Spindle Tries to Pre-empt Local Discovery With Social Alerts
Last week, social discovery app Spindle rolled out a place-based alerts system designed to inform users of interesting and relevant social media updates from local businesses around them. Street Fight recently spoke with Spindle CEO and cofounder Pat Kinsel about about what makes Spindle’s value proposition so vital…
Street Fight Daily: Mobile Ad Spend Jumps, Web Only Gets Physical
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal content, commerce, and technology.… US Mobile Ad Spending Jumps to $4 Billion (eMarketer)… Once Proudly Web Only, Shopping Sites Hang Out Real Shingles (The New York Times)… Garmin Integrates Foursquare and Glympse with Mobile Apps for Non-Creepy Location-Sharing on the Go (The Next Web)…
5 Location-Based Marketing Platforms for Brands Without Retail Stores
Figuring out where to purchase products from a brand that doesn’t have its own retail establishment can present a challenge for many consumers. Increasingly, major brands like Vicks and Nestlé are using location-based marketing platforms to help point potential buyers in the right direction. Here are five platforms offering brands a way to take advantage of such technology on their own terms…
Street Fight Daily: VeriFone Kills Square Competitor, FTC Probe Nears End
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal content, commerce, and technology.… VeriFone Gives Up Competing Head-on with Square (GigaOm)… Deal Near on Google Antitrust Probe? (Politico)… With $8M In Seed Funding From Founders Fund, Goldman Sachs; Urban Compass Wants To Build A Hyper-Local, Human-Powered Database (TechCrunch)…
Openings & New Hires at Locu, Groupon, Patch, Signpost, and More…
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…
What Kinds of Mobile Ads Are Most Effective?
Mobile advertising works best when it’s not in the form of a banner ad. On a panel at the Mobile Loco conference in San Francisco this week, participants agreed that the most promising approach is serving interesting content formatted to smartphones and tablets as a part of a contextual marketing strategy. The more an advertisement looks like a mobile app, the more consumer acceptance it will garner…
Street Fight Daily: Airbnb Buys Localmind, A New Hail for Gotham
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal content, commerce, and technology.… Airbnb Goes Social and Local with Acquisition of Localmind (GigaOm)… Hail to the Big Apple! NYC Temporarily Approves Taxi Apps, but e-Hailing’s Restricted to 1.5 miles (The Next Web)… Franken’s Location Privacy Bill Voted Out Of Judiciary Committee (AdWeek)…
‘Post-Industrial Journalism’ Report Deserves an A, and an F
A new report from Columbia’s Tow Center for Digital Journalism takes a look at everything that’s wrong with digital journalism, starting at the top and going all the way down to the hyperlocal level. The report pins antiquated journalistic practices to the wall and recommends specific fixes. But it also wrongly asserts that the Internet has permanently “wrecked” journalism’s advertising model.
Local Corp CEO: Mobile Is a Type of Traffic, Not a Type of Product
Street Fight recently caught up with Local Corporation CEO Heath Clarke, who has helmed the company since 2001 — several lifetimes ago in Internet years. He talked about the company’s position in the hyperlocal ecosystem, the growing importance of mobile for SMBs and the future of daily deals as a category…
Street Fight Daily: Google Maps on iOS, Amazon Pushes Local Services
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal content, commerce, and technology.… While Apple Regroups, Google Offers a Maps App (The New York Times)… Amazon’s Latest Experiment: Installing Your TV and Other Household Items (GeekWire)… An Apple-Foursquare Hookup Could Mean The End Of Yelp Reviews In iOS (TechCrunch)…
2013: The Revenge of the Merchant
Next year, merchants will start to gain the upper hand in online marketing. That gain will come from lessons in the consumer market, where simple UI and UX have become paramount for success and sophisticated filtering has given way to three-click processes.