Street Fight Daily: LivingSocial Co-Founder Steps Down, Foursquare Adds Bios
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal media, technology, advertising and startups.
LivingSocial Co-Founder And President Steps Down (Startup Stats)
Eddie Frederick, President and Co-Founder of LivingSocial, has stepped down from the board according to an email just sent out from CEO Tim O’Shaughnessy. Eddie has been at the company since the start and was the original creator of Visual Bookshelf, the app that served as the motivation behind creating Hungry Machine (the company which formed LivingSocial).
Foursquare Adds Bios To Profile Pages, Evolving As A More Self-Contained Social Network (TechCrunch)
Foursquare has rolled out the ability for users to add short personal “bios” to their profile pages on the site. These bios are limited to 160 characters or less, and can be imported directly from a user’s Twitter account or written from scratch. It’s another small step in Foursquare’s progression from a fun app that plugs into sites such as Facebook and Twitter to a more self-contained, standalone social network in its own right.
Is Hyperlocal News a Failed Business Model? (NetNewsCheck)
Too many neighborhood news sites and most that have launched to cover whole cities have focused on content rather than revenue and do not represent a sustainable business, according to a trio of hyperlocal and local veterans who spoke Wednesday at BIA/Kelsey’s ILM East conference in Boston. All three have launched or helped launch companies with approaches they say will pay off.
Location-Based Shopping App Shopkick Adds Former Disney And Nike Exec To Board (TechCrunch)
Geo-coupon system and shopping app Shopkick is adding a well-known retail and branding exec to its board today—Andy Mooney, the former Chairman of Disney Consumer Products and CMO of Nike. He joins Greylock’s Reid Hoffman and Kleiner’s Matt Murphy on the company’s board of directors.
Ted Leonsis: Local’s All About Scale, ‘New Currencies’ (Local Onliner)
Ted Leonsis, Groupon Vice Chair, American Express Board Member and Internet Pioneer , emphasized the importance of scaling for local in a global economy during a keynote at ILM East. “Indiana really matters. India matters more,” said Leonsis, pointing out that for larger companies, most growth will come from outside the U.S. The way that growth is measured, however, is rapidly changing.
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