It won’t come as a surprise that Larger Than Life prints is a big fan of Twitter.  Since LTLprints was a smudged idea on a whiteboard we knew that customer and community interaction was a key part to the success of our company.  Recently there has been some intense debate that has taken place at the Larger Than Life prints headquarters regarding this question, “are we miss managing or under utilizing the @LTLprints twitter account?”

The debate originates with our desire to balance the increased exposure to the company, but also add value. And do so without blatantly self promoting or forcing a hard-sell. We believe the fundamental reason that twitter is powerful is that it adds value to the users.

The way that I normally solve problems like this is to investigate the ways other companies have utilized new technology. Also I seek advice and feedback from others that I respect.  One suggestion was that we should use @LTLprints account to “celebrate our company”.  This includes discussing interesting prints, designs, customers, and lastly, being open about the trials and tribulations of starting a business.  But we also want to hear from you.  How do you manage your company’s Twitter account? What specific goals have you set? How do you interact with your own private account i.e. @Schoenrock and @cpeLTLprints? What advice do you have for @LTLprints?

Update -  We are going to try out @cotweet and see how it goes!

Tags: Business, Debate, Larger than Life, On the Web, Online Communities, Social network, twitter

Last week LTLprints offered a free print to the community.  (We will try to do this about once a month to stay tuned.)  It is with great pleasure to announce the winner of the first free print giveaway.  As suggested by Gloria Bell via twitter, “@phltwestival could use a free sign for our fundraising event. http://philadelphia.twestival.com” and we gleefully agreed.

So what is a Twestival and what is the phltwestival?  From their press release,

On Thursday, 12 February 2009, for 24 hours, cities around the world will be hosting “Twestivals”, volunteer-run, fundraising meet-ups for people who know each other through the micro-blogging service twitter.com, to bring Twitter communities together in the spirit of fun and for a good cause.

They are raising money for a cause that I am personally interested in; charity: water, a not-for-profit bringing clean, safe drinking water to people in developing nations. Anything that supports the Millennium Development Goals gets a thumbs up from us!

The phltwestival will take place at the Get Happy Pub, 509-511 South 2nd Street and we hope to see you there.  Big kudos to Melissa Thiessen and Gloria Bell who are co-founders of the Philadelphia event.  LTLprints is proud to be apart of such a great event and we are pleased to provided our services to such an honorable example of communities uniting to server the greater good.

To find out more about Twestival and to see the full list of cities participating, go to the official event website at www.twestival.com or follow @twestival on Twitter.

As always, feedback is welcome.  What do you think about twestival and / or our decision to support this project?

Tags: Drinking water, Gloria Bell, Melissa Thiessen, Micro-blogging, Millennium Development Goals, Philadelphia, Twestival, twitter

Dear Nick,

I read about your Yahoo – Taco Hiring Event on TechCrunch and was impressed.  The paper TokBox logo you taped to the truck, however, grabbed my attention.  I thought I would use this opportunity to introduce you to my company, LTLprints – Larger Than Life, and show you a better way to put your logo on taco trucks and walls in the future.

A few months ago TechCrunch asked us to print some wall decals for their August Capital meetup.  We had your logo on file from that event and thought, in the holiday spirit, we would send you some LTLprints love.

For your next event feel free to use our TokBox prints. Or if you’re really pumped we could print one that’s up to 7 feet wide and 4.5 feet tall.  Don’t worry, our prints won’t damage your walls and the prints can be pulled down and moved over and over again.

Please contact me directly or visit LTLprints.com for any custom print needs TokBox might have.

I wish you Happy Holidays and continued success with TokBox in 2009

Carsten Petzold
Founder, LTLprints.com
Twitter: @cpeLTLprints

Tags: August Capital, Jobs, LTL, LTLprints, LTLprints.com, Print, Prints, Tacos, TechCrunch, TokBox, twitter, Yahoo

I spend a good amount of time online so I thought I’d share with you some of the cool stuff I’ve recently viewed. This is in no particular order.

