Lara Kretler’s blog

I spend a fair amount of my time these days sharing the good news about social media and what it can mean for individuals and organizations. In these economic times, social networking and web 2.0 are more critical than ever - both for employees who need to be prepared for any possibility, and for businesses who need to do more marketing with less [...]

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Mack Collier had a great post this week about using social media to form online connections you can then take offline and cement into real friendships. I’m a huge proponent of this, but the birth of my niece on 10/24 has me thinking about the opposite - how to use technology and social media to enhance and deepen [...]

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Editor’s note: Earlier this week, I blogged over at CONet about a free public tech event called Ohio 2.0 and a subsequent private VIP reception known as 2.Ohio, both put on by the Columbus tech community. I was invited to cover the events via my blog and Twitter. What follows are my live-blogged observations edited only for typos or [...]

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Recently I discovered the best toothbrush ever, the Colgate 360. Think all toothbrushes are alike? Think again. This thing rocks. It’s got the perfect hand shape and the ideal mouth feel, plus it gets your choppers - and everything else in there - feeling super clean. It has this cool, rubbery, sandpapery, velcro-like area to scrub your [...]

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I talk a lot about the power of social search, and today I’ve experienced a perfect example. On my way back from a late, quick lunch errand, I found myself facing a dilemma and needing quick answers. I posted a query to my knowledgeable and enlightened Twitter network, knowing I’d benefit from instant expertise.

Note: I also could have posed the [...]

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I must mention Chris Brogan a lot in my house, because anytime I’m faced with a challenge related to my blog or social media work in general, my husband gets a mock-serious look on his face and asks “what would Chris Brogan do?!” CB really is that influential when it comes to web 2.0 stuff. Now, he [...]

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If you’re connected to me on Plaxo, Friendfeed or Facebook or you’ve subscribed to this blog’s RSS feed, you probably already know that I’m a huge fan of Delicious. I use this social bookmarking site in place of my Internet favorites to save sites, articles, videos, blogs and other links I like so I can refer back to them at [...]

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Have you seen the nine Common Craft “In Plain English” videos explaining social media and different social networking tools like Twitter, RSS, blogs and wikis? These videos are wonderful. They give simple, effective explanations that anyone can understand. The creators use cut-out paper figures to tell the story which gives the videos a fun, relaxed feel. I’ve seen the [...]

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While we were still in DC, we saw many beautiful old buildings and statues engraved and adorned with words and phrases. The words may be poetry, wisdom or noble notions, but all are sentiments meant to stand the test of time.
One that really stood out was the engraving on the southwest corner of the grand old post [...]

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