Street Fight Daily: Google Buys Wildfire, DNA Info’s Billionaire Boss
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal content, commerce, and technology.
Google Buys Wildfire: Social/Loyalty Anchor? (Local Onliner)
Peter Krasilovsky: Google’s interest in Wildfire is ultimately more about social business services than advertising. Down the road, we look to Wildfire’s analytics reinforcing Google +, which anchors a broader suite of SMB services that includes Google Offers, The DealMap (deal aggregation), Zagat (reviews) and Punch’d (loyalty).
Inside Billionaire Joe Ricketts Dreams of a Media Empire (Capital New York)
DNAinfo has managed to evade the death spiral that’s made the media industry such a lugubrious habitat in recent years, without availing itself of very much of the newspeak that surrounds the hyperlocal news movement. Rather, its editors speak the language of the traditional newspaper newsroom, and many of its recruits come from traditional journalism backgrounds. It’s not an aggregator, it’s not a viral-video machine, it’s not a platform; it is, pure and simple, a local digital newspaper.
Craigslist Now Wants Your Postings Under ‘Exclusive’ Terms (TechCrunch)
Craigslist has added in a new proviso for those posting ads, telling them that Craigslist now becomes the “exclusive licensee” of the content in that ad. The move is the latest in an ongoing situation that has seen the listings site send out cease and desist letters to a number of developers that have created apps to navigate Craigslist’s extensive content, and going so far as to sue two of them, Padmapper and 3Taps.
Still Without a Team in Place, Project Thunderdome Gets a Surprise Test Drive (Nieman Lab)
Digital First’s new central command is just beginning to take shape, but its nascent team has already handled its first big story: the shootings in Aurora, Colorado. The idea behind Thunderdome has always been to create a new infrastructure that will serve hundreds of local newsrooms still burdened by inefficiencies borne of a bygone era in journalism.
102M People Accessed Facebook Solely From Mobile In June, Up 23% Since March (TechCrunch)
There’s a staggering new statistic in Facebook’s 10-Q SEC document today: 102 million people accessed Facebook solely from mobile in June, a massive 23% increase over the 83 million mobile-only users in March. That means if it can’t make its mobile advertising generate a lot more money within the next year, revenue could plummet like its stock price, down 6.2% on Tuesday to $21.71.
With $1M, Boomerang launches locally-focused social gifting platform (GigaOm)
Chicago-based Boomerang, backed by Groupon founders’ Lightbank, is launching to give Facebook users a way to give friends paperless gifts, including vouchers for local restaurants, spas, sporting companies and theaters. Some gift options are free, offering merchants a new way to attract customers.
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