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.

Here’s what he said:

A really good example of how social media, and his blog, helped keep him going, wouldn’t you say?

But that’s not the reason I want you to follow him. The reason I want you to check him out is to see what he’s doing to heal after the loss of his wife.

Lisa Gerber emailed me and said she had online stalked Pat and spent 10 minutes sobbing her eyes out when she found his personal blog. I told her I wasn’t going to read it. And then I did. And my reaction was the same.

Missing Aimee is a blog he set up the day after his wife passed away, a week before Christmas last year. He wrote one of his first blog posts on the flight home from the trip where the accident happened, detailing what he was able to put together about the accident.

The very first blog post was written the day after it happened and you can find it here. You’ll also find Pat’s and Rowan’s (their daughter) first Christmas without Aimee, and their anniversary, and Valentine’s Day, and her birthday, and Mother’s Day.

I’m sure Pat doesn’t want you to feel sorry for him, nor does he want you to think he’s doing this for sympathy. I say this because the way he writes is not self-pity at all. But I do think the way he’s using the social web to connect with people in order to heal is amazing and strong and unbelievable.

I highly recommend you take 10 minutes today and stop by to say hello to him. I promise you, you won’t regret it.

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.”

Um, what? The job was in Chicago and she lives in Idaho.

I’ll do it.

So she packed up and moved to Chicago for nine months. Every month she flew back to Idaho for a week. And I watched her put on her happy face the week she came back from home.

It began to kill me inside a little bit every month. After all, she was my friend first and colleague second.

And then our circumstances changed. I went in to the office one day, after a week of traveling, and found Patti Knight (my work husband) was the only one sitting in our 2,500 square foot space. I decided right then and there some things were going to change.

We went completely virtual and Lisa got to move back home to her husband and dogs. And skiing and ice skating and mountain biking and hiking (lucky girl!).

Now she’s flipped her time. She spends a week a month in Chicago and the rest of the time at home. But, other than missing the occasional glass of wine together, it’s as if she’s still sitting in the office next to mine.

If you don’t already know Lisa, she blogs here every other Wednesday, and you can find her on Twitter, Google+, and she manages (with Molli Megasko) our company Facebook page.

Stop by and tell her happy birthday. It is today!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, LISA!!

P.S. Every time I see this photo of Lisa, it makes me laugh. Props to Sean McGinnis for taking it. And that’s our good friend Joe Hackman in the background. Hi Joe!

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!

Get this. They have a blog. The mall has a blog, where Lisa and her team update multiple times a day. They have things you can buy for less than $100, a pick of the week, and events happening at the mall. Talk about some ideas you can steal from them – they are using content to interest their audience that also features their vendors. Pretty stinking cool!

They have Twitter, Foursquare (where The Food Network has left a tip!!), YouTube, Facebook, Pinterest (I LOVE PINTEREST!), and a newsletter. Their digital presence puts most businesses to shame.

But you know what I like best about everything they’re doing online? They are engaging with their fans, followers, and connections.

Lisa is at the forefront of this and you can tell, just by reading the streams, she knows what she’s doing and she spends time on the social networks personally. A distinction so important because it’s difficult to execute digital programs without having done it for yourself.

She’s one of the good guys. She knows what she’s doing. And she’s really nice, too.

So check her out on Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+, and her blog (even though she hasn’t update in several months…it’s still really good content).

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.

Friends who occasionally met for dinner. Friends who shared reading recommendations (I introduced him to Harry Potter). And friends who tearfully said goodbye when I moved to Chicago and he moved to D.C., just three weeks apart.

A few months after I moved, he sent me a note to say he was going to be in town and asked if I wanted to get together. I took him out to meet some of my friends and, late that night, my friend Michael Stern pulled me aside and said, “Why, on earth, are you not dating this guy?”

After that I looked at Kelly with new eyes and, just a few months later, we were engaged.

I always joke that people like him more than me, which is why I never bring him out. But it’s kind of true.

He’s an extrovert to the nth degree (it gets interesting in our house when I need alone time to recharge and he wants to be around people), he’s charismatic, he’s kind, and he is (by far) the funniest person I know. He never has any qualms going out with my “Twitter friends” when someone is in town or inviting them over for dinner or even have them stay in our guest room.

He treats every human being the same – it doesn’t matter if you run a multi-billon company or sleep on the street. Kelly has blinders on when it comes to that. And he’ll always look you in the eye when he talks to you.

He represents the perfect human being (minus the whole letting his clothes pile on the floor like he’s a teenager thing).

I hope you’ll join me in wishing him a very happy birthday!

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.

Most recently, he began what I’ll call a “Dallas was found in contempt of court” campaign. It began with an update that said he refused to do something in court. Then he followed it up with being found in contempt. Then he followed it up with a countdown to when he would spend a week in jail.

Now, if you know Dallas well (or even if you don’t know him well, but pay attention to his Facebook stream), you’ll know this is all made up. And yet, his friends were commenting, texting, emailing, and calling to see what he did. It’s pure awesomeness.

