I have never done a #FollowFriday for someone I just met. My feeling on recommendations is I give you someone I know really well so you trust that everyone highlighted here has been through a certain amount of vetting.

So I hope you’ll forgive me for introducing you today to Pat Rhoads, a man who, though I’ve been following him on Twitter, smacked me in the face (figuratively) in the comments of Spin Sucks yesterday.

If you missed the blog post, The Atlantic did a piece on whether or not Facebook is making us lonely and I riffed on it. You see, I’m torn. I think the social networks open up a world generations before us never knew, but it’s also frustrating as heck when you’re at dinner with people, live and in person, and they spend the whole meal documenting your time together on Facebook or Twitter.

But Pat. Pat made me think. Continue Reading »

Today’s #FollowFriday needs no introduction. And I’m cheating a little bit because I wrote about her this time last year.

But it’s her birthday today so I figured you wouldn’t mind.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, LISA!!

Lisa Gerber is our chief content officer. She runs all of the guest posts here at Spin Sucks, which is no small job. She also began doing client work in January and now leads three of our biggest accounts.

About 18 months ago, I was shopping at Nordstrom (and then Sephora) and I called Lisa. I was venting that I needed some help with content on both Spin Sucks and this new project I wanted to launch (which you now know as Spin Sucks Pro). I told her I needed someone who I really trusted. As I stood on the corner of Michigan and Grand, in the dark, she said, “I’ll do it.” Continue Reading »

Last year, right about this time, I was standing in the grand hall at the conference center where BlogWorld was being held and I finally got to meet the incomparable Lisa Grimm.

After following one another on Twitter for quite some time, it was fun to finally see her. It was too brief.

But one thing I discovered about her then and have seen her demonstrate it every day since then: She really cares about our industry.

She does digital and social media for Mall of America (a job I can’t decide is really cool or super scary – I mean, people everywhere!). I don’t spend much time on mall websites (I’d rather kill myself than go to one, especially the world’s largest), but I’ve spent some time checking out the work Lisa does and, well, I’m impressed! Continue Reading »

Please allow me to introduce you to Mr. D aka World’s Most Patient Man aka love of my life (well, he competes with Jack Bauer for that title).

It is Kelly’s birthday today. Because he’s not on any of the social networks (bane of my existence), it doesn’t make much sense to #FollowFriday him. But I thought it’d be fun to wish him a happy day anyway.

Kelly and I met 13 years ago in a dance club in Kansas City. He likes to say I picked him up on the dance floor. I’m sure there is some semblance of truth to that story (OK – I did). But I had a boyfriend and he had just gotten out of a relationship and so we became friends. Continue Reading »

I have this friend. Some of you may know him. He’s a trouble causer, pot stirrer, and menacing force of nature.

But I love him…and many of you do, too (particularly if we’re friends on Facebook).

For those of you who don’t know him, allow me to introduce you to Dallas Kincaid.

Dallas is the founder of Xecunet, a company that provides Internet services to businesses. I’m very jealous of him because he’s managed to build a company that doesn’t require him to go to the office every day. I still haven’t figured out how he does that, but he does…and he does it well.

But that’s not why I love him. I love him because he really does cause trouble. A LOT of trouble.

One of my favorite things he does is he’ll randomly announce, on Facebook, that it’s his birthday and he’s disappointed no one has said anything. It’s HILARIOUS to watch his friends stumble all over themselves to wish him a happy birthday, only to learn he’s just screwing with them. He does this no less than four times every year, but it still works. Continue Reading »

I’d like to introduce you to one of the smartest PR pros I know.

His name is Ted Weismann and he leads the digital practice at Lois Paul and Partners, one of the leading PR firms in the tech space.

When I speak to CEO organizations, I spend some time talking about the role of PR firms today. It used to be you’d hire a PR firm for their already established relationships with journalists.

But then the tech bubble burst and the 9/11 tragedy enveloped our country and then our economy became almost as bad as the Great Depression and suddenly those of us in the profession realized nothing would ever be the same as it was before 2001.

Ted is one of the few communication professionals who truly understands it. Being in tech PR in the late 90s and early 2000s, he lived it. Continue Reading »

It doesn’t matter your religion or what you believe, the Easter Bunny is for all of us.

As it turns out, he has absolutely nothing to do with the Christian traditions.

According to the Center for Children’s Literature and Culture at the University of Florida, the origin of the celebration – and the Easter bunny – can be traced back to 13th century, when people worshiped several gods and goddesses. Eostra was the goddess of spring and fertility, and feasts were held in her honor on the Vernal Equinox. Her symbol was the rabbit because of the animal’s high reproduction rate.

I spent most of this week in Oslo, Norway, preparing for, and speaking at, re:think.

The conference, imagined and led by Arnt Eriksen, is the only of its kind in Norway and to say they were extremely grateful and accommodating to have speakers from North America is an understatement.

Arnt is an advertising professional. He’s worked in the business for the past 20 years and has worked with some pretty big companies. He related a story to me about how difficult it is to do advertising in Norway for big brands because the strategy is typically set in the United States before it gets to them. Continue Reading »

Today’s #FollowFriday isn’t a PR or marketing professional.

He is, however, a very strong voice in the Spin Sucks community. I still haven’t figured out why he comes around, other than to debate me (which I love).

In fact, you’ll see him in the comments all over the web – at Danny Brown’s place, on For Bloggers, By Bloggers, and at Unlock the Door.

Andrea Hypno, aka Hypnodude, aka your friendly Hynotist is from Italy and his English (at least the written part) is superb. We’ve debated politics, life, and Amanda Knox (I’m so fascinated with that story).

He’s a self-hypnotist which, before now, I didn’t know existed. I thought the only hypnotists were the only ones that called you on stage, in front of all your friends, made you fall asleep and then made you do crazy things you didn’t remember after you woke up.

Turns out, that’s not the case. Continue Reading »

You may recognize today’s #FollowFriday as my nemesis.

The person who debates me, even if what I say is fact.

The person who yins when I yang.

The person who thinks Pinterest doesn’t rock and Google+ isn’t effective for small businesses.

But he’s actually one of my most favorite people on the social web. Partly because he isn’t afraid to tell me he thinks I’m wrong and partly because he’s wicked smart.

If you don’t already know him, meet Paul Sutton. Continue Reading »