Street Fight Daily: 12.08.11
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal media, technology, advertising and startups.
LivingSocial Closes Nearly Half of a $400 Million Round to Delay IPO (AllThingsD)
LivingSocial, the runner-up in the daily deals business, has secured $176 million in a new round of funding that could swell to as much as $400 million. According to sources, the funding will be used for day-to-day expenses and to fuel its expansion efforts.
Big Ad Money Shifting to Promotions — And Away From Media (PoMo Blog)
Terry Heaton: Advertisers are now media companies themselves, and … we now find ourselves actually competing with them. The evidence of this is everywhere, but media companies simply ignore it, because the only thing we can see with advertisers is, well, advertising.
CityMaps Shows Where Businesses Are, Block by Block (New York Times)
In recent months, several New York real estate brokerage houses have embraced a Web site called CityMaps.com, which has mapped all the storefront businesses on New York City’s streets and tries to keep them current.
Groupon’s New Scheduler Lets Customers Book Appointments Online (Mashable)
Groupon launched a pilot for a new service Wednesday that lets customers independently book appointments with small businesses online, regardless of whether or not those appointments are associated with a Groupon deal.
Crowley Hints at Foursquare’s Future in Recommendations for Everything (TechCrunch)
At Le Web, Foursquare co-founder and CEO Dennis Crowley expanded on the future direction for the company and product, signalling how check-in data is becoming less important than the recommendations it is capable of producing for users.
Groupon Allegedly Hacked Merchant’s Email To Alter Contract (Business Insider)
A federal class action lawsuit alleges Groupon altered one of its merchant’s contracts by gaining unauthorized access to the merchant’s stored email. The suit, filed by household construction and repair web site BidMyCrib, claims Groupon surreptitiously changed a contract to extend the terms of a deal BidMyCrib had offered.
Get Street Fight Daily in your inbox! Subscribe to our newsletter.