About

Hello, and thanks for taking a few moments to find out a bit more about me.

I’ve been communicating with people online since the early 90s when I first discovered chat rooms. I was hooked! Before long I found myself working in online communities. first as a forum host and chat room moderator for Microsoft Expedia’s travel related online communities then MSN’s KidSpace Design, the first online forum dedicated to family design issues. Over the years my focus has evolved and I have become immersed in social media.

I founded PetsitUSA.com and built it into one of the most respected online directories of professional pet sitters, dog walkers, and dog daycares. Although I have used traditional advertising now and then to get the word out about the website, the majority of what I have done has been through social media. I’m a contributor to many online forums including those for pet sitters, have an active blog, and have a presence on websites such as Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, and others.

I really enjoy learning new ways to use social networking, and all the social media tools that go along with it. And, in addition to learning, it’s fun and satisfying to teach others how to use social media to enhance, and grow, their personal and/or business networks. I look forward to teaching you what I know, and learning from you as well. That, after all, is what social networking is all about!

My other websites:

PetsitUSA.com is an online directory of professional pet sitters, dog walkers, and dog daycares. I started it not long after starting my pet sitting business, LucyGirl Pet Sitting. (I have a Twitter account specifically for PetsitUSA, @petsitusa, and tweet mostly about pet related issues.)

In addition to maintaining the main website at PetsitUSA.com I also blog about pets.

Austin Pet First Aid – I’ve had a passion for pets all my life and I’ve been able to combine that with my teaching skills to teach pet first aid to pet owners here in Austin. It’s fun, and way worthwhile!

The Pet Food List is a list of pet foods with information such as ingredients, manufacturers, etc.

Time To Rock Clocks is something I do for fun; creating decorative, and even whimsical, clocks out of old records.

Yup! As you probably guessed, I like to keep busy!

As a side note…

I had someone ask me why I don’t just use my name as my domain. After all…people will want to know who the Social Media Hound actually is. The answer is simple, really. I do have my own domain, kopiwoda.com but very few people spell my name correctly…first and last! I’m thinking socialmediahound.com will be memorable and a heck of a lot easier to spell. And besides that…it’s fun!

Therese Kopiwoda
@kopiwoda