My blog, by the way, is MotherTalkers.

LOS ANGELES, Calif. -- On Saturday, I had the privilege to participate on a panel discussion at the Latino2 Conference, which took place at the Los Angeles Convention Center.

Hosted by the non-profit group Latinos in Social Media, Latino2 is an event to bring together "the best minds in media, marketing and communications in the Latinosphere." (You can see why I felt so honored to participate!)

And the conference was everything that I could have hoped for and more. About 150 people -- I am so bad at taking crowd estimates -- huddled in a room to both learn about Latinos' burgeoning digital influence and how they could be a part of it.

The event was kicked off by Brian Solís, author of Engage!, a book about new media. Now, I have always considered myself to be a connected person -- I have a blog, multiple e-mail addresses, a MySpace page, Facebook and Twitter accounts -- but I learned so much from Solís, including that I am not really connected.

When it comes to the Internet, "content" is no longer key, but "context." Solís said it was no longer enough for someone with a blog or someone in marketing to have a Twitter account and 200 followers. Marketers needed to actually converse with their customers via tweets.

"72 percent of businesses have a social media strategy," Solís said. "That's 72 percent of people who are lying."

He mocked a Best Buy job ad, in which the position called for the person to have at least 200 Twitter followers. "People are connected to you for different reasons," he said, not necessarily because you work at Best Buy, or even your friends like the store's products.

A similar theme arose on my panel, the Latina Mommy Blogger Panel. I shared the stage (from left to right in photo) with Silvia Martinez, founder of the Spanish-language Mamá Latina Tips blog and partner and editor-in-chief of another blog called Disneylandia al Día; Ana Lilian Flores, co-founder and co-publisher of Spanglish Baby Media; and, Elizabeth Cerezo, who blogs at Thoughts of a Mommy and Disneylandia al Día. We were introduced by Tayde Aburto, President and CEO, of the Hispanic Chamber of e-Commerce.

After brief introductions, we were asked about what we didn't like in a PR pitch. "Dear Mommy Blogger letters," Flores said. She added the importance of personalizing a message, as opposed to sending out a generic press release. (We all nodded in agreement.)

We were asked how we balance blogging with other jobs and our families. (Answer: It isn't easy. Get help in the way of blogging partners. Thank you Gloria and Erika!)

How do Latinos gain more influence online? (By attending conferences like Latino2 and networking.)

One guy from the audience representing a communications group asked us the difference in online behavior between an immigrant and first generation Latino. "I've got a story for you!" I said to laughter. I then proceeded to tell them the story of my mom commenting on a blog post I wrote about abortion. (Laughter.) "You know in our community that outing yourself as pro-choice is like outing yourself as gay." People laughed, and I was at ease. This was definitely my people and my crowd.

Afterwards, my fellow panelists bonded on a job well done. (From left to right: Elisa Batista, Silvia Martinez, Liz Cerezo, and Ana Lilian Flores.)

Many from the audience approached us afterwards with either follow-up questions or handing us their business cards. What a wonderful conference. Everyone was so warm, personable and energetic.

I am looking forward to Latino2's stops in Silicon Valley and Sacramento, which is slated to happen sometime in the next 12 months. Stay tuned!