He harasses me non-stop on my Facebook wall, which has caused many, many of my offline friends have friended him on Facebook. Just so they can get more of The Dallas.

He’s a smart butt (as my mom would call him), but he’s very, very funny.

You can check him out on Twitter, his blog, and maybe (if you’re really nice) he’ll accept you as a Facebook friend.

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.

I’ll let you tell him about it in his own words (mostly because I think it’s a really good story we can all learn from). He says:

I was managing Sun Microsystems’ product reviews program and seemingly overnight, there were less opportunities to land reviews. Publications were shuttering test labs, not only to cut costs because advertising was still down, but also because IT buyers were blogging about their experiences with Sun’s products. These peer reviews slowly became more valuable than editorial product reviews.

I recognized this and moved very quickly to evolve the product reviews program to incorporate a robust blogger relations element. It became a hybrid program, where we were able to leverage the fact that Sun was a social media pioneer. But I had to work with our team to build the program from scratch, doing social media monitoring before there were tools like Radian6 and Sysomos and learning on the fly the differences between blogger (and community relations) and media relations.

He recently began blogging (he doesn’t blog often enough, in my opinion) at Down to Social Business, where you can find how-tos, case studies, and practical advice. He’s one of a few who truly understand how social media works, how to integrate it with traditional media, and how to measure it.

You’ll learn a lot from following him.

On the personal side, he has two boys and he likes to run. Perhaps I can talk him into taking up cycling instead.

You can find Ted at Down to Social Business, on Twitter, on Google+, on LinkedIn, and on Facebook.

Say hello to him in the comments below…and then go stalk him online. YWRI.

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.

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.

We also discussed the industry in Norway (oil), how small the country is (five million people), agriculture (subsidized by the government), how everyone speaks English (they begin learning it in fourth grade), and where they are with social media (about three years behind us).

re:think was born when Arnt discovered his native country’s severe lacking in the use of social media for business growth and began to look to North America to see if he could bring experts in to help fill the void.

This conference was the country’s second and included Valeria Maltoni, Maggie Fox, Mitch Joel, Chris Brogan, and me. And they hosted nearly 300 people who were dying for validation of their own work, but also asked a lot of the same questions we all hear. Things such as: How do I convince my boss we need to do this? Why won’t my company make the shift? We don’t need to grow, so why should we care?

To say I was impressed with Arnt, his vision, and his work is putting it mildly. We also met his fiancé, and partner in crime, Andrea (aka Jinx…because she’s broken 16 bones in her lifetime) Essenwanger, who managed all of the logistics of the speaker’s travel plans, pulling together sponsors, and making sure everyone was fed.

Particularly in the U.S., we tend to be so arrogant we forget there is an entire world out there and it was really nice to spend time with a couple who are strong together both professionally and personally and so committed to changing their little part of the world.

They’re going to do it. Mark my words.

Check out Arnt on Twitter, LinkedIn, his blog, and his personal website.

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.

What he teaches is really about using your subconscious mind power to achieve the things you want out of life. A little bit of The Secret, a little bit positive self-talk, a little bit meditation, and a little bit hypnosis, is how I would describe it.

In fact, earlier this week, he talked about losing weight with creative visualization. I’d add in exercise and good nutrition, but I am a big believer in combining those three things to achieve your fitness goals…and he agrees. He says, “Cut out the junk food and exercise” as part of the process.

A bit of a stray from the normal, but I think you’ll find him fascinating, particularly because he can talk/debate/discuss such a broad array of topics.

You can find him on Twitter, Google+, on StumbleUpon, on his blog, and in the comments here several times a week.

P.S. I couldn’t find an actual photo of him, hence the image I used. Maybe we can talk him into showing us his face?

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.

In his business life, he does social, digital, and online communication for Bottle PR in the U.K. Bottle has won tons of awards in the past year, including best places to work and top PR firms in and outside of London.

You can find Paul blogging at the Bottle blog, Bottle PR Uncorked, at FutureComms (his personal, but linked to the agency, blog), and archives at The Social Web, where he blogged until late last year.

Like many of us, he started his career in the agency world doing consumer work. Most recently, with the explosion of the social web, he’s dedicated his time to teaching B2B clients how to use digital communication to grow their businesses.

He’s one of the good guys who has an extensive background steeped in communication.

Most recently he joined me in the fight for defining PR (And I quote, “Anyone care to offer comment for a blog post? You WILL be quoted – I’m not taking the rap for this one by myself…”) and we discovered we actually do agree on most things.

Personally, he is the husband of one gorgeous woman (I mean gorgeous) and the dad of an adorable little girl.

So check him out. You can find him on Twitter, Google+, LinkedIn, Bottle PR Uncorked, and FutureComms.

He’s kind, he’s smart, and he understands civil discourse. If you want to open your mind and have your thinking challenged, I highly recommend getting to know him.

I hope he doesn’t mind my using a family photo here, but I thought you’d like to see what I mean about his wife and little girl.