Street Fight Daily: Social Shapes Young People’s Shopping Decisions, LinkedIn Adds Brand Insights

A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology…

80% of Gen-Zers, 74% of Millenials Say Social Influences Their Shopping Choices (MediaPost)
The study found that social media more broadly had a big impact on younger shoppers, with more than 80% of Gen Z, and 74% of millennials, influenced by social media in their shopping. These numbers drop significantly when compared to Generation X (58%) and Baby Boomers (41%). 

Foursquare Analysis Highlights Looming Bubble for Boutique Fitness Studios (Street Fight)
Forget those New Year’s resolutions. The biggest surge in attendance at gyms and boutique fitness studios actually happens in the spring and early summer, according to a new analysis of foot traffic patterns by the data science team at Foursquare.

LinkedIn Allows Brands to Track Who Is Visiting Their Sites (AdWeek)
LinkedIn Wednesday announced the launch of LinkedIn Website Demographics, a new tool that enables brands to tap into data from the professional network to see who has been visiting their websites.

Alignable Rankings Show Lead Generation, Hiring Categories Primed for Disruption (Street Fight)
Small businesses are largely at the mercy of the online reviews published on sites like Yelp and Facebook, but now those business owners have turned the tables with some tough critiques for technology vendors in a new report published by the SMB social networking platform Alignable.

How Uber Is Trying to Fix Itself (Recode)
When Harvard Business School’s Frances Frei joined Uber in June, she thought fixing its epic cultural crisis might be the result of thousands of toxic employees. But in fact, Frei said, Uber’s problems are neither unusual nor unfixable.

The Evolution of Local SERP Topography (Tidings)
David Mihm: The concept of SERP topology – and its outcome, which I guess would be SERP topography – brilliantly crystallizes a macro-level topic I’ve been struggling to illustrate for the last 2-3 years: the archetypal local SERP, what that SERP might look like down the road, and the forces shaping that SERP.

Buyers Cast Doubt on Publishers’ Pivot to Video (Digiday)
“We don’t want everyone going to video,” said Barry Lowenthal, president of The Media Kitchen. “It’s expensive. Not everyone does it well. Not all users are ready for video. There’s a lot more crap than there is premium. CPMs are still pretty high — that says to me there’s a shortage.”

Marketing Automation Isn’t Just for B2Bs Anymore (eMarketer)
B2C sales cycles are typically much shorter than those of B2Bs, so the need for marketing automation technology isn’t as dire. But that doesn’t mean B2C marketers aren’t using automation. Companies in the internet and telecom space, for example, accounted for almost 10% of those using automation.

Blue Apron Co-Founder to Step Aside as Operating Chief (WSJ)
One of the founders of newly public Blue Apron Holdings Inc. is stepping down from executive leadership after the company’s rocky first month on the market.

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