Which is why I’m so intrigued by EdelmanDigital.com, the new content-rich social website that the Edelman Digital team launched earlier this month.

The not-yet-two-week-old site is already chock-full of commentary, video interviews, and analytical posts–and from multiple authors. The site didn’t miss a beat during SXSW Interactive, either, when finding the time–and concentration–to produce content is no easy task.

To dig further into the goals and expectations for EdelmanDigital.com, I traded e-mails with Edelman’s David Armano, the man who led the strategic thinking for the site.

‘BE the proof’

Bryan Person: You noted on Twitter [yesterday] that you had posted 13 original content items–including several videos– in less than a week. Most of that time period corresponds to the days of SXSW Interactive. Very impressive! How did you ever find the time to create and publish that content?

David Armano: Simple. We are making the site a priority and have decided that our “proof” can not only be the work we deliver for clients, but we as an organization—not just individuals need to BE the proof. Part of the innovation behind the new Edelman site is actually a budget/staffing decision. By hiring a full-time community manager who does nothing but focus on the content, interactions and sustainability of our property (vs. client work), it doesn’t become a matter of time; it becomes a matter of resources. And the fact is, we now have the resources. Sounds simple but it’s not.

Suzanne Marlatt, our community manager for EdelmanDigital.com, was a very special find, and we work closely together on ideas for content as well as our strategies for taking the property from “website” to something we hope people will make a part of their daily ritual. We want both an audience and active participants.

BP: Most of your videos from SXSW appear to have been published with little or no editing. How do you decide whether to publish raw content right away, versus taking the extra time to add credits, cut out the fluff, etc.?

DA: The decision to go raw was both intentional and strategic. In fact, when I took over the initiative, the first thing we did was streamline the complexity. Anything that held the site back from supporting fresh content and the flexibility to adapt was stripped away. We are intentionally favoring speed over perfection.

I have fought this battle and lost at previous firms, but not this time. When Rick Murray, my boss, handed over the keys to the site which was partially complete, he gave me the authority to take it live with the changes I deemed appropriate. Our vision is provide value as fast as we can move, and we plan to move pretty fast.

BP: Many agencies fail to create their own compelling content on a consistent basis because their teams are too busy working on client projects. What steps are you taking to ensure that the Edelman Digital site doesn’t fall victim to the same cycle?

DA: Edelman has several distinct advantages in this already. First, we hire content producers such as bloggers who are passionate about what they do and can write, blog, and engage commenters in their sleep. Secondly, the firm rewards and expects thought leadership. Edelman has been producing content for years but has kept much of it behind the firewall. Before the site was even launched, a decision was made to flip that model and share more externally. So we now have multiple tools at our disposal: a culture of content, a platform to support it and a community manager to facilitate it all.

And just wait, we are only getting started; I’m betting that our clients will want to share what they are doing on the site, and it will be great to have that perspective as well.

BP: Let’s face it: Most corporate blogs are boring and lack any real soul. How will you coach your Edelman colleagues to produce content that allows their personalities to shine through?

DA: Again, we hire those who are already immersed in the social space and do it out of passion. Have a look at my colleague Danielle Wiley’s recent post: “Don’t Call Me Mommy (Unless I Birthed You)”. The site has been live for less than two weeks, and already we have our staff taking on hot topics (not to mention the New York Times).

We are a company of communicators and understand the value of authentic brands. While we demand professionalism from employees, authenticity is just as important and this is going to be a requirement if someone from our team wants to contribute to Edelman Digital. The good news is, that since the launch of the “site,” lots of Edelmanites want to contribute. I think we’ve started a revolution!

BP: Gaze into your crystal ball here: How soon will the day come when digital agencies regularly hire their own content producers and recognize content as an integral part of their own marketing efforts?

DA: Some agencies are already doing this but having a hard time sustaining it, or don’t integrate (see my point about our volume of internal content production). It’s important to remember that this isn’t just about content. We have a small army of staff who have spent time nurturing their own communities on places like Twitter, etc., and they are now linking back to our company site out of their own free will.

So, it’s a combination of content, culture, and the ability to make ourselves be seen and heard. That said, I believe that other agencies will resort to similar strategies when they decide that it’s valuable to shape opinions. As a firm with roots in public engagement, we understand the value of influence intimately, and I believe we are going to execute better against this strategy. Also, I don’t believe we are competing with just “digital agencies.” We’re competing with everyone.

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Michael is the CEO of Buddy Media and will be presenting at the free LiveBar event in New York City that I’ve organized organized for LiveWorld for Wednesday, March 24 (disclosure: LiveWorld is a Buddy Media partner).

Michael has reason to be bullish, after all. Facebook boasts a massive userbase of more than 400 million and a robust toolset for targeted advertising.

As part of previewing the LiveBar event, I spoke with Michael about the state of Facebook marketing and advertising [Click if you can't see the video] and wanted to share his comments here.

* Michael fields a Twitter question from @EricSchwartzman about the state of Facebook analytics.

* Michael says that evaluating Facebook’s impact on a business is “very much a work in progress.”

