User:RobBertholf/sandbox

Rob Bertholf (July 19, 1979 –) is an internet entrepreneur who was born in Fortuna, California. He served five years in the United States Air Force, where he achieved the rank of Staff Sergeant and received numerous awards and commendations. He provides regular lectures about social media marketing and search engine optimization at the University of Hawaii and has offered technology and marketing advice to numerous businesses. He was featured on the top 50 list of the "top SEO experts to follow on Twitter."

Bertholf is an early adopter of the social media platform Twitter, and chose the user name "@rob." He was also the first person to tweet from Hawaii.

Early Life
Rob Bertholf was born in Fortuna, California on July 19, 1979.

Klout
Rob was one of the first developers on the Klout API.

Credited for PHP API Wrapper.

KHON2 reported on "Online Influence".

Rob Developed Klokal.com

Military career
Bertholf is a veteran, and served in the United States Air Force from October 1998 to March 2003 as a Staff Sergeant (E-5).

Graduate from Airman Leadership School and attended the Community College of the Air Force.

He was involved in Operation Southern Watch He also participated in the USAFE Server Consolidation and Implementation Plan responsible for the migration of all USAFE web/mail/file servers.

Awards and recognition


Throughout his career, Bertholf has received numerous awards and ribbons. Rob was awarded with the Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal while stationed at Ali Al Salem Air Base, Kuwait to attest to encounters with foreign armed opposition as part of Operation SOUTHERN WATCH.

During his military service, he was awarded with the following medals/ribbons:


 * Air Force Commendation Medal
 * Air Force Achievement Medal (with two Oakleaf Clusters)
 * Outstanding Unit Award (with two Oakleaf Clusters)
 * Air Force Good Conduct Medal
 * National Defense Service Medal
 * Air Expeditionary Medal
 * Overseas Long Tour Service Ribbon (with One Oakleaf Cluster)
 * Longevity Service Award
 * Air Force NCO Professional Military Education Graduate Ribbon
 * Air Force Basic Training Graduation Ribbon

Other awards include:


 * Winner, Comm. & Info Professional of the Year (2-time winner) - United States Air Force in Europe
 * Winner, Airman of the Year - 52nd 52nd Fighter Wing Command
 * 1999 C&I Professional,606th Air Control Squadron
 * 2000 Airman of the Month, 386 AEG, Ali Al Salem AB, Kuwait
 * 2000 C&I Professional - 52d Fighter Wing
 * 2000 C&I Professional - United States Air Forces in Europe
 * 2001 Airman of the Quarter - 52d Fighter Wing, Command Group
 * 2001 Airman of the Quarter - 52d Fighter Wing
 * 2001 C&I Professional - 52d Fighter Wing
 * 2001 C&I Professional - United States Air Forces in Europe
 * 2001 Airman of the Year - 52d Fighter Wing, Command Group
 * 2001 Airman of the Year - 52d Fighter Wing (nominee)
 * 2002 Workgroup Manager of the Quarter - 52d Fighter Wing

ZeppOS
After an honorable discharge from the Air Force, Rob took a job with Aston Hotels & Resorts and relocated to Honolulu, Hawaii.

He founded and was CEO of The Zeppo Network, Inc., as well as its subsidiary, Empowered Internet Solutions. He invented and patented the ZeppOS.

Bertholf was made a multimillion-dollar offer by Yahoo! in order to use his software for their GeoCities website.

Software as a Service
Joins inaugural Blue Startups accelerator with SurroundsMe.

Identified by Eric Nakagawa on list of Technology founders from Hawaii.

Speaker and consultant
Social Media Marketing and Web Technology Consultant often quoted in local media.

Rob was an active proponent of advancing social media strategy in the State of Hawaii. Teaching the Social Media Strategy course at the University of Hawaii's Pacific New Media program since 2010. Helped organize and spoke at Hawaii's first Social Media Conference.

He is described by multiple people as a search engine optimization and search engine marketing expert.

Bertholf also has a career for himself as a speaker and consultant. He has spoken at the San Francisco-based DrupalCon, and provides regular lectures for the University of Hawaii on social media and search engine optimization.

Bertholf often offers business advice to other websites. In an article by BusinessNewsDaily about learning valuable online technologies, he discussed the value of the social media website Klout. To explain its value, he made an analogy about a chef who has a single helping of his or her dish to share with someone, he or she wants someone "who would enjoy it most and who has the loudest voice" to advertise it. He also made an appearance at the Hawaii Social Media Summit. He has also spoken to the United States House of Representatives on the future of web technology in Hawaii. He has spoken at multiple summits in other countries as well, such as the Biserica Web Conference in Vienna, Austria and the Adventist International Webmasters Conference in Darmstadt, Germany,

In a list of the "top 100 SEO experts to follow on Twitter", he was featured at #43.

Bertholf served as a counselor at SCORE from October 2008 to June 2009. He also served as a chief search architect for Chapter three. He worked with Eye on Earth and its partner, the United Nations Environment Programme on an internationally-based social media program.

Named Top Social Media Consultant in Hawaii.

Twitter account
Rob Bertholf who goes by the Twitter handle "@rob" is one of the earliest members of the social media website, and is the first person to send a tweet while in Hawaii. His Twitter account has been sought after by both celebrities and hackers. According to TMZ, the MTV reality star Rob Dyrdek offered gifts to him such as a watch in order to get the handle, while another person offered him a check for $25,000. When asked by The Huffington Post about Twitter account hacking, he stated that while he has never been hacked although he suspects that people have tried. This is due to him receiving emails from Twitter, informing him that someone is trying to change his password.