Street Fight Daily: Patch To Profit in 2014, Google Expands Promotions
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal content, commerce, and technology.
AOL’s Patch ‘In Line to Make a Profit’ (The Guardian)
AOL has said its U.S. local news service, Patch, is on schedule to turn its first profit within the next 12 months, facing down critics who questioned its investment in the network. Tim Armstrong, the AOL chief executive, told the Dublin Web Summit on Thursday that he is convinced that investing in local community services will pay off even though local newspapers are struggling to find their way.
Google Launches Promotions On Google Shopping, Enables Distribution To Google Offers & Maps On Android, Too (TechCrunch)
Amid the flurry of prematurely posted Google earnings and Chromebook launches, Google also announced a new feature for merchants today: promotions. With the launch of “promotions,” Google ties the three products, Google Maps, Google Offers, and Google Shopping, more closely together.
The Future Of Location-Based Marketing Isn’t Foursquare (Marketing Land)
Aaron Strout: While Foursquare has gained a lot of traction among those that run in the social crowds, it has only grown to 25 million members. It sounds absurd for me to be using the words “only” and “25 million” in the same sentence, but, given the growth of image sharing/location-based app, Instagram — zero to 80 million in a little under two years — it feels like Foursquare may not gain the traction is needs to be a viable long-term player.
Mastering the Art of Disruptive Innovation in Journalism (Nieman Reports)
Clayton Christensen: In the news business, newcomers are doing the same thing that they did in the steel and automaker industries: delivering a product that is faster and more personalized than that provided by the bigger, more established news organizations. The newcomers aren’t burdened by the expensive overheads of legacy organizations that are a function of life in the old world. Instead, they’ve invested in only those resources critical to survival in the new world.
Grafetee’s Local Discovery and Bookmarking App Leaves Beta, Wants To Help Find Everything (TechCrunch)
Grafetee today announced that its app is coming out of beta after a three-month public testing period, and is expanding to cover a global footprint. The Finland and London-based startup provides map- and location-based exploration tools via mobile apps for iOS and Android, with information layers that offer access to different categories of information.
Infographic: The Retailer’s Guide to Social, Local & Mobile (SoLoMo) (Forbes)
If you’re a retailer, it’s getting harder to remain competitive when the competition is driving more customers through their doors because of their focus on social, local, and mobile technologies. If you’re a retail customer with many of the millions of smart phones, you’re most likely finding new places to eat, shop and explore due to some clever SoLoMo campaign that you’ve seen.
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