About us

Finding out what was happening locally often meant scrolling through adverts, unrelated posts and pages that had not been updated in weeks.

Then, when something genuinely interesting finally appeared, it had already happened.

East Lothian Online was created to fix that. One place to see what is happening, what is available and where you can go next.

Ethan moved from Edinburgh to East Lothian after meeting his wife, Eilidh.

While Ethan was new to the area, Eilidh had lived in East Lothian her whole life. Her knowledge of the towns, villages, businesses and communities helped shape the platform from the beginning.

Eilidh now runs East Lothian Online's social media and helps local organisations share what they are doing with the people looking for it.

It is the easiest way to find out what is happening locally without the drama, noise and endless adverts.

East Lothian Online is not trying to become a social network, a marketplace or a platform that does everything.

Every new feature has to make it easier for someone to find something local they can actually go and do. If it does not, it probably belongs somewhere else.

There was no single launch moment where everything suddenly changed.

Instead, local businesses began tagging East Lothian Online in their posts without being asked. For many organisations, adding ELO alongside their normal hashtags simply became part of how they shared what was happening.

That was when it began to feel less like an idea and more like part of the local landscape.

Most websites are designed to keep people on them for as long as possible. East Lothian Online is not.

The goal is for someone to arrive, quickly find something that makes them excited, put their phone away and head straight there.

The best part of their day should not be the website. It should be what they discovered because of it.

The long-term goal is not for people to sit around talking about how brilliant East Lothian Online is.

The goal is for it to become something people use without thinking. You want to know what is happening, so you check ELO, find an answer and get on with your day.

The most useful tools often become invisible. They simply solve the problem when you need them.

East Lothian Online was built to serve East Lothian, not to be grown and sold.

People sometimes ask why it was built. The better question is why nobody had already built it.