Edelman Digital senior VP, director of insights to speak on ‘Five Digital Trends to Watch for in 2009’ April 15 at the Newhouse School

Edelman Digital senior VP, director of insights to speak on ‘Five Digital Trends to Watch for in 2009’ April 15 at the Newhouse SchoolApril 10, 2009Katelyn Schultzkmschult@syr.edu

Steve Rubel, Edelman Digital senior vice president and director of insights, will discuss “Five Digital Trends to Watch for in 2009” on Wednesday, April 15, at 7 p.m. in the Joyce Hergenhan Auditorium in Newhouse 3. The event-presented by Syracuse University’s S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications-is free and open to the public. Parking is available in SU pay lots.

In his lecture, Rubel, one of the most sought-after speakers on digital trends and social networking, will give attendees an opportunity to learn how to take advantage of the Web in today’s fast-paced market. He will discuss this year’s five digital trends to watch and the impact for companies, job seekers and students in the fields of marketing and public relations.

Even though the economy has slowed, audiences still spend significant amounts of time on the Web. Public relations professionals need to focus on public engagement, search and social networking in order to drive a higher return on investment and keep up with the digital times, according to Rubel.

Since joining Edelman in 2006, Rubel has developed marketing communication strategies through studying global technology, the media and online trends. He is responsible for keeping Edelman and its clients aware of these developments. In addition, he writes a monthly white paper on digital trends that is distributed free to clients. Rubel’s Micro Persuasion Blog has 50,000 daily readers, and he is actively followed by more than 17,000 on Twitter.

Among his honors, Rubel has been named to PR Week’s 40 Under 40 list, the Forbes.com Web Celeb 25, PC Magazine’s 100 Favorite Blogs, Media Magazine’s Media 100, the AlwaysOn/Technorati Open Media 100 and the CNET News.com Blog 100.