Anybody who dropped by Sen. John McCain's MySpace page the morning of March 27 might have been startled to find a terse announcement beneath a portrait of the man who hopes to become president. "Dear Supporters," began the message, which proclaimed that McCain had reversed his position to fully support gay marriage "particularly marriage between passionate females."

"Birds of a feather flock together." "Safety in numbers." These aphorisms would have elicited a derisive snort from newspaper publishers 30 years ago, when profits were fat and the advertising pie just kept getting bigger. But with revenues in decline, newspapers are rediscovering their herd instincts.

In the frenetic online ad network space, two opposite forces are fast changing the playing field. The big are getting bigger, thanks to new consolidations, while the small, niche-oriented networks - ones that that specialize in emerging media like podcasts, RSS feeds, blogs, mobile content and broadband video - are proliferating.

We picked 10 talented digital media strategists who are making their mark. Who are they and what makes them tick?