Street Fight Daily: 01.06.12

Share this:

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

Armstrong: ‘Really Large Amount’ of Patches to Be Profitable by End of 2013 (Dow Jones Newswires)
AOL Chief Executive Tim Armstrong acknowledged Thursday that investors have raised concerns about the company’s continued investment in its network of hundreds of Patch local news websites. But he said AOL will ultimately make the numbers work for Patch. “I would expect a really large amount of Patches to be profitable as we leave 2013,” Armstrong said.

GoLocal24 Expands Into Massachusetts, Hires Veteran Newscaster (Boston Globe)
GoLocalWorcester, the second local news website from Rhode Island start-up GoLocal24, will launch next month. Veteran Boston newscaster Natalie Jacobson will join the site as a senior editor, working on investigative journalism projects with a small group of reporters, and occasionally appearing in front of the camera to conduct interviews.

Groupon Still Chasing $25 Billion Mirage (Forbes)
Treflis: If take rates for Groupon’s featured deals divisions increase to 50% in the long-term, and Groupons sold per subscriber levels are maintained at historical levels, we expect the company’s valuation to cross the $20 billion dollar mark. This would require a big strategic shift from Groupon’s side, which has solely focused on aggressive expansion of customers and merchants in the past, many of whom have remained unprofitable.

While Your Audience Checks In, Are You Checking Out? (Business2Community)
Brittany Siminitz: Social check-in services aren’t just for retailers anymore. Folks like me look for reasons to check in anywhere and for any reason, which leaves tons of untapped potential for retailers and corporations alike. With something that requires such little effort and opens businesses and corporations up to a whole new world of exposure, I can find no reason not to partake.

Location-based ‘Geo-fencing’ Apps Raise Privacy Concerns (PhysOrg)
“Consumers may have good and valid reasons to use location-sensitive applications,” said Rebecca Jeschke, digital rights analyst with the Electronic Frontier Foundation. “But we don’t see a good way for consumers to understand who is collecting their information, how it’s being done, and why it’s being done.”

Get Street Fight Daily in your inbox! Subscribe to our newsletter.

Tags: