One of the biggest challenges for a site like Howcast, though, is the same one that has vexed(使焦虑) old-school media giants and survivors of the dot-com boom: How can content creators turn a profit on the Web?
Howcast’s solution is to partner with advertisers and create instructional videos for their specific products or services.
Blurring the lines between editorial and advertising is a tricky endeavor, of course. Companies that try to be too stealthy(悄悄的,鬼鬼祟祟的) or clever risk seeing their brand roasted on Facebook, Twitter and beyond.
“Users are sensitive to brands trying to muscle into what appears to be an organic social media environment,” says Nick Thomas, an analyst at Forrester Research. “Yes, I want to learn how to cook something, but do I necessarily want to be taught by someone who makes the ingredients?”
Howcast’s team of young executives argue that they can tap-dance along that fine line by making sure that any branding effort is in a supporting role, rather than a starring one, in its instructional videos.
They are even forging(锻炼,伪造) relationships with the State Department as it looks for ways to use social networks and other media to communicate directly with people around the world. Among the videos they’ve produced for it are “How to Protest Without Violence” and “How to Launch a Human Rights Blog.”
Howcast executives are also quickly signing deals with the likes of Google, Facebook and Hulu to spread their videos across the Internet.
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