Edelman has announced that Adam Hirsch will join Edelman Digital as senior vice president of Emerging Media and Technology, effective August 6th. In the newly created position, Hirsch will help operationalize new partnership opportunities, platforms and technologies on behalf of Edelman Digital’s clients throughout the world. He will report to Kevin King, global practice chair, Digital. (Release)

Supporting the agency’s growth in New York, M&C Saatchi PR announces the addition of Beth Garcia to the team. Garcia joins as Vice President and will direct several of the agency’s key accounts while generating new business opportunities and managing office operations.  She joins M&C Saatchi from Goodman Media, where she spent seven years working on a variety of accounts in the areas of media, entertainment and healthcare, and on campaigns such as the redesign of The Wall Street Journal and the launch of “Harry Potter and The Half-Blood Prince”. (Release)

Dereck Andrade has been named vice president of sales and marketing communications at WeHo. He had been business editor at Pasadena Star-News. (FishbowlLA)

Mike Harris has been named president at DDB West. He had been director of strategy at TBWA\Chiat\Day San Francisco. (AgencySpy)

The 2011 social media trends watch continued as Steve Rubel, SVP and director of insights at Edelman Digital, highlighted predictions and recommendations for this year while speaking at the BRITE ’11 conference hosted by Columbia Business School’s Center on Global Brand Leadership in New York on Wednesday. Brite is a global conference series focused on topics like culture and technology.

Click through for seven key trends that should be on your radar.

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If you’re curious about what Edelman Digital SVP Steve Rubel has in his office click here. Mashable entered his inner sanctum armed with a camera and what did they find? An old magazine, a puppet from Indonesia and touch screens galore.