Street Fight Daily: Facebook Will Train Local Journalists, Alphabet Records ‘Stunning’ Earnings

A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology…

Facebook Will Start Training Local Journalists and Newsrooms (Poynter)
Facebook started 2017 with a road trip down South to meet with local journalists. As those trips continue, the social media giant announced another level of in-real-life engagement on Thursday — a training and support pilot program for local legacy and online newsrooms.

Study: 55% of Mall Shoppers Would Shop at an Online Retailer’s Brick-and-Mortar Store (Street Fight)
Online retailers like Warby Parker and Bonobos have been experimenting for years with pop-up stores and actual brick-and-mortar locations. This phenomenon was the subject of a recent study conducted by ChargeItSpot, which provides cell phone charging stations for retailers and events. 

Alphabet Made a Lot of Money on Google Advertising Despite Recent Controversy (Quartz)
Alphabet reported its 2017 first quarter earnings today, and unsurprisingly, the numbers were stunning. The company reported revenue of $24.7 billion—its second largest quarter ever—a 22% increase over last year’s first quarter.

Location Data for Brands: ‘Alternative Facts’ No Longer (Street Fight)
Kjartan Slette: As the proximity industry grows, it’s important for brands investing in location and proximity to understand the differences between the various data points and technologies on the market. These differentiators can greatly affect how the proximity and location data is applied towards a brand’s marketing goals.

Amazon’s Echo Look Could Snoop a Lot More Than Your Clothes (Wired)
Brian Barrett: Amazon envisions the Echo Look as a way to get fashion advice. Command it to take a photo of you, repeat across various clothing options, and get a recommendation of what you should wear. Along the way, Amazon will also suggest clothing you might want to buy. From Amazon.

With $5.5 Billion in New Funding, Didi Chuxing Looks Beyond China (NYT)
When Uber pulled out of China last summer, it appeared to be the end of two years of frenzied competition with the local rival Didi Chuxing. Yet with a new funding round that has brought in $5.5 billion, it seems the Chinese firm wants to take the rivalry global.

Uber’s Anthony Levandowski Out as Advanced Technologies Lead Amid Legal Fight (TechCrunch)
The move comes as Uber continues a legal fight with Waymo, which began as Waymo accused Levandowski of using trade secrets stolen during his time at the then-Google self-driving car project to create lidar tech used by Otto and then Uber in their own autonomous vehicle efforts. Recode: The Uproar Over Unroll.me Selling Data to Uber

What’s ‘Real’ with Place Marketing? A Chat with the VR/AR Association’s Nathan Pettyjohn (Local Onliner)
Place Marketing is a big hybrid mobile category that can include 360 views; augmented reality (i.e. Pokemon); virtual reality recreations of complex locations (i.e. airports, factory floors) and points of interest (parks, museums); as well as stores, coupons and promotions, and analytics for marketers watching consumer behavior.

Venture-Capital Quandary: Too Much Money Chasing Too Few Ideas (WSJ)
After a frenzied 2015 when venture money gushed into apps providing on-demand home services from meal delivery to massages, funding for startups was supposed to enter what industry insiders called “deep winter.”

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