As my 35th birthday comes to a close and I writhe in pain at the amount of vanilla cake I ate, I can say that it’s been a great 35-years thus far.

My phone rang a few times and it was good to hear the voices of old friends and family members wishing me Happy Birthday.

But the wealth of birthday greetings took place where I hang out the most – social media. I got over 150 birthday greetings on Facebook and about 30 on Twitter.

Some of the ones that stood out?

“Celebrating with eating cake is a great way to get the new year going. Eat on. Happy Birthday!”

“Today’s your birthday. Oh yeah. (Doin’ the birthday boogie in honor of you! Good thing you really can’t see me dance!)”

“Happy Birthday Girl! Give yourself a treat…no spinning class today…on me…LOL! Muah!”

“Bust open the bubbly, it is Leesa Barnes day!!!”

“Sing with me “Leesa it’s your birthday. Happy birthday Leesa” or just sing the littlest hobo theme..whatever works.”

“You’re getting better with each passing trip around the sun!! You are a kindred spirit and I hope you have an awesome birthday. Work up a good birthday sweat.”

These birthday greetings followed a few accolades I’ve received so far in 2009:

• Profectio listed me #2 on their list of Canada’s Top 10 Most Influential Women in Social Media.
• I was nominated by my community for a Shorty Award in the social media category.
• Marketing Fit was selected by Viva Visibility as the best rebrand in 2008.
• I was also recently profiled here and here by some pretty smart people.

Some might say that this is all a popularity contest and it holds very little weight. Oh contraire. Social media is all about being “popular” and you do this by giving, sharing and helping people with their issues and challenges.

As Rae Hoffman said on the Profectio blog:

“At its core, that’s what social media boils down to – being popular and having a large reach because so many people pay attention to you as a result of your popularity.”