Street Fight Daily: Google’s Coming Mobile-geddon, Yelp Wins in Court
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology…
Google is Making a Giant Change This Week That Could Crush Millions of Small Businesses (Business Insider)
Google is making a major update to its mobile search algorithm tomorrow that will change the order in which websites are ranked when users search for something from their phone or tablet. The algorithm will start favoring mobile-friendly websites and ranking them higher in search. Websites that aren’t mobile-friendly will get demoted.
Think Beyond Marketing: Embrace the Connected Local Economy (Street Fight)
Steven Jacobs: As a category, or even a term, “local” can mean many things — and that ambiguity creates a problem for companies operating in the “local” space. As a new generation of local technology companies approach the public markets, it’s critical for us to agree on what “local” actually means today — and how that differs from the its definition a decade ago.
Court Prevents Yelp from Turning Over User Data (Hill)
Virginia’s Supreme Court ruled on Thursday that review website Yelp did not have to hand over private information about its users to a company that claimed people were lying in their reviews, in a closely watched case about anonymity on the Internet. Yelp and Public Citizen — which represented the website — framed the decision as a victory.
DoorDash Sets Its Sights on GrubHub in the Battle for Local Delivery (Street Fight)
Local delivery is a good space to be in right now — just ask DoorDash, an on-demand logistics company offering an ordering and delivery platform for dine-in restaurants without those services. Street Fight recently caught up with Prahar Shah, DoorDash’s head of sales, to talk about what’s different this time around and how delivery could shake up the local marketing industry.
Foursquare Turns to Location Data for Revenue, Joining Crowded Field (Marketing Land)
Greg Sterling: Last week the company introduced a product called Pinpoint, a new ad targeting tool using location data and location history. But unless there’s some “secret sauce” that escapes me, the company now joins a crowded field of data providers and advertising platforms that are doing essentially the same thing.
Square Graduates from Barista Tips to Business Financing (MarketWatch)
Since bursting onto the payments scene in 2009, Square Inc. has been widely recognized for its mobile and point-of-sales payment system for small businesses. But the company has quietly built an entire close-looped ecosystem where businesses — and Square — can thrive.
Why ‘Do It For Me’ Is The Next Big Thing (TechCrunch)
Anthony P. Lee: DIFM combines technology automation with specialized labor to deliver a complete solution to a business problem. It’s as much about people-powered customer service as it is about code-powered efficiency. DIFM is sweeping the consumer world and will do the same for the business world.
Ticketmaster Wants to Become Your Destination for Live Event Access (AdWeek)
Ticketmaster wants to be more than a destination for tickets to a concert, sporting event or theater production. Echoing a move many other brands have made, the retailer is moving into the publishing realm, giving fans behind-the-scenes access to their favorite venues, events and artists.
Here’s How Apple Pay Will Win with Small Merchants (VentureBeat)
Increasingly, merchants are viewing the ability to accept Apple Pay and other types of NFC-based payments as a value add in and of itself, says Verifone’s Shan Ehtridge. “Essentially, Apple Pay acceptance provides another ‘cool factor’ that ISOs can offer to help small merchants distinguish themselves from their competitors.”
How the Facebook Bubble Is Driving Online Startups Into the Arms of Offline Advertising (TechCrucnh)
Morgan Hermand-Waiche: Over the past nine months, I’ve been making every effort possible to divert our eight-figure annual marketing budget elsewhere. The reason for that is simple: Facebook is fostering an unsustainable bubble that is actively pushing startups, and any online-savvy business for that matter, away.
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