Street Fight Daily: Facebook Highlights, Google Loosens

A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal content, commerce, and technology.

‘Find Friends Nearby’: Facebook’s New Mobile Feature for Finding People Around You
(TechCrunch)
Facebook has created a new feature that lets users find friends and potential friends nearby. The service comes a little under two months after Facebook announced the acquisition of Glancee, a mobile app that helps users discover people near them with similar interests, whose three founders have now joined Facebook and closed down their app.

Google Loosens Its Limits and Pricing on Maps API (Nieman Journalism Lab)
Under the revised plans, the price for exceeding 25,000 pageviews a day has gone from $4–$10 per 1,000 map views down to 50 cents per 1,000 map views. They’re also tossing out the distinction between regular maps and styled maps, which previously cost more.

The High Value of Discount Prices (WSJ)
In “Groupon’s Biggest Deal Ever,” Frank Sennett, the editor of Time Out Chicago, traces the astounding success of a company that set out with a simple goal: to bring local commerce into the Internet era. The tale culminates with the November 2011 initial public offering that made its founders rich—the company’s $12 billion valuation at the time of the IPO was more than twice Google’s offer.

Google’s Maps And Commerce Group Is in a CRAZY Level Of Disarray (SAI)
Google executive Jeff Huber oversees Geo and Commerce, a mishmash of businesses from maps to payments to local commerce. It’s a tough job. How tough? Well, Stephanie Tilenius just left that group to join Kleiner Perkins as an executive in residence.

PadMapper Gets A Cease-And-Desist From Craigslist, Removes Listings (TechCrunch)
According to an account that creator Eric DeMenthon published on the PadMapper blog, and that he elaborated on over email, Craigslist’s lawyer sent him a cease-and-desist letter earlier this week, demanding that PadMapper take down any postings from Craigslist.

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