• Multiplex - This is some pretty cool technology coming out of IndyHall Labs. Multiplex is a new way to sort and view your huge archives of dvds. Fast forward to 1:10 for some great footage. Kudos to the team that’s putting this together - David Martorana, Jason Allum, Jason Tremblay, Johnny Bilotta and I think Alex Hillman is in there too.
• iminlikewithyou - Check out this video from last weeks Tech Meetup in NYC. Multi-player games made easy.
• My older brother Anderson, CEO of ScanDigital.com, got on Twitter. Follow him @AndersonSD
• Carsten Petzold, co-founder of LTLprints.com was written up at the BarCampPhilly blog. Very nice.
• Excited for my halloween costume to arrive. Halloween is such a fun day.
• Jesse Middleton of Srcasm.com finally got me to sign up at Passpack.com. Very cool if you can remember your super long (and freakishly secure) password passphrase.
• Better late than never. Check out Choicetweets.com
  
• Facebook hit 10 Billion photos! Wow.
• This image was passed around the office, and now I share it with you. Enjoy.
  

  Puking Pumpkin

Tags: Alex Hillman, Anderson, Anderson Schoenrock, Carsten Petzold, Choicetweets.com, Facebook, Halloween, Holidays, iminlikewithyou, iminlikewithyou.com, IndepentsHall, IndyHall, IndyHall Labs, Jason Tremblay, Jesse Middleton, Johnny Bilotta, Multiplex, PassPack, PassPack.com, Pumpkins, ScanDigital, ScanDigitalc.om, Schoenrock, twitter

I’ve written a few first posts and find that joining a conversation is often easier than starting one. So let’s unwrap the new toy and get right down to business.

My name is Kendall Schoenrock and I’m a co-founder of LTLprints.com - Larger Than Life prints. Carsten Petzold fills out the founding team and I’ll point you to our bio page to see his awesome credentials.

What do we do?

We make huge customizable prints, delivered to your door. Oversized cutouts of any image, picture, or person you choose. Printed on a self-adhesive cloth material that sticks to any flat surface without leaving a mark or residue. It’s the best way to decorate your world. Guaranteed.

Where are we?

We’re in Philly right next to LOVE park, but our prints can go anywhere and we like that. Speaking of love, we really enjoy what we’re doing. We’re excited to bring you an awesome product and we need your help. Our goal is to be accessible - for example, if you call our phone number (1-800-672-6741) you can say my name and talk to me. Please do so. We are building this company around you and we can’t do it without you. Also, if you’re in the area let us know and I’ll buy you a beer - no joke, I’m not kidding on that one. Tuesday night is TechKaraoke - good times.

When will the site launch?

We are shooting for late October or early November 2008. We’ll keep you posted. It’s going to be big. Larger than life, actually. Technically we have already launched a scaled down version at LTLprints.net. Check it out!

Why are we here?

We’re here because you deserve to have the freedom to decorate your world how you want it. Your prints should display only what you want them to, and should express your style or memories. Your business should be able to take their images with them to any expo or conference, sticking to any whiteboard or wall in sight. Moving and redecorating shouldn’t suck, especially when it comes to your decor. Our goal is to save you time and money and give you a totally unique product that you can brag to all of your friends about. Did I mention that we’re perfect for viral marketing? Hint Hint

How?

For now, check out our *temporary* site at LTLprints.net - upload a picture, answer a few quick customizable questions and submit. Give us a few days and we’ll ship your custom print right to your door. Peel it off and apply it to your wall. You’ll be like a little kid again unwrapping that perfect birthday gift. And if you’re not happy with your first placement - move it. It won’t tear, leave a mark, or give you any trouble. I promise.

So that’s about it for my first intro post. How’d I do? Leave me a comment and lets get the conversation started off on the right foot.

Cheers,
Kendall Schoenrock
co-founder, LTLprints.com
kendall at ltlprints.com
800-672-6741

Follow me on Twitter. @schoenrock

Tags: Carsten Petzold, Kendall Schoenrock, Larger Than Life Prints, LTLprints.com, LTLprints.net, Petzold, Schoenrock, TechKaroke, twitter