Us Kentuckians ain't dumb ya'll.

Turns out for a state that allows its residents to drive barefoot and has an actual law that requires bathing a minimum of once a year, we have some pretty tech savvy people residing. Going back to my old Follow Friday tradition, my Follow Friday today talks about all the smart people from Kentucky that you may have heard of. I've talked before about how awesome our state is. Here's more proof.

Sam Ford: @Sam_Ford

Growing up roughly half an hour away from my hometown, Sam grew up to go becoming director of digital of Peppercom, a New York City-based PR agency. In addition to being a featured blogger for Fast Company, he's worked as a professional journalist and is co-authoring a book called Spreadable Media (well that's at least what his Fast Company bio says). I think MIT plays into the mix there somehow too, which isn't shabby.

Nick Huhn: @nickhun

A digital strategist by trade, he's described on his website as working with brands like Papa John's, Norton's Health Care and Yum Brands. He works as a consultant via Avocado Digital, continuing to help small businesses and Fortune 500 companies with their digital marketing needs. In my eyes, one of his greatest contributions to the Twitter world is the creation of the #hillbillytweets hashtag, a remarkably underused hashtag in my opinion. (It may have been Sam Ford, not sure but I think Nick is the creator).

Jason Falls: @jasonfalls

You may or may not have heard of this guy. Author of Social Media Explorer, Jason is Louisville-based and travels the country (if not the world) helping people with their digital strategy. Following up most many of his Twitter remarks with his trademark "Heh," Jason helps bring some more credibility to the state, along with a pretty solid #movember moustache.

Doe Anderson: @doeanderson

Well it's not so much the agency (where Falls tenured at for a bit I believe) but the digital people inside it. Well, they're real people but you know what I mean. @KatFrench blogs over on Doe's Social Enthusiast, laying down a ton of social media analytics knowledge. @DavidFinch is also a real person that does digital for Doe, sharing some his great insights at the Social Enthusiast and his blog here.

Imagewest: @Imagewest

This is more about the agency AND the people. Where I cut my teeth in the marketing world myself, Imagewest is the only for-profit, student-run advertising agency in the nation. The agency, based at WKU in Bowling Green, Kentucky, has also had international clients in Spain and Malaysia over the course of the past few summers. Imagewest alums have moved on to do some pretty cool things in our industry, putting myself in some very remarkably humbling company.

That's just scratching the surface of some of the awesome digital marketing minds coming out of the Commonwealth. Who else did I leave out?

Related articles

• 5 Marketing Lessons From Mr. Rogers | Fast Company (fastcompany.com)
• Top of the Tweeters (epiphanysolutions.co.uk)
• Traditional PR vs Digital: Why Not Both? (brainwads.net)