‘Understanding the Reader’ and the Bottom Line: Do They Connect?

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Google’s beta testing of aggregated community news for its recently launched smartphone app Now (“the right information at just the right time”) got some big “hmmm” headlines last week. But is this Google experiment bringing any fear and trembling to community news and information sites?

Patch: Here’s Ten Things We’re Doing RIGHT

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Anyone paying attention to this column knows I’ve dedicated plenty of thought to AOL’s efforts in local, primarily via its Patch effort. Some at Patch/AOL were unhappy. Others mailed me with even more colorful complaints, or “can-you-believe-this” vignettes. So I wanted to turn the tables on myself a bit and challenge Patch to sell us on what is going right…

Conference Notebook: Digital Companies Look to Leverage Legacy Sales Forces

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As more legacy local media and yellow pages companies look to position themselves as a marketing agency for local businesses, reseller relationships should provide both sides of the market with solid value in the near-term…

Street Fight Daily: Groupon to Stick with Model, Retailigence Nabs $6.3M

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A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal content, commerce, and technology.Groupon CFO: No Changes to Business Model (Wall Street Journal)… Local Search Update for Google Maps iOS Could Hurt Yelp (Venture Beat)… Retailigence Bags $6.3M for Online-to-Offline Marketing (Vator News)…

#SFSNYC: Patch has Grown Up ‘Enormously,’ Says Webster

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In a fireside chat with Forbes’ Jeff Bercovici at the Street Fight Summit on Tuesday, Patch’s co-founder and president, Warren Webster, defended his closely watched hyperlocal network, denying reports that the AOL property was struggling to sustain its rapid growth.

Hyperlocal Execs’ 2013 Predictions: Goodman, Tolles, Kucharz, and More…

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As 2012 wraps up, it’s clear we’ve had a ton of action and evolution in the world of hyperlocal this year. Looking toward next year, Street Fight asked 12 hyperlocal luminaries to share their predictions for where local is headed…

Openings & New Hires at Locu, Groupon, Patch, Signpost, and More…

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There’s lots happening in hyperlocal as the year comes to a close: Locu snags PayPal vet Mok Oh as an adviser, plus lands a hot ex-Googler. Booker brings on a dynamic duo in its hiring spree. Patch sees big moves at the top. And there are some shifts at Groupon and open gigs at Telenav, Signpost, Swipely, Yellowbook, Yelp, and more…

Patch Adds COO as Leadership Change Continues

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AOL’s Patch network of hyperlocal news sites has made yet another significant change at the top, naming former Westwood One operations head Steve Kalin to the newly created position of president and COO. Kalin will take responsibility for the company’s daily operations — with the advertising, finance, marketing and content functions all reporting to him…

Patch Triples Traffic Year-Over-Year, Claims Growth Across Network ‘Consistent’

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According to ComScore data, the company became the fourth-largest network of local sites in December, trailing only Yelp, CityGrid and Yahoo! Local. Patch also reports that its traffic grew 5% in December, to total of 9.9 million UVs versus 9.5 million UVs in November…

Hyperlocal Execs’ 2012 Predictions: Webster, Tolles, Priebatsch and More…

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As 2011 draws to a close, it’s clear that it’s been a pretty momentous time for hyperlocal businesses. Looking toward next year, we asked a few hyperlocal luminaries to weigh in on what they think will be the biggest story in 2012…

Patch vs. Main Street Connect: How Will Hyperlocal Scale?

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Does size really matter in hyperlocal? Publishers debated the point on a panel during the first day of the Street Fight Summit. Patch CEO Warren Webster, naturally, said yes: “2010 was all about scaling up. We do believe that size is important.” Main Street Connect CEO Carll Tucker disagreed, saying that his publication started small and built outward, not wanting to “mass produce and see the wheels fall off.”

Patch Pushback: Warren Webster Fires Back Amid Analysis and Criticism

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Rick Robinson gets the lowdown from Patch’s president about why they’ve lost sales execs; the network’s plans to “stand on its own financially; and a reply to AOL CEO Tim Armstrong’s suggestion that Patch could possibly, at some point, be considered for a sale. He also comments on the HuffPo-Patch dynamic, neither confirming nor denying that Patch will merge editorial operations with HuffPo.

Arlington Hyperlocal Picks Its Own Patch, Turns a Profit

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Scott Brodbeck, the editor of hyperlocal ARLnow.com (Arlington, Va.), which is part of the “authentically local” movement, claims he has a steady thrum of profitable traffic, and an empathy-bordering-on-sympathy for his competition (read: Patch). I thought it would be worthwhile to dig into this apparent and positive anomaly…

Street Fight Daily: 06.03.11

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A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal media, technology, advertising and startups…

In its long awaited S-1, it’s clear that Groupon has impressive topline growth. However, when looking at it’s oldest markets, it appears that their business model is deteriorating. (Yipit Blog)…

Several more perspectives on the Groupon IPO: a Twitter debate over the company’s doomed-ness, a look at who owns what stake in the company, a warning to investors by Andrew Mason, and some red flags for potential investors. (GigaOm, TechCrunch, PaidContent, Business Insider)…

Webster Says Patch Must ‘Be the Community,’ Others Weigh In

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This is a the third installment in a series about hyperlocal past and present. Read here about Digital City / AOL, CitySearch, and Microsoft’s Sidewalk

I reached out to Warren Webster, President of AOL’s Patch network, the day before their big multi-thousand-blogger launch for thoughts on some of the views of the “Local 1.0” set discussed in the previous posts in this series. In an email he said: “It’s important to note that Patch isn’t citizen journalism. Patch is a platform staffed by professional journalists with an average of nine years experience. Patch also offers many opportunities for members of the community to have a voice on this platform — and for SMBs to drive consumer actions.”..