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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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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How to know you’ve pulled off a successful event:
1. People give you thunderous applause for helping to organize it (totally unexpected and unnecessary, but way fun)
2. Lots of blog posts, Tweets and more raving about it
3. A steady stream of requests about when the next one will take place.
Yes, it’s true, the Columbus Tweetup for July was a huge [...]

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I’ve been using LinkedIn for almost five years and I just hit 500 contacts this week. Since 2004, LinkedIn has evolved from a site I used occasionally into an invaluable resource I access several times a week. LinkedIn cut short my job search when I moved to Columbus three years ago, rocketing my resume right to the president of the midwest’s [...]

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I’ve been reading a lot of blogs tonight and wondering how everyone got started with social media. I’ll answer the question myself, then ask you to share your stories too - either as a comment below or on your own blogs. If it’s the latter, please be sure to let me know so I can go read them.
My [...]

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I’m on a real tear with social media lately - I talk about it with anyone who will listen. I talked about social media with my Mom while she was visiting, to the point where she was able to tell the lady at Hallmark all about Webkinz World (I was so proud). I’ve talked about social media to [...]

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