Street Fight Daily: Microsoft to Buy LinkedIn, Google Maps Local Search Ads
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology…
Microsoft to Acquire LinkedIn for 26.2 Billion (CNBC)
Microsoft announced a deal to acquire professional social platform LinkedIn for $196 per share Monday. Jeff Weiner will stay on as CEO of LinkedIn and will report to Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella. The deal is expected to close by the end of the calendar year.
10 Things to Know About the New Google Maps Local Search Ads (Observer)
Last month, Google announced a number of changes coming to AdWords and Analytics during the Google Performance Summit, with mobile being the huge focus. Another big change was what Google described as “the next generation” of local search ads. Here are answers to the top 10 questions you’re asking (or should be asking!) about the new Google Maps local search ads.
Bypassing the Hurdles to Bring Programmatic to SMB Advertisers (Street Fight)
Lynn Tornabene: SMB advertisers care about reaching consumers, not the nitty gritty of technology covered in the ad trades. Local media companies and smaller agencies should focus on how programmatic technology helps them sell that outcome, rather than get stuck selling the technology itself.
Siri To Be the Focus of Apple’s Developers Conference (Wall Street Journal)
Hey Siri, how does Apple change the conversation? Coming off its first quarterly revenue decline in 13 years, Apple Inc. kicks off its annual developers’ conference Monday in San Francisco facing questions about whether the company’s best days are behind it. (Subscription required.)
What Happened to Austin When Uber and Lyft Left Town (Business Insider)
Arcade City Austin / Request a Ride is a Facebook group that has grown rapidly in the weeks following Uber’s and Lyft’s departures. The group, which requires approval to join, is currently populated by more than 33,000 members who use the group to find rides to and from their destinations.
Case Study: Virginia Retail Chain Shifts Print Ad Budget to Social Channels (Street Fight)
Kim Glover, A. Dodson’s director of marketing, says that Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Pinterest make up the core of the retailer’s online marketing program — however the company is “always ready to evolve” with its customers as new platforms gain in popularity and usage.
An Interview with Richard Gingras, Senior Director of News and Social Products at Google (Columbia Journalism Review)
Gingras talks about how Accelerated Mobile Pages serves both individual publishers and the open web and sets the record straight on certain misrepresentations of AMP that have been publicized by media outlets.
The Big Picture Guide to Local SEO: Ranking in 2016 & Beyond (Search Engine Land)
Marcus Miller provides a comprehensive look into ranking factors for local search, including negative ranking factors and ways to differentiate yourself from the competition.
Yahoo Bidders Can’t Even Agree On What They’re Buying (Recode)
Kara Swisher: Even if you were a math prodigy, you’d probably find yourself confused by the spate of varying media accounts about the second round of bids in the never-ending sale of Yahoo. Being for sale is what Yahoo does for a living now, and the latest reports saying that the new bids range from $3 billion to over $5 billion.
Why It’s So Important That Apple Takes Siri to the Next Level (Mashable)
Lance Ulanoff: In the race to build the ultimate personal voice assistant, Apple had a running start. But now Apple and Siri are at risk of being lapped, and the only hope for future dominance in the fast-growing voice and artificial-intelligence space rests firmly on whatever Apple CEO Tim Cook says during Monday’s upcoming Worldwide Developers conference keynote.
Here’s Why Amazon, Google, and Apple Are Fighting Over Voice-Activated Home Devices (Business Insider)
Voice-assistance technology may sound like a novelty, but recent data by Kleiner Perkins show why all the big tech companies are jumping on this new opportunity. As this chart by Statista shows, based on data from Kleiner Perkins, 65% of US smartphone owners already use voice assistance technology, up more than double from just two years ago.
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