Another month, another visit to Silicon Valley - my home away from home - and, with it, another visit to the Googleplex in search of insights. This time I chatted with Karen Wickre, who oversees Google's growing armada of blogs and Twitter embassies.

Google, perhaps more than any other company, has a culture of openness. Often a company's culture shapes its communications strategy. And that's certainly the case with Google. So social media comes naturally.

Karen first launched Google's corporate blog back in 2004. Today the company has digital embassies for virtually every product. This armada spans dozens of blogs, Twitter profiles, YouTube and more recently Facebook.

Back when the Official Google Blog launched, posts were conservative. Wickre, a former tech journalist, told me over breakfast that early items were almost whimsical, focusing on the food at Google (which I can assure you, rocks).

While the blog still features some trivial fare, no one could call it - or any of Google's other digital assets – a light weight. In fact, the opposite is true. Google uses its armada to take on hard issues like China, public policy and privacy. And it largely eschews press releases, unless they are financial or material to shareholders.

While Wickre doesn't oversee all these embassies, she serves as a beacon for the teams that manage them - subject matter experts like product managers, engineers and marketers. Like a good coach, she provides templates and best practices and answers questions as they come up. Wickre, in the meantime, is turning her attention to how the company can strategically use its own Buzz product.

Wickre is one of an emerging breed of professionals that companies hire to manage/lead companies down the social media path. Not nearly enough credit goes to people like her. These individuals are often the ones who have to effect change - with the help of partners like us.

Google, perhaps more than any other company, is a model of social media success. One reason is that they tap into the three key trends that I wrote about earlier. They are real-time, visible and data driven. However, what they do best is embrace using multiple messages, formats and stories.

I subscribe to a fire hose feed for all the Google blogs as well as their Twitter and Facebook embassies. On any given day you will find a wealth of news, tips and stories that are tailored to specific interests. Only care about Gmail? There's an embassy for that. How about policy? That too.

However, Google’s social media success goes beyond just having lots of teams engaged. Each venue slants the content to the reader/viewer's needs and utilizes different formats - short form, long form, video, images and more. The end result is that Google creates massive surface area that make them hard to miss in an age where information choices are ubiquitous.

The takeaway here for companies is that, when possible, they should consider creating several blogs and - more likely – digital embassies inside existing communities. One Twitter presence might not be enough. The same goes with Facebook. (Note that this is just one approach and not the only one. Some advocate centralizing content into a single place. There are pros/cons to each.)

Businesses today need to consider having multiple streams that are mapped to high priority interests. This creates surface area and lots of entry points for stakeholders to get engaged. What's more, the content should be "hand crafted"- eg tailored to each community. And these spaces should be managed by identifiable employees who are subject matter experts.

This is how I am tailoring my own content. I use Twitter for sharing/conversing around links and news. My new Facebook community is for discussions and sharing insights and observations. While my Posterous blog site is for essays, videos and the occasional digital doodles.

Now scaling might intimidate some. According to a recent Smartbrief survey, time is the chief obstacle to engaging in social communities. However, if a business makes social media a team sport, as Google does, anyone can succeed.

Steve Rubel
Edelman Digital, New York
Follow on Twitter @steverubel

Yesterday, David Armano asked us all why we make the annual pilgrimage to Austin for #SXSW.

No doubt, he’ll get a wide range of responses from “the parties,” to “networking,” to “get me the hell out of winter.”

This is only my second South by, but I can’t see missing another one anytime soon. And here’s why:

- The vibe is amazing. Austin sets the tone. Yes, it’s weird, and that’s a GREAT thing.

- Geeks rule. The buzz is invigorating and unavoidable. It’s impossible not to be engaged… and inspired.

- Let’s face it. Our years are filled with daily doses of “I need it now.” It’s hard to stay on top of your game when continued success demands that you’re essentially “on” 24 / 7 / 365. SXSW is my chance to check out, and plug in. I’ll hit a few panels, spend a lot of time in the hallways, eat some amazing food, catch up with a lot of old friends and hopefully, meet a handful of new ones.

- I go to soak it all in -- the youth, the smarts, the energy and most of all, the passion. It’s an incredibly rejuvenating experience.

I can’t tell you what I’ll do, who I’ll meet or what I’ll learn but I can guarantee this: come Monday morning (yes, I’m leaving early), I’ll be ready for the next 361.

Keep Austin Weird.