* Michael offers several examples of successful brand efforts in Facebook:

• Anheuser-Busch in beer/alcohol vertical
• Southwest in travel
• Twilight in entertainment
• Pampers and Febreze (“Thanks, Mom“) from Proctor & Gamble (LiveWorld client)

* Michael argues that the companies seeing the most social media success are those that “fully commit.”

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1) Brad J. Ward is one week into an interesting experiment. The co-founder of BlueFuego hasn’t tweeted from his @BradJWard account since February 9 and is instead investing his online social networking into Buzz. I’ve started  a Buzz interview thread with Brad about the project.

2) Google’s decision to integrate Buzz with Gmail was smart. So was its subsequent decision to acknowledge and address privacy concerns. At least we know Google is listening.

3) Buzz’s approach to moderation? You can delete posts and “report spam” in your Buzz threads from users you aren’t following but not from users that you are.

4) Yes, there’s plenty of meta buzzing about Buzz itself. But isn’t that always the case with a new tool or technology?

5) Liking the elegant way that Buzz displays images from a linked/shared blog post or Flickr photoset.

6) I’m compiling a set of Delicious links on Google Buzz.

7) Early adopters I. First out of the gate with an effective B2B Buzz presence: the inbound marketing specialists at HubSpot.

8 ) Early adopters II. On the media side: Rob Quigley and the Austin Statesman. Also, Rob has published a step-by-step guide for media organizations wanting to set up a Buzz account.

9) Early adopters III. Brands: Samsung USA.

10) Early adopters IV. Radian6 announced this afternoon that it is now tracking and incorporating Buzz posts in its social media monitoring package. (Update: Mashable reports that Viralheat rolled out Buzz monitoring last night).

Curious: What’s your take on Buzz?

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* In making the case that Facebook could become the world’s leading news reader, Marshall Kirkpatrick includes and explains this nugget: “Partial feeds are good for readers.”  On Facebook? Agreed. In an RSS reader? No way.

* Marcel Santilli is a talented social media and design guy here in Austin whom I’ve just started working with on some visual projects for the Social Media Breakfast series. Using some of Callie Richmond’s brilliant shots from our event in Austin last week, Marcel put together a collage and video (also below). Great stuff!

[RSS and e-mail readers: You may need to click through to the original post to see the embedded video]

[RSS and e-mail readers: You may need to click through to this original post to see the embedded video above.]

* Speaking of the Social Media Breakfast, the mega SMB during SXSW Interactive that I whispered about a few weeks ago is ON.  If you’ll be in Austin for “South by,” please mark down late morning/early afternoon of Sunday, February March 14. Venue, time, and program still to come.

* So the iPad won’t serve as the ultimate device for creating content. I’m OK with that. It’s still going to disrupt the heck out of how we consume media, and present “legendary” opportunities for sales and marketing. I can’t wait.

* Like Dan York, I’m stuck on the Foursquare fence. Yes, it’s fun having an ambient awareness of my social media pals and trying to unseat them as mayors (my current quest is to knock Terry Melle from his mayoral perch at Hill Country Bible Church Northwest). But … I don’t know that the gameplay is enduringly compelling (following “Bravolebrities” isn’t exactly my thing, for example). There has to be something more, right?

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That certainly means Zena will have plenty of “social wisdom” to dispense when she comes down to Austin this March for her second SXSW Interactive. But what else is she hoping for from the conference? Here are Zena’s Great Expectations in the latest installment of our “SXSWi 2010 Voices” series.

“Inspiring Conversations. Club House SMC. Connecting. Integrated Media Case Studies”

About Zena
Zena Weist is the new social and interactive media director for H&R Block.

Blog: Nothin’ But SocNet
Twitter: @ZenaWeist

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Tweets linking to specific posts on BryanPerson.com haven’t displayed in the comments stream–until now.

Thanks to the updated BackType Wordpress plugin, which I’ve just installed and activated, “interesting” tweets only (not sure how this filtering will play out) back to my content will start appearing beneath the referenced posts.

You’ll also see a widget box at the bottom of every post allowing you to send an instant tweet about what you’ve just read.

This is a test drive, but let’s see how it goes!

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“Learn. Make connections. Introduce folks to FeedMagnet. Have a blast!”

About Jason
Jason Ford is an Austin-based entrepreneur and founder of the startup, FeedMagnet*. We like to bump into each other at coffee shops!

Twitter:  @JasFord
Website: Jason-Ford.com

* Disclosure: I am currently testing a free FeedMagnet pro account for my Social Media Breakfast site (not yet public).

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“Every day for 365 days, a different person will write an entry about their experience that day. It doesn’t have to be about a specific topic, the key is that it somehow relates to what is happening in the world that day and how it relates to them.”

There are still some open dates for contributors later in the year, and I hope to snag one.

* The imaginative Pepsi Refresh Project starts accepting submissions tomorrow. If you have an idea to help your community, it could be worth as much as $250,000. Certainly worth brainstorming about.

* Speaking of brainstorming, that’s what I’m doing this week and next for a possible mega Social Media Breakfast gathering at this March’s SXSW Interactive. For one of the world’s biggest gatherings of innovators, geeks, entrepreneurs, and practitioners, I’d like to think we can organize a thought-provoking event to move the social media industry forward. Stay tuned.

