The widget-based ad units also link back to the comments and RSS feeds displayed. For instance, a unit for a pharmaceutical company might carry an RSS feed of blogs and media that discuss health care issues, and also will carry links to those blogs/online publications.

Each of the pages will be moderated by Edelman staffers, who are tasked with selecting content about specific topics. Rick Murray, president of Edelman's social media division, me2revolution, said the company will not advise its clients to avoid posts that are critical of their brands.

"We try to find the quality writers--the quality content," he said. "But if someone disagrees with the client, that ought to be part of the conversation."

Edelman is currently pitching the service to clients, in the areas of consumer goods, technology, financial services and health care. Murray said the first ads would likely appear by the end of January.

The RSS aggregation technology platform is provided by NewsGator, and the ads can be run in a simple banner ad space, or in a more dynamic placement, including pop-outs and rollovers.

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