Image credit: Brian Solis

Rick Murray
Edelman Digital, Chicago
Follow on Twitter @rickmurray

There have been many different subtopics of online health communication discussed in the last few Health Digital Check-Ups. It’s somewhat daunting to digest it all, so before going even farther down the road with more about the specifics, we thought it may be a great time to refresh and just lay out the entire landscape.

Instead of walking through alone, though, we are going to enlist some help from one of the most iconic bands of American pop culture: Journey. Because everyone loves Journey, right?

So here’s a quick view of where we stand with the musical inspiration of Steve Perry. Let us know if we missed something.

Separate Ways

While it isn’t necessarily a catch-all for everyone who communicates about health, it’s sometimes easy to think about the space as holding three separate groups, and each has a very separate way of interacting on the online channel. The health space often feels limited to patients interacting with other patients about conditions or health status, healthcare professionals talking with their peers about news, and health companies dipping their toes in but reluctant to fully engage with the public.

I’ll Be Alright Without You

There are some pretty strong data points, most notably in Pew’s 2009 study on patients and health information, that consumers are often quenching their thirst for health knowledge at many places beyond a doctor’s office. Much of this is happening online: 60 percent of people who report looking online for health information (roughly 2/3 of American Internet users fall into this category) say that what they found on their own affected their decision about how to treat an illness or condition. It is not a complete transition, though: physicians still rank as most credible source, and as the Health Engagement Barometer showed, 88 percent of people validate the information they find online with their doctor.

Wheel in the Sky

In this metaphor, “the wheel in the sky that keeps turnin’” is the ever growing innovation of online technology. There are new communication platforms constantly appearing in the digital world, and with each new channel, it is our challenge not only to figure out how people may use them to communicate about health, but also the marketing regulations that are still yet to truly be defined. Google’s SideWiki made us rethink the idea of “ownership” of a Web site, and it had a unique impact on sites for pharmaceutical products. We don’t know where we’ll be tomorrow, but you can bet it’s going to keep health communicators on their toes.

Open Arms

If recent years of the e-patient movement are any indication, the growth of communities specifically focused on a condition or disease states is likely to continue. That means that understanding how to work with patients – and not try to talk at them – will be the key to success. We shouldn’t have anything to hide, and we need to believe what they say. After all, for these groups, it is their health; as communicators, we need to respect that.

Don’t Stop Believing

There are a few more things that need to be worked out in the realm of online health communication. There still is that divide between the different groups, making transparent engagement across parties a little bit of a challenge. However, it is absolutely plausible that this will not be this way forever. We will find a way to connect patients and the people who can help them the most with their health. Until then, just don’t stop believing.

Dave Levy
Edelman Digital, Washington D.C.
Follow on Twitter @levydr

After a recent conversation with Adweek’s Brian Morrissey—it hit me that this is likely the year where we will see more senior people from the marketing & business community descend upon SXSW for a number of different reasons. In the past, SXSW has largely been populated by the hard core tech folks and digerati. This year, it will be more common to see people from all backgrounds and companies ranging from Humana (client) to Hilton to, you name it.

So the question is—if you are either going or sending someone, what’s the primary reason? Share your thoughts here on our anonymous poll. We’d love to know why you are going and what you hope to get out of it.

We'll be at SXSW in full force and hope to see you there.

David Armano
Edelman Digital, Chicago
Follow on Twitter @armano

"At last."

I remember BBDO’s Phil Dusenberry addressing an international meeting of Pepsi-Cola marketers and telling us all that those were the two most overused and least motivating words in advertising. Some twenty years later, I can tell you that they mean a lot to me; this site was almost as long in the making (not quite, but it feels that way). It’s the classic cobbler’s kids story: clients take precedence over “house” work – first, last and always.

We launched a placeholder blog called Authenticities two years ago, thinking we’d have our “official” site up in three months. I think we’ve started, almost finished and then binned, at least three iterations of what you’re now looking at over the past two years. Nothing was hitting the mark. So our placeholder blog lived on, and on, and on. I can’t thank @amandamooney enough for being its primary contributor over the past year. She’s incredibly good btw, and we’ve migrated many of her posts here.

I killed V2 about nine months ago, and a small team of us decided to take a 180. The voice of reason and rigor throughout it all was Greg Lipman, our Creative Director in Chicago. He took my rather loosely defined vision (i.e. give me something different) and he brought it to life. Then, working with our global technology guru, Ming Yee, and Greg’s creative team of Kenny Roa, Derek Van Horne and Jim Kopeny, they made it real. That was last August BTW –just as our business was taking off on a trajectory that continues today. Greg was a great noodge, and he made it his point to remind me how close we were with amazing regularity, passion and no small amount of patience.

