As folks from across the globe (!) gear up to arrive in Austin, Texas, this week for South by Southwest, Answers.com is packing its bags with goodies to give out during the SXSW Interactive conference, from March 12-16.

If you’re going to be attending the event, make sure to follow Answersdotcom on Twitter. When questions about SXSW are tweeted, reply to Answersdotcom with your answers and win a prize! You’ll get prize-pick up instructions and walk away the proud of owner of an Answers.com… well, why ruin the surprise?

Read more about what Answers.com is giving away at SXSW this year.

Answers.com’s very own Shaya will be at SXSW Interactive too, so make sure to say hi. You can follow her at Pickleshy and get her perspective on the conference, too.

You’ve met the Orange Guy. Now meet his whole community! His crazy aunt Betty, his hippie older sister, the detective he hired 2 years ago… They’re all here and waiting to be uploaded to your Facebook so you can tag your friends, or select the one you identify with most and use it as your avatar.

Click the image to get to the Facebook version and share the Orange Guy grid on your profile and tag your friends. You can also save it, select an Orange Guy and re-upload it to use it wherever you feel like expressing your inner orange!

From the brilliant mind at Jester Arts Illustrations.

Now, along with your other options for signing in to Answers.com, you can use your LinkedIn ID.

LinkedIn is a networking site for professionals, and as such, is yet another tool you can use to use your real name on Answers.com and become a trusted expert. It’s a great idea if you plan on building your online reputation by becoming an active Q&A contributor.

With a LinkedIn ID, you’ll be able to import your profile photo to your Answers.com bio page, as well as prominently display a link to your LinkedIn profile.

It works similarly to signing in with Facebook, Google, Twitter or Yahoo - read the full how-to on signing in.

Answers.com is proud to participate at MediaPost’s OMMA event today in New York City. Bruce Smith, Chief Strategic Officer, will be sitting on a panel about content at 4:30pm. If you are there, feel free to leave your thoughts on the panel in the comments below.

Here is some more information about the session:

Grilling the Content Farmers: When Data Drives Publishing

A new breed of publishing emerged this past year that reverses the polarity of traditional behavioral targeting. Instead of using content to identify user interests and target ads, they use search and other online behaviors to direct which content to create and push in real time into the information economy. Traditional publishers recoil at the prospect of automated editorial decisions, but do these brash new players have something to teach old media? Advertisers wonder what value to place on these audiences and their declared interests. We bring together new and old publishers and their ad clients to explore the implications of a demand-side content economy.

Moderator: Terence Kawaja, Managing Director, GCA Savvian Advisors

Panelists:
Saul Hansell, Programming Director, seed.com, AOL Inc.
Patrick Keane, CEO, Associated Content, Inc.
Steven Kydd, EVP of Content, DemandMedia
Bruce Smith, Chief Strategic Officer, Answers.com
Josh Stinchcomb, Publisher, Conde Nast Digital

If you’re going to be #2 - why not be #2 after… Facebook?

Answers.com’s WikiAnswers was rated the #2 fastest growing U.S. domain in 2009, right after Facebook. And, hey, that’s ok, since Answers.com recently implemented Facebook Connect as an option for signing in.

Here’s a little more from the official announcement:

“…according to comScore data… WikiAnswers’ unique monthly visitor count in the U.S. grew 74%^(*). This ranks WikiAnswers as the 2^nd fastest growing domain in 2009, second only to Facebook.com, of the top 50 U.S. domains in December 2008.”

Bob Rosenschein, Chairman and CEO of Answers.com, said this about the growth:

“The site’s unique self- reinforcing growth coupled with the efforts of the entire Answers.com team, have once again brought Answers.com to the culmination of a very successful year.”

So for the millions of Answers.com contributors out there - treat yourselves to some chocolate! Even the tiniest edits are building on the amazing, global, growing, collaborative Q&A project that is WikiAnswers.

Answers.com is proud to sponsor the Online Community Unconference by Forum One. The event is taking place today in New York City (despite the impending snowpocalypse!) and the theme of this one is: Moving Forward, Together.

Some of the topics at today’s sessions include:

• Using Community and Collaboration Tools Within the Enterprise
• Lessons Learned: Pitfalls and Best Practices in Community-Building
• How to hire community & Social Media staff