Susan Reynolds & the Peas of Twitter

I don't really know Susan Reynolds, but I like her. I know her mostly through her frequent Twitter posts. I often find her 140 character-or-less entries, funny and/or insightful. Recently, Susan had one of life's least humorous experiences.  She was diagnosed with breast cancer.

After her biopsy, she discovered that an ice pack felt like a brick on her breast and the only thing that soothed the pain was a bag of frozen peas. She posted about this under the unforgettable headline of "Boobs on Ice," which included a photo of her chest covered snugly and tastefully with a bag of frozen peas. When the news came back she became the most recent blogger to share her cancer experience regularly with her social media friends. I wish blogging about cancer was unique, but it is not.

The unique part is the humor Susan has injected into this as well as what has happened in the micro blogosphere. Since then, a significant portion of Twitterati have reposted their photos with peas, lots and lots of peas--in pods, as hats, in hair, as face replacements, as background or foreground, all in a show of support for Susan. I don't believe there has ever been anything quite like this previously in social media. I don't think something like this could have happened without social media.

There's nothing really funny about peas.  There is certainly nothing funny about cancer. But Susan has made a great number of people smile, not at the peas or the cancer, but at her indomitable spirit. Instead of allowing herself to become an object of pity she has made herself a symbol of courage.

Since Spock is also a big name on Twitter these days, let me direct to Susan one of his most famous quotes:

Live long and prosper.

Comments

[Connie Reece]

You just made me cry, Shel. And I <3 you for it.

[Jim Turner]

Amen Shel. This is perfect.

[Andy Kaufman]

Great summary Shel. It's amazing to see the community come together, even though a lot of us are just 'social media acquaintances'

[KDPaine]

I agree Shel, I love this whole Pea thing -- having spent my share of time with frozen peas on my boob. (no pictures though) Should we all be wishing for a peasful new year? or just pray for whirled peas.

[shel israel]

The other sidebar (literally) is that I read Comments in my GMail. Any comments on this topic get me to see six contextual ads for Pea Soup. This, of course, is an unintended consequence of Susan's situation.

[Laura]

Thanks Shel. It's been incredible to watch the avatars spreading like wildfire. So many folks are throwing in their ideas to create a whole bunch of neat stuff around this. Hope you will follow @PEAple and throw your tweets into the group stream of support & resources. & I'm sure @geekgirltv would be happy to mash you up a nice PEAvatar should you wish. :-)

[Laura]

Excerpted from a comment I left on Beth Kanter's Social Media for Nonprofits blog http://is.gd/cB today:

Nonprofits trying to understand the power of Twitter & its zeigeist? Go check out www.twitter.com/susanreynolds, and anyone with peas in their avatar photo. This arose spontaneously. From love, connection, support and caring. It's spreading like wildfire. We just added www.twitter.com/PEAple yesterday to offer the PEAvatar folks their own Twitter "channel" to come together and share information, ideas & support. Tomorrow is the www.frozenpeafund.com fund drive.

Read this for how it all started: http://tinyurl.com/yt7qmo and this reflection by @conniereece: http://is.gd/cu. And understand that without any "pitch" or "blogger relations campaign" @scobleizer blogged about it and @loiclemeur changed his avatar and added it to his daily Seesmic vlog.

The power here, and what will happen tomorrow in the fund drive, comes from connection and love. There's no trick, tip or shortcut to get there. But the potential momentum nonprofits could achieve through social media if they start genuinely engaging, listening, experimenting and trying? Staggering.

[David Neff]

This is David from over at the American Cancer Society. Thanks for posting about this and helping us fund life saving research into Breast Cancer. Susan's story is truly inspirational and we hope this fundraiser will help spread her story far and wide. And thanks for being a American Cancer Society volunteer Shel!

For those of you giving money please know that The American Society has invested more in breast cancer research grants over time than any other voluntary public health organization – $322.7 million since 1972! And thanks for giving! Maybe we can all form a virtual team at a Making Strides Against Breast Cancer Walk in 2008?

[Darren]

Ahhhh, now it makes sense. I was never able to catch a tweet at the right time to make sense of all the peas.

Thanks for explaining this. And too, for the kind words about Susan.