Today at 3:00 om PT, check out Chris Anderson, editor-in-chief of Wired Magazine and best selling author of The Long Tail and Free!, in a live video “thoughtcast” about the ways that new technologies are effecting the traditional business world.
Ask Chris a question by tweeting directly from the HP Input | Output site (see the “Discussion” box on the upper right of the page). Be there!

Back in May I announced my intention to bring in a partner to help run FM’s rapidly growing and evolving business. Today we’re announcing that Deanna Brown is coming aboard as our new President and COO. See here for the official press release.

Deanna is a consummate professional with major chops in the media business. She’s been a successful media entrepreneur and a successful Fortune 500 executive. That breadth of experience is not easy to find. I’ve known her for more than 10 years and I can safely say that she has what it takes to take FM into the future.

I’m proud to say that we’ve outgrown our scrappy startup ways and have developed into a major media company with all of the challenges and opportunities that go along with that status. There’s a lot going on at FM and I want to point out a couple of recent news items.

First, we are now a comScore top 50 Web property. We have been for some time, but due to some technological vagaries, our particular type of media properties were being undercounted. comScore is now more accurately counting our sites and we are pleased to see that our partners are getting a fair shake.

Second, we recently announced a new premium display advertising product called Ad STAMP. This is designed for major consumer brands that want to leverage FM’s reach while presenting a quality message AND jumping into the conversation. The response has been great, and the first of many STAMP executions will be rolling out in less than ten days.

So Deanna joins at an auspicious time for FM. She began her career in the mid-eighties as a founding member of a small LA advertising agency upon graduation from the University of Southern California. She has since become a seasoned media executive, with more than 20 years of experience ranging from four-person startups to Fortune 500 public companies. Brown most recently was President at Scripps Networks Digital, where she led the charge on bringing Scripps more fully into the digital space. In 1995 she co-founded CondeNet, the digital division of publisher CondeNast. She has also held VP and General Manager titles at Yahoo and AOL, and founded other successful media companies including Powerful Media/Inside.com (acquired by Primedia) and Gaming Industry News (acquired by Ziff Davis).

Welcome Deanna. We’re thrilled to have you aboard!

Nearly four years ago I met Jason Weisberger through a mutual friend (and board member), and I knew I wanted him on my team. At the time we were tiny – just 8 or so folks – and we barely had a revenue model (we now have 88 and a very robust and growing revenue model!). Jason agreed to join us as VP Operations and moved up to COO, eventually running a major portion of our business. Jason’s no-nonsense operating smarts have contributed greatly to our growth and success, and today I have the decidedly bittersweet role of announcing that he’ll be leaving FM to join, once again, a small startup in need of his expertise.

Jason is a true gentleman, and his humor, intellect, and honesty has served all of us here (that’s Jason flanked by FMers during a tech BBQ, photo courtesy Andre Torrez). We’ll miss you Jason, but it’s nice to know your new offices will be just a few blocks from our San Francisco headquarters. Thank you for all you’ve done for us, and I look forward to seeing the successes you’ll create in your new role. (And having more than a few drinks to swap stories…)

Michelle Denhart joins Federated Media as an Account Coordinator. She is a recent graduate from The University of Arizona and moved to New York City from San Francisco. Previously she worked for a financial planner as a Marketing Assistant. She enjoys reading, hiking, bike riding, and traveling. Welcome, Michelle!

It’s Advertising Week in NYC and the media and advertising world is humming. FM is participating of course. If you’re here in NY please be sure to check out our sessions. And for you folks on the West Coast, be sure to check out the Social Media Strategies event. See below for details.

MIXX Conference & Expo : Our own Pete Spande is presenting a case study on a recent Cheetos campaign. Stephanie Charlebois of Goodby, Silverstein & Partners will join him on stage.
Who: Pete Spande
What: Cheetos Case Study
When: Sept. 21 at 3:00
Where: Crowne Plaza, New York

OMMA Global: Over at OMMA, John Battelle is participating in a keynote conversation on Social Search.
Who: John Battelle
What: Keynote – Social Search Vs. Web Search
When: Sept. 22 at 2:15p pm
Where: Marriot Marquis, New York

AdWeek Social Media Strategies: And on the West Coast, Neil Chase is speaking at the Social Media Strategies Conference. He’ll be talking about how to make traditional media thrive in the social Web.
Who: Neil Chase
What: How To: Make Traditional Media Thrive In Social Media
When: Sept. 22 at 4:15 pm
Where: Fort Mason, San Francisco

Back in May at the CM Summit in New York, comScore’s Gian Fulgoni announced Media Metrix 360, a major initiative to revamp their audience measurement methodologies.
The new methodology combines panel data with website server data and provides a more consistent picture of the Web universe. FM was one of the earliest media companies to jump on board and we’re happy to report that due to Meda Metrix 360′s more consistent, accurate approach to Web measurement, we’re now counted among the top 50 properties on the Web. Number 42 to be exact.
That’s fantastic and we’re glad to see that FM’s independent authors are being represented more accurately by the Web’s leading audience measurement firm.
But remember that when it comes to media and marketing, reach is only one piece of the equation. As we like to say: “Reach is important, but engagement is key.”
FM’s sites not only have reach (as witnessed by the new comScore numbers), but we also have a level of engagement that is simply superior (as witnessed by the uber-active communities attached to each of our sites).
FM has the quality and safety of a major media brand, the reach of a network PLUS an intense level of engagement that is unique to FM sites. That is a winning combination for marketers.

Back in October we launched WePC, a community site where users come together to share ideas on the ideal PC. The site has since taken off with amazing ideas, drawing, images and discussion from the community.
Last week WePC debuted some videos from YouTube phenoms including the Transformer Laptop idea and a hack for creating a Video Streaming Pack.
So far these have been viewed hundreds of thousands of times. The Ideas coming out of the community area amazing. Check it out!

We’ve just launched Palm Trend Tracker, a service brought to you by Palm Pre that gives users a complete view of trending topics on Twitter.
Users can now see the top 30 trending topics. Follow the current trends via a frequency graph. Grab the slider below the graph to scroll back through time. See where the trends are being tweeted in the real world via the “Tweet Locations” map.
And this is REALLY cool: predict the future with the “Pre Trend Watch.” Palm, being the forward-thinking folks that they are, empower you to identify the hottest rising trends that are still under the radar. You’ll be in the know before anyone else. And you’ll be able to follow a trend all the way back to its genesis. Check out the “Trend Archive” to see when the trend started.
Have fun!!