News Recap: Twitter Teams Up With AmEx to Help SMBs
As part of a new partnership with American Express, Twitter announced this week that it will now use its ability to draw attention to certain topics to help advertise local businesses. Basically, this means that in addition to the “promoted tweets” seen by users, now ads from small businesses will also appear in their feeds…
ReachLocal President: SMBs Aren’t Buying Ads ‘Where the Eyeballs Are’
Nathan Hanks talks with Street Fight about what works and doesn’t for online marketing, how small businesses are “misappropriating” the money they spend on media, and why integration is the key to rich digital experiences.
Making an INTRO: Location-Aware Business Networking Debuts
The app is trying to build location-aware functionality into business interactions — framing itself as a sort of place-aware LinkedIn. With INTRO, users can search for other people in their immediate vicinity who could potentially be good to network with…
BIA/Kelsey: Local Advertising Revs to Hit $151.3B By 2016
The report forecasts total U.S. local advertising revenues at $151.3 billion in 2016, up from $132.8 billion in 2011 — an increase of nearly 14 percent. Its 2011 projection has been revised slightly downward from the firms October peg of the market at $135.9 billion…
Loopt and Green Dot: A Storified View
What’s the future of location-based services? One path may be mobile commerce, where LBS platforms bring a key loyalty tool. That seems to be one explanation for the $43 million acquisition of LBS Loopt last week by banking company Green Dot, which is known mainly for its prepaid cards for retailers.
So how did it shake out in the Twitterverse, in blogs and general media? Here’s our Storified roundup:
Local Quotables: Stangel, Biggs, Hyslop and More
The best words about and around the hyperlocal industry. Luke Stangel thinks augmented reality development could mean huge things for hyperlocal; John Biggs blasts hot new app Highlight for sharing users’ information without permission; Kate Hyslop reinforces the importances of an online presence for local businesses; and more…
Geoloqi’s Amber Case Wants to Simplify LBS App-making
Case, who is known in other circles as a “cyborg anthropologist,” talked with Street Fight recently about the big issues affecting location-sharing and GPS technology, where Geoloqi fits into the LBS ecosystem, and why geolocation is all about “utility.”
iPad 3 Predictions: What Will Apple’s New Tablet Mean for Local?
It’s always hard to foresee the effects that new products will have, but here are five predictions from the people in the industry about how the iPad 3 could impact location technology…
5 Can’t-Miss SXSWi Panels for the Local-Obsessed
There’s plenty of hyperlocal-themed content to be found in the festival’s programming. If you’re into LBS and the evolution of location technology, here’s a rundown of relevant panels you won’t want to miss…
Steve Outing: No One’s Got a ‘Magic Bullet’ for Hyperlocal Revenue
The founder and program director at the Digital News Test Kitchen at CU-Boulder studies the places where journalism and technology collide. Here he talks with Street Fight about where the concept of hyperlocal has been, where it’s going, and how technology is increasingly impacting how journalists do their job…
UK Location-Based App Uberlife Comes Stateside for SXSW
Instead of letting users check-in or constantly broadcasting their location, uberlife works like a hybrid between Facebook events and Foursquare. If an uberlife user wants to meet people in their vicinity, they can create a hangout on the app and followers in the nearby area receive a notification about where that user is or is going to be…
Do Consumers Really Want to Passively Share Their Location?
New location-sharing app Glassmap wants to transform how we view and utilize location — in a way that will likely raise privacy questions among consumers. One step beyond Foursquare’s “check-in,” the app allows users to passively broadcast their location to friends all the time…
Local Quotables: Mason, Sheetz, Evans and more
The best words about and around the hyperlocal industry.
Andrew Mason realizes Groupon has fallen short with its social media presence; Ashley Sheetz from Gamestop explains why she backed out of Facebook’s failing virtual market; Perry Evans discusses the changing relationship between local businesses and consumers; and more.
Local Quotables: Rafer, Duggan, Pincus and more
The best words about and around the hyperlocal industry.
Lumatic’s Scott Rafer wants to revolutionize mobile map-technology; Kris Duggan of Badgevile critiques Foursquare’s signature “mayor” status as driving away users; Pincus wants to bring “play” into the mainstream; and more:
Comparing the Pros and Cons of 5 Top Location APIs
With the rise of location-based services and apps, the availability of geo-specific data has grown more important than ever. With the recent sale and shuttering of SimpleGeo, a start-up that was beginning to turn heads in the geo-data field, many are wondering where to go for the location data they need. Here are five major services offering similar types of location data feeds…
Tagwhat: Creating Location-Based Stories
Foursquare gave us location-based community and merchant information and established check-in behavior among consumers. Now Tagwhat, a Colorado-based company, hopes to build on that legacy by enhancing users’ location experience with what they call a “mobile encyclopedia of where you are.”