Fast forward to about three weeks ago. @applegirl, aka Suzanne Marlatt comes on board as our Community Manager. We sat with @armano, looked at the site, looked at the calendar, saw SXSWi and picked our launch date. Huge shout-outs to each of them, and a final one to Shawn Jones, our TD in Chicago, for working their collective magic on structure, content and bugs over the past few weeks.

It does take a village (and apparently, a lot of time). I’m biased, but – thanks largely to the efforts of the folks mentioned above – we finally have a site that’s equal to the quality of the work our teams do for some amazing clients worldwide.

See you all at #sxsw.

Rick Murray
Edelman Digital, Chicago
Follow on Twitter @rickmurray

Who Cares About What You Ate Today? Tips for Twitter Use

For those folks that are weary on testing out the 140 character communication tool, this article is for you. Simple ways to get the most out of Twitter.

Google Puts Web Sites on the Same Starting Block with Real Time Search

Gone are the days where smaller web sites may have to wait to be indexed. Google’s developing the ability for all web sites to be indexed in real-time versus waiting for the next round of spider crawls. This means that a small web site about running shoes could indeed out index a larger retailer site about the same running shoe.

Facebook’s Ad Platform – Giving Other Search Engines a Run for the Money?

Many of you may already be aware of Facebook’s self-serve advertising capabilities. A slight change in the set up of creating a campaign will put attention back on the strength of Facebook – the real-time social web. These ‘likes and interests’ enable for hyper targeted advertising to those Facebook users that specifically said they are interested in xyz.

Betty White’s Singing The Tune.."Thank You for Being a Friend…"

Perhaps it was her recent role in The Proposal. Then again, it may be the hysterical ad Betty White made for Snickers. Either way, Rose Nylund is coming to Saturday Night Live – care of a Facebook fan page with close to 500,000 fans!

Spin Gets Creative with Foursquare

Just in time for sxsw, music lovers will enjoy a fun Foursquare challenge, care of Spin. Another interesting approach to how brands can take advantage of this geo-based tool.

Blagica Bottigliero
Edelman Digital, Chicago
Follow on Twitter @blagica

What’s so special about SXSW? It’s unlike any other industry event you’ll likely attend and that’s by design. We’ll be there in full force this year co-hosting “Allhat 2” with Richard Binhammer of Dell, which thanks to a sponsorship from BlackBerry (client) promises to be even better than last year. Our president, Rick Murray will be in attendance along with regional managing directors Michael Wiley and Cricket Wardein to name a few. And our newest member of the team, Suzanne Marlatt will join me in “covering” the event. We’ll be doing quick video interviews featuring some faces you may recognize, so be sure to come back here or subscribe to our feed.

If you can’t be at the event, you can follow the tweets from “Allhat 2” here. And if you are coming, please be sure to say hello to anyone from our team. We’re looking forward to the the BBQ, brainfood and time with friends.

Hope to see you there.

David Armano
Edelman Digital, Chicago
Follow on Twitter @armano

The Health Digital Check-Up traditionally hasn’t been the place for politics, but given that a good part of the digital health team has ties to D.C., it’s hard to ignore events like last Thursday’s bipartisan summit on health reform.

Even though the summit was going on just a few blocks from Edelman’s Washington, D.C. office (seriously!), it wasn’t like any of us had direct access to watch the proceedings in person. However, wonks, interested parties and political enthusiasts had many different avenues – including in the digital space – to watch and analyze the event, President Obama’s proposal and the reactions. To give you an idea of the different ways last week’s debate and summit went digital, here are five different ways online media played a part in extending the summit.

The Debate, Live on YouTube

Throughout Thursday, the entire health reform summit was broadcast live on the White House’s YouTube channel, and the videos have been archived there for continual access. In addition to making the video available online, the opportunity to watch the summit on this channel was promoted through e-communication sent to supporters and a banner across the top of the site all day long.

C-SPAN + Twitter

C-SPAN is hardly the flashiest network around – basic, essential, but hardly flashy. Yet for this summit, cspan.org turned the summit into a demonstration of the power of its online – and over air – community. The summit’s “action” streamed on the cable network’s Web page, and, at the same time, those who logged in could also see a Twitter stream moving constantly with comments about the summit.

