Street Fight Daily: Google Expands Local Delivery, Hiring in Hyperlocal

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A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal content, commerce, and technology.

Screen Shot 2013-03-29 at 8.23.58 AMGoogle Starts Testing Google Shopping Express In SF, With Free Delivery From Target, Walgreens, Staples And More (TechCrunch)
Google is finally opening up its Google Shopping Express service to the public today, with the same day delivery service being made available as a test to select users in San Francisco and the Peninsula from San Mateo to San Jose. Participating retailers include: Target, Walgreens, Staples, American Eagle, Toys“R”Us/Babies“R”Us, Office Depot, San Francisco’s Blue Bottle Coffee, Raley’s Nob Hill Foods, and Palo Alto Toy & Sport.

Openings & New Hires at Groupon, Street Fight, PaperG, AOL & more (Street Fight)
Kelly Benish: More folks on the move: PaperG hires Brooke Frederick away from Bizo; Weather Channel poaches from Digital Broadcasting Group; SoundCloud brings on a Nokia executive and the job openings abound, including a plum sales position at Street Fight. Also: good opportunities for product managers and sales execs at Groupon, AOL, Oracle, Signpost and more. Plus: juicy insider tips on who’s looking to make the jump!

Apple Hiring ‘Ground Truth’ Managers To Improve Maps (SearchEngineLand)
If job listings are any indication, Apple remains committed to improving its iOS Maps app. Apple currently has seven job listings for what’s called a “Maps Ground Truth Manager.” The job description explains that these Ground Truth Managers will be responsible for improving and ensuring the accuracy of Apple Maps.

Study: 82% of SMBs Use Facebook for Marketing, 25% Use Twitter (Street Fight)
“Facebook remains the dominant platform because it simply has more active users than any other social network,” said Mark Schmulen, general manager of social media at Constant Contact. “It effectively offers marketers the biggest potential reach to engage with customers. In addition, Facebook is a more mature marketing platform, offering marketers highly targeted advertising products and customizable brand pages that enable them to run promotions like sweepstakes, coupons, and user-generated contests.”

Did Poor Collaboration Lead To The Termination Of NYU’s Blog With The New York Times? (NYU Local)
Initial reports indicated that there were no hard feelings between NYU and the Times. Traffic to The Local: East Village was up to snuff, but the blogs were just no longer a priority to The Grey Lady. However, NYU Local has learned that NYU faced a few challenges in collaborating with the Times, which may have played a role in the blog’s closing.

Wal-Mart May Get Customers to Deliver Packages to Online Buyers (Reuters)
Wal-Mart is considering a radical plan to have store customers deliver packages to online buyers, a new twist on speedier delivery services that the company hopes will enable it to better compete with Amazon.com Inc. Tapping customers to deliver goods would put the world’s largest retailer squarely in middle of a new phenomenon sometimes known as “crowd-sourcing,” or the “sharing economy.”

Google’s Local Primary Data Suppliers Around the World (Blumenthals)
Mike Blumenthal: Google’s Local Search sits at the center of an ecosystem of local web sites and data providers and they use this ecosystem to assemble their business listing data. This is true in the US and the basic structure and process is replicated on a local in every other country in the world using different local resources.

Storefront Launches its Pop-up Marketplace to Usher in the Future of Retail (PandoDaily)
One San Francisco-based startup is trying to help fill empty inventory by offering a marketplace that matches premium, high foot traffic, turnkey retail properties with short-term renters. The startup has partnered with property owners, leasing agents, and brokerages to assemble inventory of various sizes, shapes, and locations in these two markets, sending professional photographers to photograph and list each space.

PODCAST: This Week in Location-Based Marketing — PubNub (Street Fight)
In this week’s episode, hosts Rob Woodbridge and Asif Khan discuss whether Foursquare can make the switch from check-ins to discovery; Apple is awarded a patent for augmented reality on top of live video; Volkswagon makes driving more social; and Microsoft is testing yet another option for mobile payments. Plus special guest, Todd Greene, co-founder and CEO of PubNub on the emergence of real-time apps.

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