring tools with a cool visual twist. I hope you found something new to work or play with.

Now, what have I missed – what else belongs on this list? And what would you like me to cover in my next Friday Five?