When Reece from PingZine handed me this assignment and told me I was interviewing Rob Malda I pretended to be excited and nodded my head knowingly while he educated me on Rob’s background.

Normally when I do interviews, I categorize them under “Spotlight on Search or Spotlight on Blogging”, but Chris Pirillo doesn’t fit in just one category. He’s a bit of a renaissance man when it comes to all the enterprising projects, ventures and activities he’s involved with.

So, What's a Lens?

A lens is one person's view on a topic that matters to her. It's an easy-to-build, single web page that can point to blogs, favorite links, RSS feeds, Flickr photos, Google maps, your eBay auctions, CafePress designs, Amazon books or music, and more. Then, when someone is looking for recommended information, fast, your lens gets him started and sends him off in the right direction. Win, win!

One of the most visible SEO pundits on the web is unquestionably, Aaron Wall. Aaron is a very unique individual in the SEO world since he is exceptionally knowledgable and networked but until recently, has not overtly offered search engine optimization consulting services.

Aaron is one of those people who has been great about sharing and exchanging good information about SEO tactics with those fortunate enough to be on his IM list. But he does not limit his advice giving to a personal network. He's written a very popular book on SEO, plus you'll see him at many SES and Pubcon conferences as well as on industry forums, discussion threads and blogs handing out excellent advice that other SEOs charge big bucks for.

Today's interview is with Barry Schwartz, who runs a web application development business called RustyBrick, edits and writes the Search Engine Roundtable blog, serves as moderator on numerous forums, provides editorial coverage and speaks at Search Marketing conferences and is now running a new forum.

One of the fun things about being involved with the search marketing industry is getting to meet really bright and interesting people. Whether they are long time SEO gurus, CEO’s of fast growing corporations or employees of the major search engines, this industry rarely disappoints with its variety of perspectives.

I first met Lawrence Coburn when we presented together on a Public Relations panel during a WebmasterWorld Pubcon conference in Boston. Lawrence told a great story about being at the right place at the right time and taking proper advantage to build publicity for his web site, RateItAll.com.

The use of news search SEO and marketing has grown significantly in the past 2 years. Search engine optimization practitioners as well as public relations firms are realizing (albeit the latter slower than the former) the value of optimizing electronic documents such as press releases, articles, white papers, and the syndication of those files as news and blog search engines grow their audiences.

What did I expect when I called Robert Scoble, perhaps the best-known blogger to have become famous for blogging? I wasn’t sure. Maybe someone very Californian. In the bad way.

Anyway, he isn’t. Yes, he’s laid-back and he did use the expression ‘real good’. We only had a short conversation, but I can imagine him being a big hugger. I like that sometimes, though. Anyway, I was disarmed. He seems to be a charming man. Actually, I’ve been really lucky so far, and only a couple of my Web 2.0 interviews have been with people who turned my flesh. Bottom line? You try to knock the scobleizer and you go through me first.

Facilitating Social Media Optimization (SMO)

What follows is a Q&A with AddThis.com co-founder Dom Vonarburg.

Q)  Most interviews end by asking if there is anything else you'd like to add, what specifically would you like people to know about AddThis up front?