We first met the founders of Howcast.com at the State Department's Alliance of Youth Movements Summit. They were there to film some "how-to" guides for people interested in using social media to foster movements for human rights. Since then I've been peeking in from time to time on their work and getting increasingly more impressed with how they're navigating the new world of online video information sourcing. While a lot of the content on the site is generated by and for users (who earn reputation points by how others rate the quality of their offerings), Howcast is modeling a viderate style that is well worth studying. Advocacy groups of all stripes should take a look. More after the jump...

Ever wanted to be able to show someone exactly how a "meme" moves across the web in real-time? Anthony Hamelle of Linkfluence has posted a video doing exactly that. He zeroes in on two political videos that made a big splash at the height of summer: the McCain campaign's successful viral attack on Barack Obama as a "Celeb," which compared him to Paris Hilton and Britney Spears in the wake of his European tour and scored well over a million views; and Paris Hilton's snarky response, which ultimately overtook McCain with something over three million views.