Using Images to Spur Location-Based ‘Discovery’

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Trover’s co-founder and CEO, Jason Karas, likens the photo-sharing location-based service to people “leaving breadcrumbs” for one another — places to discover nearby, with notes to give context. Street Fight recently caught up with Karas to talk about how the app works, why Trover is different from other photo-sharing sites, and how the “discovery” space is evolving…

How to Run Hyperlocals that Make Money — An Email Mini-Debate

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Recently the good folks at the American Press Institute asked if I’d help lead a discussion about “Strategies for Sustainable Hyperlocal Business Models.” So I did what I do best: ask other folks what they think. Here are some thoughts on the matter from Rick Blair, ex-CEO of Examiner.com, GoLocal24 co-founder Josh Fenton, Scot Brodbeck from ARL Now, Street Fight columnist Tom Grubisich and Street Fight CEO Laura Rich…

Street Fight Daily: 11.30.11

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A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal media, technology, advertising and startups...

Yelp’s IPO May End Up Yelping (CNN/Money)

The Big Merchant Survey (Daily Deal Media)

On Zaarly, You Can (Usually) Get What You Want (Entrepreneur)

Facebook’s Privacy Settlement Is a Warning for Hyperlocals

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The Federal Trade Commission deal with Mark Zuckerberg’s social network sends a strong warning to hyperlocal news publishers, location-based services, and other sites that they must be completely transparent on how they use personal information of their users…

Foursquare Partners With Scoutmob to Syndicate Offers

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This morning, deals site ScoutMob and location-based social network Foursquare have announced a partnership that will see the Atlanta-based company’s local deals distributed across Foursquare’s platform. 500 deals from Scoutmob’s thirteen markets will join offers from a handful of other sites like Groupon, Living Social, and Gilt City that are already on Foursquare…

Building Business Models Based on Local Influence

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When local influencers are identified and curated, businesses can concentrate offers on these people to maximize local reach. Courting local influencers will have a larger impact for local business simply because the influencers’ networks and their target customer base are the same.

Case Study: At Choice Hotels, a Check-In Consolidator is Key

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For nearly a year, Choice Hotels has been running a special offer that rewards members of its Choice Privileges program with 50 extra points each time they check-in on Foursquare, Facebook, or Gowalla at more than 1,500 participating properties. By partnering with Topguest, Choice has been able to use LBS to build customer engagement without worrying about managing the infrastructure that a large-scale program requires…

Street Fight Daily: 11.29.11

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A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal media, technology, advertising and startups.

LocalVox Launches Full-Service Marketing Solution To Help Local Merchants Target Their Customers (TechCrunch)
Groupon Stock Now Half Off (AllThingsD)
How Groupon and Livingsocial Impact Businesses and Users (Washingtonian)

Court Drops Facebook Ad Targeting Suit — What It Means for Hyperlocals

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Hyperlocal news publishers that depend on a targeted advertising may find some comfort this week after a Federal Court in San Jose, Calif., threw out a series of class action claims against Facebook relating to its advertising practices.

Loku CEO: Leveraging Data to Make Sense of Hyperlocal Search

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In 2010, private equity manager-turned-entrepreneur Dan Street launched a two-year quest to create a search engine capable of synthesizing and analyzing the vast landscape of hyperlocal information. The result was Loku, a hyperlocal information hub that draws on big data tools to make sense of local search through dynamic analysis and a clean presentation of hyperlocal content…

The Legal Battle Brewing Over LBS and Privacy

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Anxiety is rising over the use of location-based services as tools for advertising to consumers. Surveys suggest that consumers see value in LBS, but they are concerned about their privacy. This means LBS providers must walk a tightrope in providing both privacy options and value to consumers…

Street Fight Daily: 11.28.11

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A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal media, technology, advertising and startups...

SCVNGR is Building Local Mobile Payments Groundswell With LevelUp (ReadWriteWeb)

Study: 56% of People Still Dig Daily Deals (ReadWriteWeb)

LocalUncle Says ‘Screw Google’ — Ask Humans Instead (TheNextWeb)

Why Hyperlocal Marketing Will Best Gamification

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Hyperlocal marketing strategy and gamification both strive to accomplish the same purposes: attract new customers and drive increased customer-visit frequency. And yet one of these won’t be fueling marketing efforts just a couple years from now. In my mind, it’s hyperlocal that wins, while gamification, as defined and promoted today, disappears.

Patch, Others Seek Holiday Cheer Updating Tried and True Guides, Deals

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Holidays are a sparkling time to test out the effectiveness of one’s local penetration. And it seems Patch is going all in. I asked Mark Josephson, SVP of revenue, to talk about what Patch is pitching for the holiday (among other obvious questions). Turns out the network of local sites has a Ye Olde Fashioned Gift Guide of its own…

Street Fight Daily: 11.23.11

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A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal media, technology, advertising and startups.

Gilt Groupe Is Talking IPO (GigaOm)
Fondu Is Foursquare For Foodies (TechCrunch)
Location-Based Revenues in Europe Will Double by 2016 (GoMo News)

Case Study: Park District Picks Patch and Sees 25% Growth

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At the Downers Grove Park District in Downers Grove, Illinois, (pop. 48,724) Brandi Beckley decides which channels to use to draw residents to events. She has relied heavily on hyperlocal sites like Patch, TribLocal, and MySuburbanLife because of the targeted audiences that these publications provide…

Big Picture Stories Make Hyperlocals More Valuable

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Hyperlocals do a great job at finding and generating news. But are enough of them putting government performance to the test? Given the amount of data available to measure performance, these stories should be resonating louder and more insistently than ever in this deep, stubborn recession…

Street Fight Daily: 11.22.11

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A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal media, technology, advertising and startups... 102,000 Cupcakes! Small Bakery Burned by Groupon (MSNBC)…
Knight-Backed Local News Site ‘Brooklyn Bureau’ Launches (PaidContent)
Google backtracks a bit on charging for its Maps API (Nieman Lab)

DNAinfo Expands — As Does NYC’s Rep as Hyperlocal Incubator

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With its expansion, DNAinfo joins a new class of hyperlocal companies — led by tech startups like Foursquare — that were spawned in New York City and now are in the process of scaling their products into other markets. New York (and Manhattan in particular) has become a hotbed of hyperlocal activity in recent years…

History’s 3 Hints for the Future of Daily Deals

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The CEO of Tippr thinks Groupon’s success will legitimize the daily industry, encourage other players to stay in the game, and open an opportunity for a top deal commerce technology provider to take the market lead…