网络内容工厂转型，分析师欢喜写手愁

    按需媒体公司（Demand Media）备受关注的转型之旅正在继续。这家位于加州圣莫尼卡的公司最近发布了业绩报告，结果令分析人士备感鼓舞。但是，它的众多写手却描绘了一幅迥然不同的图景。

    按需媒体创建于2006年，在当年那批急于找到方法，实现网络内容大规模生产的公司中，这家公司堪称佼佼者。它根据互联网用户所搜索的内容，运用特定的算法，生成各种兼职写作任务，再将它们分配出去。JP摩根证券公司（JMP Securities）的分析师帕特里克•瓦雷文称：“太不可思议了。他们一年就能写出两百万篇文章。”帕克里克称，按需媒体每天炮制出成千上万个写作任务分配给众多跃跃欲试的写手。这一模式运作良好，去年的营业收入达到了2.53亿美元。

    这一模式的潜在问题何在？除了那些有用的单身女子派对（wedding shower）指南，它同样炮制了大量稀奇古怪的内容，比如速比涛泳衣（Speedo）的穿着方法，导致批评人士将这家公司称为“内容农场”。去年2月，谷歌公司（Google）推出了代号为“熊猫”的搜索算法重大升级，此后，按需媒体就迎来了清算的时刻。这种算法提高了高质量内容在搜索结果中的排位，而众多按需媒体擅长炮制的内容排位则急剧降低。结果，按需媒体的内容访问量直线下降。该公司称，搜索推荐量下跌了20%，而其最受欢迎的网站 eHow（一个在线知识资源，提供大量操作指南——译注）页面浏览量也下降了12%。

    毫无疑问，这种形势让投资者颇感震惊。去年1月，该公司正式上市进行首次公开募股（IPO），市值高达10亿美元。自那以后，公司股价一路下行，已跌去69%。尽管目前它业绩抢眼：第三财季收入从去年同期的6,500万美元增至7,800万美元，但却于事无补。分析人士目前对公司的前景表示谨慎乐观。投行Evercore 的总经理道格拉斯•亚瑟称，按需媒体现在的行动计划包括“用长远眼光看待自己的内容生产工作室以及目前正在炮制的内容，削减内容的数量并专注于内容的质量。”据阿瑟称，该公司正积极行动，满足外界对它的期待。

    Demand Media's much-watched transformation continues. Analysts have been encouraged by the Santa Monica, California-based company's recent results. Its freelancers paint a very different picture, though.

    Started in 2006, Demand (DMD) was a front-runner in the wave of companies that rushed to find ways of creating Web content on a massive scale. Using algorithms, it generated and assigned freelance writing assignments based on what Internet users were searching for. "It was amazing. They literally wrote 2 million articles in a year," says Patrick Walravens, an analyst for JMP Securities. Demand's model of milling out tens of thousands of assignments to hungry freelancers each day worked well, he says, generating $253 million in revenues last year.

    The problem? For every useful wedding shower how-to, there were just as many odd ones, like how to put on a Speedo. That led critics to label the company a "content farm." Demand's moment of reckoning arrived when Google (GOOG) rolled out a significant update to its search algorithm, codenamed "Panda," last February. It elevated higher quality content in search results, pushing stories like many of the ones Demand specialized in further down. Traffic plummeted. The company reported that search referrals fell 20% and eHow, its most popular site, saw page views sink 12%.

    Needless to say, investors were spooked. Since the company's IPO last January, when it debuted at a $1 billion-plus valuation, shares have plummeted nearly 69%. That's despite the fact that Demand's third quarter revenues climbed to $78 million from $65 million the same time last year. Analysts are cautiously optimistic about the company's prospects.

    Evercore Managing Director Douglas Arthur says Demand's game plan now includes "taking a long look at their content production studio, what kind of content they're doing, cutting down on the amount of content and focusing on the quality of the content." According to Arthur, the company is performing to expectations.