Don’t underestimate the power of social media. Just ask Danielle Smith the St. Louis mom and creator of the website Extraordinary Mommy.

Within the last six to eight months, Danielle reconnected with Justin, a friend from college via Facebook.  Justin so happens to live in Prague. Recently, he was driving is wife to the doctor when he made a shocking discovery. The grocery he drove past had a photo of Danielle and her family plastered across a store window!

He let Danielle know. She blogged about it and within five days the story got lots of attention from the likes of Digg and StumbleUpon.  Then came a phone interview with the NBC station in Columbus, Ohio.  Then the local media picked up the story.

“When the Associated Press did the story, it blew wide open”, says Danielle. “There are now more than 300 written publications that have picked up the story – and that doesn’t include TV media or blogs re-telling the story.”

For Danielle, being the story was a strange experience. Before motherhood she was a reporter and news achor.

“I’m definitely used to asking the questions and relaying the story, rather than answering,” she says. “The good news is that both my husband and  I (he is former media too) knew what to expect.  We understand the media ‘lingo’, know how much time we have to answer a question on TV/Radio and are fairly comfortable speaking in public.”

So did the grocer take it down? Make ammends? While the Smiths haven’t spoken to the grocery, the Associated Press has.

“He apparently told the AP he began the process of creating a new ad campaign ‘as soon as he learned we were a real family’.  He also told them if we lived in Europe he would send us a bottle of wine,” she said.

Everyday life for the family, since the Associated Press’s discovery of their story, has been far more hectic. The family arrived home from New York City on Sunday (they were on CBS’ The Early Show on Friday) afternoon then did an interview via Skype with CNN’s Headline News within an hour of walking in the door. The family has had several more interviews scheduled as well. But Danielle thinks family will soon return to normal.

“I’m not sure what ‘normal’ will be now,” Danielle muses. “I definitely have a lot of work piled up, but think I can manage.”

*Photo by Justin Francher.