Social Media Used in Search of Missing Minn. Man

Jan. 5, 2012
A day after a depressed St. Paul man was found safe in a Wisconsin hotel lobby following an ominous goodbye he left on Facebook, his family thanked the public for their support.

Jan. 05--A day after a depressed St. Paul man was found safe in a Wisconsin hotel lobby following an ominous goodbye he left on Facebook, his family thanked the public for their support.

"Thank you for your prayers and support. We are grateful that treatment is available, and we hope that this can help give others the confidence to ask for help. Treatment works," the family of Todd Tweedy said in a statement. "We ask that the media and the public now respect our need for privacy during this time. Thank you."

Friends and family took to social media to help locate Tweedy, 47, after he left a note on Facebook late Tuesday.

By Wednesday, hundreds of people had left comments on his Facebook page and people from around the world spread the word about finding Tweedy. This afternoon, people, including strangers, continued to express relief on Twitter that Tweedy had been found.

The father of three was located in Baldwin, Wis., about 40 miles east of St. Paul on Wednesday evening. Police were called to the Super 8 around 6:30 p.m. for a "public assist" involving someone who had stayed at the hotel the previous night and had apparently fallen asleep on a couch in the lobby, said Baldwin police Chief Jim Widiker.

When an officer arrived, the person was unresponsive, Widiker said. After doing a quick evaluation and not noticing a strong odor of alcohol, the officer contacted paramedics.

It was determined around that time that the person was Tweedy, he said. Police advised paramedics that St. Paul officials had put out an "attempt to locate" alert for Tweedy.

Paramedics transported him to the Baldwin Area Medical Center before he was taken to Regions Hospital, he said.

Tweedy remained at Regions Hospital as a patient this afternoon, according to a statement from the family released by the hospital.

On Tuesday, Tweedy wrote on his Facebook page: "One illness I've never been able to defeat is my own depression. I have to say goodbye now. I wish each of you a wonderful New Year!"

His message prompted responses from friends and strangers alike.

Friends created a Twitter hashtag, #findtodd, to aid in the search for him. Hashtags are used to mark keywords or topics.

"Human nature takes over, and people want to help," said Keith Privette, a friend who led the search online.

Tweedy, CEO of Audience Machine, a digital audience generation company, also launched a salsa product line called Todd's Salsa. It's sold exclusively at the Wedge Community Co-op in Minneapolis. He called it "The First Social Salsa" in an email to friends last summer.

Tweedy also is writing a book called "Facebook Marketing Secrets," according to his Twitter profile.

Brady Gervais can be reached at 651-228-5513. Follow her at twitter.com/bgervais and twitter.com/ppUsualSuspects.

Copyright 2012 - Pioneer Press, St. Paul, Minn.

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