Street Fight Daily: Chatting with SMBs on Messenger Booms, Good News for Brick-and-Mortars

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

330 Million People Connected with SMBs via Messenger for First Time in 2017 (AdWeek)
The social network said in a Newsroom post that 63 percent of respondents to a Nielsen survey said their messaging with businesses increased over the past two years, while 67 percent expect to message businesses even more in the next two years.

Social Media Gets the Local Spending Growth, Partly by Default (Street Fight)
David Card: Social media is widely used — and deemed particularly effective — by SMBs. But when you dig deeper, it looks like most local marketers are using social media as substitute for display advertising (and to reach mobile audiences) rather than as a uniquely local or even “social” medium.

Brick-and-Mortar Chains Put E-Commerce on Defensive for Once (Bloomberg)
Only 47 percent of U.S. consumers plan to shop online during this year’s Black Friday. That compares with 55 percent last year. More than two-thirds of respondents, meanwhile, plan to visit brick-and-mortar stores.

Sponsored Content: Optimizing Map Listings to Drive Search Results (Street Fight)
In this article, we will take a close look at the role that maps and map listings, such as Google Maps, Apple Maps, and Bing Maps, are playing in the local search ecosystem. We will delve into how the data from those services is driving desktop, mobile, and voice search.

Google Collects Android Users’ Location Data Even When Location Services Are Disabled (Quartz)
Many people realize that smartphones track their locations. But what if you actively turn off location services, haven’t used any apps, and haven’t even inserted a carrier SIM card?

SoftBank Funding May Spur Uber to Rethink Tough Southeast Asian Market (Reuters)
SoftBank’s multi-billion dollar investment in Uber Technologies Inc opens up the possibility of combining it with other ride-hailing assets the Japanese group owns in a consolidation of a rapidly growing business across Asia, industry sources say.

Retailers Try New Pricing Tricks to Battle Amazon on Black Friday (WSJ)
Instead of copying Amazon.com Inc.’s playbook, retailers such as Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and Target Corp. are coming up with new tricks to maximize sales ahead of Black Friday.

Why Mashable Flamed Out (Digiday)
Former employees and observers cite a loss of editorial focus and unique identity, lack of financial controls, an ill-executed shift to video content and hesitance to diversify revenue away from the fickle ad market.

UK Report Calls Out ‘Dubious’ Gig Economy Practices, Urges Law Reform (TechCrunch)
Pressure is mounting on the UK government to close loopholes in employment law to protect people working in the gig economy from being underpaid and otherwise exploited.

Spotify’s Approach to Targeting and Personalization (eMarketer)
In the latest episode of eMarketer’s “Behind the Numbers” podcast, we welcome Spotify’s Danielle Lee for a conversation about personalization, targeting and people-based marketing.

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Joe Zappa is the Managing Editor of Street Fight. He has spearheaded the newsroom's editorial operations since 2018. Joe is an ad/martech veteran who has covered the space since 2015. You can contact him at [email protected]