News and Analysis
Why Content Is Replacing Clicks as the Cornerstone of Digital Marketing
While the click-oriented advertising model is not going away and has its place, it is becoming more complicated with the influx of privacy changes that make targeting and measurement harder. As a result, VRTCAL Founder and President Todd Wooten makes the argument that content is king again.
Back to School 2021: Supply Chain Shortages and High Demand
Preparing for back-to-school shopping this year, retailers faced a tremendous challenge: anticipating consumer needs at a time when Covid case numbers are shifting month to month and the conditions of in-person learning remain unclear. Add supply chain squeezes and rising consumer expectations, and BTS, which is supposed to be among many retailers’ best seasonal events, risks proving disastrous.
Commentary
The Blind Spot in Facebook’s Vision of Privacy
Insofar as Facebook’s pivot to privacy fails to reward its users for the data that has made it one of the world’s most powerful and profitable companies, I see it as a modest change that is more reactive than proactive, more inevitable than forward-thinking. It is likely that Facebook is only beginning to lay out its moves on privacy, and more ambitious changes may lie ahead. But for now, when it comes to the most pressing, fundamental ethical challenges that are inciting political fervor and increasing the likelihood that serious regulation of Big Tech is on the way, Zuckerberg is dragging his feet. With visionaries like Lanier and Zuboff raising public awareness about Facebook’s business model, the truth may just catch up with him.
Things Not Strings: Google’s New Hotel Profiles Exemplify Its Approach to Entities
Google’s Knowledge Graph ambitions are expanding to include obviating heavy reliance on secondary sources like Wikipedia and being able instead to classify and cross-reference information as a native, self-sustaining activity on web pages themselves. That’s what makes a recent patent filing different from the evidence of the Knowledge Graph we’ve already seen in the wild.
While this more ambitious way of surfacing information about entities is not yet standard, in researching Google’s new interface for hotels, I think I’m seeing evidence of a real-world example.
Latest Posts
How Facebook Turns ‘Likes’ Into Dollars Right Down to the Local Level
Local news publishers typically know many of their community restaurateurs on a first-name basis, and are regular diners at the establishments. But they can’t offer the precise targeting capability of Facebook, whose services are, in most cases, fully automated — greatly lowering their cost.
Why Commercial Banks Are Turning to Proximity Technology
That location intelligence firms are able to use foot traffic patterns to predict the financial performance of businesses is nothing new. But a new report released shines a light on the ways commercial banks and investment companies are upping the ante by using location data to get the most out of the market.
How Thanksgiving Day Store Closures Impact Black Friday Sales
Shoppers say they don’t want retailers opening their doors on Thanksgiving Day, but research from Foursquare tells a different story. Analyzing proprietary foot traffic data at major retailers, Foursquare found that stores that open earlier on Thanksgiving Day drive more visits and steal share from their competitors.
Street Fight Daily: Big-Box Retailers Report Best Earnings in Years, Mashable Sold for Change
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Investments in Digital Transformation Pay Dividends for Big-Box Retailers… Mashable Sold at Fire-Sale Price of $50 Million to Ziff Davis… Topix Was Getting Crushed by the Duopoly. Now It’s Making Millions Off Them…
NinthDecimal Launches Website-to-Store Attribution Solution
Mobile programmatic and audience intelligence platform NinthDecimal has launched a new website-to-store attribution solution in a bid to help marketers more efficiently connect digital assets to offline sales. The product is being billed as the first of its kind, providing retailers with a clearer picture of the interplay between e-commerce and in-store activities.
Street Fight’s Big 3
Street Fight Columns
Street Fight Categories
Authentic Storytelling: Real-Life Scenarios Showcase Brand Values and Build Trust