Street Fight Daily: 09.12.11
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal media, technology, advertising and startups.
A Groupon deal might boost sales but, it can also lower a merchant’s reputation as measured by Yelp ratings, say computer scientists who have analyzed the link between daily deals and online reviews. (Technology Review)
Patch is looking for adolescent contributors from high schools — and even middle schools — as it seeks to recruit thousands of community bloggers. (Forbes)
Groupon grew 13% in August, increasing its revenue to $120.7 million, according to data from Yipit. This growth broken down symbolizes a 10% increase in the number of Groupons sold per deal and a 5% increase in the average Groupon price, both increases compensating for a decline in the number of deals ran by Groupon. (TechCrunch)
BuyWithMe has announced its sixth acquisition this year, acquiring TownHog. The deals company, which has been particularly aggressive in scooping up competitors, is not the only company in the space seeking scale. In the past few months, consolidation has become rampant as Groupon and LivingSocial continue to pull ahead of the pack. (AllThingsD)
Groupon’s employees have filed a class-action suit against the company. In a filing in Chicago federal court this week, former salesperson Ranita Dailey confirmed she will be lead plaintiff on behalf of Groupon employees who seek to recoup overtime that the company allegedly failed to pay. (PaidContent)
IAC-owned local media and advertising property CityGrid Media is unveiling a brand new API today that provides places data for more then 15 million local businesses and data for 1 million local advertisers in the CityGrid ad network to developers. (TechCrunch)
Given the mixed competitive landscape, how are people using daily deals sites right now? That was the question Lab42 asked of 500 daily deals users, determining which sites they use the most, how diligent they are at checking for new deals, and how much money they’re spending on them. (Mashable)
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