Bloggers React

There was no shortage of commentary from online pundits when it came to discussing the health reform summit. Usual political gurus like Nate Silver discussed the role the President took in the legislation and questioned whether or not anything new came from the proceedings; there were conversely partisan voices calling out extremes described by Democratic participants. In the health blogger space, it was just as divided: one primary care physician wondered how things would be different this time around, while Bob Doherty of the ACP Advocate Blog wondered what the Republicans may want in a reform bill.

Coverage Lives On

This is by no means a new trend in terms of the digital channel, but the fact is that broadcast and other traditional news coverage around the health reform summit could take a new life online. Comments from the pundits from any of the cable news stations (or Comedy Central) will likely be the center point for much of the discussion. An interesting example came the morning after the summit from media bloggers noting how Jon Stewart, the normally critical Daily Show host, was fairly complimentary of the efforts of the summit.

Sources for More News

There will be other stories that come and go – whether health or policy related – in the next few days. If you want to keep a handle on the follow-up directly related the health care summit, there are plenty of places online to turn. Twitter conversation seems to be gathering most around the hashtag #hcrsummit, and for a few bloggers to add to your feed, Ezra Klein of the Washington Post and the team over at The New Health Dialogue will help provide you up to the minute information wherever you are.

Gary Karr
Edelman Health, Washington D.C.
Follow on Twitter @garykarr

I have been following David Armano since I saw him speak at Social Media Club Chicago in January 2009. I found his tweets interesting but I never took the time to respond to anything he said until I saw a tweet from him indicating that he was using Yammer. I responded back to him, and said that although I like Yammer, it was difficult to implement at my work because people just don’t yam.

My tweet was different from the other responses he received that evening and he took the time to look into my social accounts (blog, twitter etc). And, it just so happened that he was looking for a Community Manager at Edelman and I fit the bill. A few DM’s and an interview later, I accepted a position. Behold the power of the @ reply without which I wouldn’t be in my current position.

We all know that twitter is a wonderful tool for connecting with people but are you truly harnessing the power of your account, do you actively engage or is your approach more passive? On a daily basis I respond to and ask questions of my followers in order to build a real relationship with them. The people are out there, you’ve accepted their follows and now it’s time to engage with them so you can maintain the relationship and take it to another level.

Here are 3 of my tips for how to utilize the @ reply properly.

Find your @ reply limit

You have to try to find a happy medium with twitter replies. If you reply too much your feed will look like you just respond to every tweet in your stream, which says you aren’t creating your own original content to contribute to the conversation. If you never respond you look like a person that really doesn’t engage and interact with their followers. If you find a way to respond frequently to valuable conversation you’ll utilize twitter much more effectively and you’ll find that your tweets will provide more value to your entire following.

Acknowledge people that reach out to you

There is nothing worse than reaching out to a company or person only to be ignored. Take the time to look through your mentions and replies and try to respond back to as many as you can. It’s one thing to message @billgates and not hear anything back but a company or smaller personal account should attempt to acknowledge when someone reaches out.

Know when to take a conversation "offline"

In certain instances a twitter conversation can go back and forth between two people for a while. In this situation it’s usually not something your followers care to read about and it can come off more like an IM conversation than a twitter conversation. If possible move the conversation to DM or email so you can have a more in depth discussion without harming your twitter following.

Responding is engaging and engaging with real live people is becoming a huge movement on the web. How can businesses and individuals harness the power of engagement with the people who matter to them?

Image credit: ~llse

Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and….Foursquare?

The lights of Las Vegas were lit up with Foursquare recently. The Miracle Mile shops were lit up with Foursquare check-ins and tips from its mall shoppers. Need to know if Zara has a sale? Hang out in front of the display for a bit and you may see the Mayor of Zara appear with her own tips on deals.

It’s Not Just About iPhone Applications – Hello Droid

For those of you that aren’t familiar with Android, it is the operating system now owned by Google – and loved by many developers and open source fans. Just like the iPhone, applications are being built for Android. Though the concentration of Droid users is low, a Car Finding app has already netted a developer $13,000.

Keeping Customers Informed Every Step of the Way is a Good Thing

Jeff Jarvis’ airport delay turns into a friendly reminder that keeping customers up-to-date on something as mundane as operational status messages can do wonders.

Netflix for the iPhone? Let’s Ask the Customers

Instead of spending time in the board room, Netflix turns to their fan base. Should they develop Netflix to operate on iPhones and the upcoming iPad?

Blagica Bottigliero
Edelman Digital, Chicago
Follow on Twitter @blagica