Street Fight Daily: Facebook Adds Yext Data, DexOne Emerges from Bankruptcy
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal content, commerce, and technology.
Facebook to Add Yext’s Business Data as It Touts Search Feature (Bloomberg Businessweek)
Yext, a New York-based startup that lets businesses manage information on websites such as Yelp and Foursquare, is expanding its service to Facebook. By letting businesses use Yext to update their Facebook pages, the site will help ensure that information is more complete and up-to-date, Chief Executive Officer Howard Lerman said.
Group Commerce to Merge With Nimble Commerce (Street Fight)
Three months after laying off a quarter of its staff, Group Commerce has agreed to merge with its primary competitor, Nimble Commerce, in an all-stock deal, continuing the consolidation among white-label deal companies. Under the terms of the deal, Nimble Commerce CEO Prashant Nedungadi will lead the new firm, which will retain the Nimble Commerce name.
Dex, SuperMedia Close Merger and Emerge from Chapter 11 As Dex Media (Screenwerk)
DexOne and Supermedia came out of Chapter 11 bankruptcy earlier this week and announced the closing of their merger. The new company, based in Dallas, is called Dex Media and will have roughly $500 million in digital revenue.
Local Search Is Becoming a Mobile Experience With a Social Layer (Street Fight)
Rob Reed: One of the more surprising revelations from a recent comScore study is that Facebook is now the #2 mobile app for local search, behind Google Maps. This puts it ahead of Mapquest, Bing, and Apple Maps. Yelp isn’t even in the top five. Are people really using Facebook for local search? This may seem counter-intuitive to some, but consider that Facebook is by far the most popular mobile app in the world.
Google Calls Reports that Google Now for iOS Srains Batteries “Incorrect” (TheNextWeb)
Google has denied that its Google Now app for iOS devices rapidly depletes the phone’s battery. Amid criticism by some users to the contrary, a company employee took to the Macworld forum to rebuff these claims, saying that while some might think Google Now’s Location Services feature is the root of the problem, the app is built in a different manner — it uses cell towers and WiFi hotspots to minimize battery impact.
Yelp Hits Record High in Wake of Results (MarketWatch)
Yelp shares closed at a record high Thursday, rising more than 27% on upbeat reaction to the company’s earnings results and forecast that was highlighted by improvements in local ad and mobile use of the online consumer review service. Local ads accounted for 85% of the quarter’s sales, and Gene Munster, of Piper Jaffray, said those results “can be attributed to better-than-expected average revenue per user.”
Location-Based Listening & Analytics (MarketingLand)
Aaron Strout: In particular, one of the areas in which I am seeing tremendous growth is location-based listening and analytics. As more and more companies adapt a listening strategy — in many cases, using advanced tools like Sysomos and Radian6 (now part of Salesforce.com’s MarketingCloud) — some are starting to look at the possibilities of going deeper.
LocalResponse’s Socially-Targeted Ads Pay Off big with Revenue Up 716% (VentureBeat)
LocalResponse’s pitch is simple, but ingenious for the ad set: it combs social media data to better target ads on mobile devices and desktops. The social focus seems to be paying off for the company, as it announced today that its first quarter revenues increased 716 percent from last year.
Coupons & the Gradual Migration to Mobile (MediaPost)
Chuck Martin: The reasons retailer brands offer coupons through digital means such as apps and mobile websites are to drive digital revenue, increase foot traffic to stores, gather data and build relationships. While traditional coupons can be used to gather data on certain promotions and offers, mobile coupons can substantially increase the information captured, not to mention the ability to personalize offers based on a consumer’s shopping history, habits and location.
LBMA PODCAST: Visualizing Your Check-ins & Twist’s Edward Marks (Street Fight)
In this week’s episode, hosts Rob Woodbridge and Asif Khan looks at Swipp, Punch.in and Fiz. Meanwhile, Visa works with Fandango for location-based offers, and independent fuel retailers band together to create their own payment and loyalty initiative. Resource of the week is the history of location-based games in one infographic, and an interview with special guest Edward Marks of Twist.
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