Street Fight Daily: Uber Closes $3.5 Billion Round, Mary Meeker’s 2016 ‘Internet Trends’
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Uber Turns to Saudi Arabia for $3.5 Billion Cash Infusion… 7 Key Data Points from Mary Meeker’s 2016 Internet Trends Report… Facebook Says Its New Tech Can Understand Text With ‘Near-Human’ Accuracy…
Street Fight Daily: Product Ads Come to Google Image Search, Weighing Bots’ Promise
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Google Product Listing Ads Officially Launch in Image Search… MCX, the Big Retailer Answer to Apple Pay, Announces Layoffs and Another Product Delay… Amazon Launches Restaurant Delivery in Manhattan with More Than 350 Eateries
A Need to Survive Keeps Feuding Newspapers Together in New Marketing Venture
A month ago, four major newspaper chains proudly announced the founding of Nucleus Marketing Solutions, a partnership that would help them compete with “the platforms.” Today, one of the chains, Tribune Publishing, is threatening another, Gannett, with a “poison pill” strategy to prevent a hostile takeover.
Street Fight Daily: Gannett Makes Offer for Tribune Publishing, UPS Focuses on SMBs
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Tribune Publishing Is Weighing a Surprise Offer from Gannett (Poynter)… The UPS Store Will Kick Off ‘Small Biz Salute’ for Small Business Week (AdAge)… Leaked Postmates Financials Suggest Company Might Be Doing Better Than Everyone Thought (TechCrunch)…
Yik Yak Makes Inroads as a More Serious News Service
In its less than two years of existence, Yik Yak has spread across the country, mostly at communities centered around college campuses. It’s true that a lot of the company’s content is sophomoric. But I think that will change, based on a new pilot that the service has launched with the University of Florida…
Street Fight Daily: Yelp Partners With YP, Airbnb’s $10B Valuation
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Yelp, YP Partner in Local Advertising Deal (SearchEngineLand)… New Capital Could Raise Airbnb Value To $10 Billion (New York Times)… The Newsonomics of Selling Cars.com (Nieman Journalism Lab)…
10 Months After Furor, Hyperlocal News Service Journatic Presses On
In the spring of 2012, Journatic, the for-hire community news shop, was a hot property in the hyperlocal industry. But less than three months later, following a report on “This American Life” about Journatic’s practices, Tribune and several other publishers suspended all work by the local news company. Tribune has resumed some use of Journatic’s work since, and I recently went to the company’s new VP of media services, Hanke Gratteau, to find out more about how the service was faring…
Street Fight Daily: Yelp Launches Display Ads, TribLocal Reporters Sue
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal content, commerce, and technology.… Yelp to Start Offering Mobile Display Ads in Bid for Revenue (AdAge)… TribLocal reporters win $660K in class-action against Tribune Co. (Chicago Tribune)… Don’t Weep for Groupon Ex-CEO Andrew Mason (Wall Street Journal)…
Selling Local Is Hard — Here’s What You Need to Do to Make It Work
For the past couple of months I’ve been testing a new targeted local online advertising product as part of my fellowship project at the Donald W. Reynolds Journalism Institute.The test has been essentially to sell the product to regional businesses within a given market. And at the end of the two-month trial, after calling on more than 150 businesses multiple times, I have a much greater appreciation not only for local salespeople but for the brands in the marketplace that can sell local…
Street Fight Daily: Ford Adds Glympse, TribLocal Head Exits
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal content, commerce, and technology.… Ford Adds Support For Glympse, Lets Friends Know When You’ll Arrive (Mashable)… Chicago Tribune Exec Leaving Company (Chicago Tribune)… Their Apps Track You. Will Congress Track Them? (The New York Times)…
How Press Association Ad Networks Can Help Newspapers Compete Online
One would think that the Internet would help ad networks from state press and newspaper associations operate with even greater efficiency, but these groups are only in the early stages online. Still they are well-positioned to help increase CPMs and provide a way for newspapers to ensure that their ad inventory is always sold at a set value…
Street Fight Daily: Tribune Resumes Journatic, Facebook Talks SMBs
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal content, commerce, and technology.… Tribune Resumes Limited Usage of Journatic (Chicago Tribune)… Facebook’s Dan Levy Touts Small Business Growth: Advertisers Have Nearly Doubled Since January, Promoted 2.5M Posts (TechCrunch)… BIA/Kelsey: Deals Still Aim for $5.5B by 2016 (NetNewsCheck)…
Ex-Patch EIC: Journatic Illustrates Cost/Quality Issue in Hyperlocal
If I were to prescribe Journatic a fix for this recent ailment (beyond, you know, not faking bylines anymore), it would be to show a real investment in journalism, in all senses of that word. We get that you’re “-atic” — cost savvy and operationally slick. How bout showing everyone you can also be “Journo”, and slow down and do some meaningful work? It might be money well spent…
Street Fight Daily: Amazon’s Deals, Groupon Told to ‘Grow Up’
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal content, commerce, and technology...
Amazon Starts Bringing the Art of Recommendations to Daily Deals (AllThingsD)…
Groupon Must Avoid Taking ‘Stupid Risks,’ CEO Says (Wall Street Journal)…
Google Releases Playbook for ‘Winning With Mobile’ (TechCrunch)…
It’s Official: The Newspaper Industry Has Given Up on Newspapers
In the past couple of weeks, three of the major legacy media companies announced they were splitting their companies into separate-but-unequal broadcast and print ventures. The decisions by Gannett, E.W. Scripps and Tribune to divide their once “synergistic business models” into separate and very distinct businesses indicate that we are now at the beginning of the end-of-the-end for this industry…