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Howcast to Produce and Stream Live Town Hall for Secretary Clinton and Power a Social Media Hub for the Fifth Summit of the Americas

Posted on: Tuesday, 14 April 2009, 12:01 CDT

http://townhall.america.gov to act as the social media hub for Digital Town Hall and Diplomatic Meeting of Western Hemisphere Heads of State

NEW YORK, April 14 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Howcast.com announced today that it will produce and stream live Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton's Digital Town Hall of the Americas, that will be simulcast on the web, from the Dominican Republic on Friday, April 17, 2009, in anticipation of the Fifth Summit of the Americas to be held April 17-19 in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago. The event will provide an opportunity for Secretary Clinton to launch a conversation with citizens from across the Western Hemisphere to discuss the Summit's themes of securing our citizens' future by promoting human prosperity, energy security and environmental sustainability, as well as the situation in Haiti, where she will visit and attend meetings on Thursday, April 16.

The Digital Town Hall of the Americas will be streamed live on the Department of State's Social Media Hub for the Fifth Summit of Americas (http://townhall.america.gov), powered by Howcast. Content will also be featured on Ustream, Facebook, MySpace, YouTube, Twitter, Orkut, and Hi-5. Additional sites that wish to stream the Secretary's Digital Town Hall can easily find the embed code for the stream adjacent on http://www.howcast.com/summit-of-the-americas/widgets.

Secretary Clinton will answer questions submitted online prior to the event at http://townhall.america.gov as well as from the local Dominican audience in attendance. In addition, Howcast has created a custom embeddable "video widget," available in French, Spanish, Portuguese and English, allowing any site to have their own regional audiences submit questions to the Secretary. To get the widget for your site go to: http://www.howcast.com/summit-of-the-americas/widgets.

Under contract with the Department of State, Howcast built the Social Media Hub as a robust information resource that provides a platform for community interaction on Summit themes. User interaction will be facilitated through web chats, discussion forums, and the ability for visitors to upload their own videos and guides. In addition, the Hub will feature on-location interviews with world leaders and Summit participants throughout the event.

Adding background and perspective to the discussion that will take place between the region's 34 democratically-elected leaders, the site will feature videos on the following topics: "What is the Summit of the Americas?" "How do I benefit from the Summit of the Americas?" "How are we connected in the Americas?" And, "How can I participate in meeting the Summit of the Americas goals?" Additionally, during the three-day event, video content filmed at the Summit will continually be added to the hub, featuring participants at the Summit and its proceedings. The Hub will continue to be available as an information resource after the Summit, providing community forums on topics of interest for the hemisphere and serving as a repository for all documents related to U.S. Summit participation.

"Howcast is thrilled to have the opportunity to produce the Secretary of State's Digital Town Hall of the Americas and power the Summit's Social Media Hub," said Daniel Blackman, Co-Founder and COO of Howcast.com, "This initiative will provide a central platform for social and civic engagement and help support the Summit's goals."

About Howcast Media, Inc.

From How to Write a Resume to How to Jump-Start Your Car, Howcast can provide the answer to any how-to question. Named a top web site of 2008 by both TIME and PC Magazine, Howcast.com engages consumers to watch and share free, useful how-to videos and guides produced in-house at Howcast Studios as well as by innovative media partners, trusted brands and individual contributors. Howcast Studios produces useful, engaging how-to videos while also enabling up-and-coming filmmakers and students to gain experience and build real careers by making professional video with guidance in the Howcast Emerging Filmmakers Program.

To show consumers how-to videos wherever, whenever they need to learn how, Howcast offers the best digital instructional experiences from Howcast.com to Howcast for iPhone(TM), while partnering with leading web sites as well as home and mobile-video providers. Howcast also offers marketers innovative, relevant "how-to" video advertising solutions.

SOURCE Howcast Media

Source: PR Newswire

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