Street Fight Daily: Facebook Tests Beacons, LivingSocial Cuts Losses
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology…
Facebook Tests Bluetooth ‘Beacons’ to Feed Users Local Content (Wall Street Journal)
Facebook said it would begin testing a service to deliver information about shops and landmarks to users who are nearby, in part by using localized transmitters known as “beacons.” The service, “Place Tips,” is a new and potentially powerful new wrinkle in the concept of digital presence.
Openings and New Hires at Amazon, Swipely, and SweetIQ (Street Fight)
Every two weeks, Kelly Benish — who knows practically everyone in hyperlocal — covers some of the latest job changes taking place in this dynamic industry. In this week’s edition, new jobs and hires at Deseret News, Kwolia, Acxiom, Fixya, Moz, and more
LivingSocial Cuts Its Q4 Loss But Revenue Down, Expenses Up (Washington Business Journal)
Fourth-quarter revenue was down and expenses were up at LivingSocial in what executives called a transitional quarter. LivingSocial posted a $35 million net loss during the quarter, which was down from the $68 million it lost during the last three months of 2013.
Are You Ready for the ‘Geosocial’ Revolution? (Street Fight)
Anthony Longo: As buzzwords go, Geosocial faded away in 2011 and early 2012 and even now you won’t find a thing on geosocial posted in the past three years. However after looking closely at the geosocial landscape, it made complete sense that it wouldn’t be ripe until now.
With a Few Bits of Data, Researchers Identify ‘Anonymous’ People (New York Times)
Even when real names and other personal information are stripped from big data sets, it is often possible to use just a few pieces of the information to identify a specific person, according to a study to be published Friday in the journal Science. See Yves-Alexandre de Montjoye on stage at Local Data Summit 2015. Click here for more info.
This Year’s Craziest Super Bowl Ad Is From GrubHub and Stars an Angry Flying Burrito (AdWeek)
In the mini Super Bowl of regional ads, GrubHub is introducing a flying burrito that crashes into the heads of anyone foolish enough to order food by phone. The message is anything but subtle: Order via GrubHub’s mobile app or risk bodily harm.
BMW Supports Growth of Mobile to Impact Purchase on Dealer Lot (eMarketer)
Car shoppers are spending more time researching online and spending less time on the dealer lot. Kevin Philips, manager of retail and experiential marketing for BMW, talks about the impact of digital channels on the path to purchase and how one concise message can exist across all three tiers.
Retargeting 2.0 In The Mobile Age – How To Overcome The Generational Shift (The Drum)
The advertising industry is undergoing a generational shift, as brands and advertisers follow their audiences onto their tablets and phones. The location data that mobile offers can tell marketers a lot more about individuals than a simple binary flag.
On Airpnp, Supply and Demand Heads to the Bathroom (CityLab)
Airpnp is exactly what it sounds like: a peer-to-peer, pay-to-pee mobile and web service — like Airbnb, but just for a bathroom stay. Rent, if you dare, your bathroom, at whatever price you want, and under whatever conditions.
Let’s Forgive Uber’s Egregious Behavior Because They Delivered Puppies (Observer)
Uber spent yesterday delivering puppies to promote the Puppy Bowl to presumably distract from the fact that in recent memory, they’ve been very, very bad. Judging from over 120 articles written about Uber’s promotion, it worked!
LBMA Podcast: Microsoft’s HoloLens, Sense360’s Eli Portnoy (Street Fight)
On the show: ShopX gives away 1 million beacons for free; SpaceBillboard; Bud Light’s beer delivery app; Google Translate in real time; Bluebite partners with Lamar to make LaBite; Skin & Bones from the Smithsonian; Is Google buying SoftCard?; and Shazam can beacon now.
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