* I’m not the only one dreaming big for SXSWi. Austin pal Tim Walker is considering a pep rally–a pep rally!–for his session on social media and sports. I’ll bring the bullhorn.

* Is open online collaboration and crowdsourcing putting a damper on innovation and turning our brains into “World Wide Mush“? Mitch Joel considers the question.

* Just how drastic was the digital advance for consumers in the recently concluded decade? Forrester’s Josh Bernoff has the numbers. (Disclosure: My employer, LiveWorld, is a former Forrester client).

* If 2010 is indeed the Year of Mobile, then ensuring your website is mobile-friendly should be near or at the top of your to-do list. Stumped on how to get started down that path? The Online Marketing Blog has a post with 9 good tips.

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Asked to share his Great Expectations for this year’s SXSWi in exactly 10 words, Jeff gave me the 10–and then added detailed explanations for each of them.  That only made sense, as Jeff put it to me by e-mail, because his 10 words were “obscure and obtuse … [his] bailiwicks.”

It’s a good explanation, and I’m expressed by Jeff’s creativity…so the full entry stands! Here it is.

A vignette for the SXSWi 2010 by Jeff Cutler

1. Memories. Too frequently we fail to breathe and take account of ourselves in the moment. I’d be lying if I said I did this more than .0612943% of the time. But it’s still a hope.

2. Connections. I have NEVER (notice the capitalization), N E V E R ! ! ! ! Been part of a community that accepts people for who they are more than the social media world. Not the snooty press people (who I adore), nor the advertising geniuses (who all have god complexes and who I also adore), or even my closest friends from high school and college (I adore them too). Social media event bring out the quirky best in people and I am pumped to experience those connections again.

3. Schwag. Anyone taking part in this series is a blasphemer and a heretic and a witch…most likely…if they don’t reveal that free stuff (food, henna tattoos, hard drives, video cameras, Ford Flexes) are on their bucket list for SXSWi.

4. Seriously? Ten things? OK.

5. Knowledge. I really like to think I’m smart. I’m not. I just surround myself with brilliant people who have the patience to explain complicated stuff to me. Aside from Steven Hawking who no longer returns my calls, the rest of you have been fantastic and I expect and hope to get great info and insight from the conference sessions at SXSWi this year.

6. Money. As a professional journalist and social media pro, I think it behooves me to see if GamePlan Hayden, Greg Verdino, Aaron Strout, Robert Scoble, AOL and Mashable, Google and others want to buy my brain power. I will sell it to them gladly. All they need to do is feed me…a lot. And pay for my annual Tour de France journey to Europe.

7. Energy. Not in terms of switchgrass or corn syrup or even malt beverages. But I’m looking for–and expect to find–the organic energy that comes from a moveable feast of techies. I want to chat with Tom Merritt and Molly Wood and Gary Vaynerchuk and Steve Garfield and Julio Fernandez and Chris Anderson and anyone who might be able to spark an idea or further my motivation to live, breathe and work in the social media space.

8. Perspective. Without stepping into the fishbowl, you can’t tell what is going on with people who are literally off the deep end. I want to hear the fringe tell me about how they solved the mysteries of life by using social oomph or how Rippol.com is going to change the video landscape or even how Twitter is going to be purchased by Mike Langford and Tweetworks and then folded into an app that runs on a refurbished Apple Newton. I want the odd stories to inspire me to listen harder and learn more.

9. Booze. ‘enuf said.

10. Future. The model in this piece has been one-word bits, but I would say THE future if pressed for accuracy. I think the brains at SXSWi are the future. They are passionate and happy and giving and great. I want to glimpse the future here and then have the joy of living it. And maybe this one thing–the future–encompasses all the other things I’m looking for this March.

About Jeff
Jeff Cutler is Boston-based writer, content creator, and Twitter teacher. He made a splash at his first SXSW Interactive last year as part of the Innovators’ Road Trip.

Twitter: @JeffCutler
Blog: Jeff Cutler’s columns, essays, and opinions

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And that’s a shame, because compelling photos and other visuals can make your posts far more interesting and memorable.

If incorporating meaningful images for your posts is something you either hadn’t considered, or that you struggle with–as I sometimes do–here are three blogs and bloggers worth studying:

C.C. Chapman

It helps that C.C. takes brilliant photos and has a full collection of his own work to choose from. But what really impresses me about his blog-post images is how personal they are. C.C. is a creative and emotional guy, and that always comes through in his photo choices.

Ben Arment – History in the Making

Ben is one of my new favorite bloggers. He’s a masterful storyteller who likes to mix artful headshot closeups or stunning venue panoromas into his posts. The text entries themselves are usually brief–typically just a few paragraphs–but they’re chock-full of insight and questions to think about. And when Ben’s words are accented with such thoughtful images, they also ensure I come back to his site (or RSS feed) again and again.

Sam Lawrence – Go Big Always

Sam doesn’t blog often, but when he does, he makes an impression. His big, bold, and arresting images are a big reason why. That “Norman Naysayer” character in the graphic above is still burned onto my brain some 15 months after he first blogged about it.

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