News and Analysis

Strategy for Bolstering Brand Safety Online Combines AI, Human Linguists

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Despite promises that they would do better, platforms like YouTube, Facebook, and others are still struggling with the issue. Brands don’t want their ads appearing alongside extremist content and hate speech, but flagging every piece of content that could be considered inappropriate is not an easy task.

The challenge has opened the door for a new industry of “authenticators,” which use technology to help brands avoid inappropriate content online. Using artificial intelligence and machine learning, these technology providers are usually able to evaluate the quality of an ad impression in real-time and help their brand clients avoid anything that could be considered inappropriate. Or at least, that’s what the goal is.

Pared Expands to DC, Connecting Gig Economy Workers with Restaurants

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Pared, the platform matching restaurant and hospitality workers with businesses in need of staff to cover shifts, is expanding to DC. Pared is already live in New York and San Francisco, and it plans to expand to Philadelphia, Boston, and other locations in 2020.

 The San Francisco-headquartered startup claims its service offers a prime deal for workers and businesses alike. It says it offers hospitality and food service workers higher wages and flexibility while offering businesses a ready workforce amid perennially high turnover in the industry.

Google Revises Policy Asking Users for Permission to Listen to Their Assistant Recordings

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The fact that this was an open practice that at least some consumers simply did not understand they were either opting into or automatically participating in points to calls for greater transparency and regulation. Google says it “fell short” of its “high standards” on the issue, but legislation like Europe’s GDPR, CCPA, and legislation in some 10 other US states indicates those standards may be imposed on tech companies by government agencies going forward.

Commentary

New Street Fight Report: Selling to Local Merchants

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Street Fight’s latest report on local merchants is a companion piece to our annual survey of local small and medium-sized businesses, that focuses on vendor strategies for selling local marketing services and up-selling add-ons or suites of offerings.

Using Social Media for Enterprise Local Marketing: Comparing Twitter and Facebook Marketers

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Surveys suggest social media is pretty influential for shoppers, particularly young ones, although they gravitate to Instagram and Snapchat. Big brands are taking heed. Although packaged goods giant P&G said it was paring back its most highly-targeted Facebook ads, it recently confirmed that it was maintaining its overall Facebook spending.

The Place of Newspapers in the Local Marketing Ecosystem

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“Digitally speaking, NextDoor is encroaching on a space that local papers really should own.” David Mihm tells Mike Blumenthal. “It’s basically a glorified forum that in my view would be every bit as successful, if not more so, if hosted by a truly local entity.”

Latest Posts

Street Fight Daily: Amazon Boosts Alexa Ordering, What Businesses Need to Know About Chatbots

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A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Shipping Could Be the Next Billion-Dollar Opportunity for E-Commerce Retailers… Survey Says Most Businesses Already Use the Internet of Things… Startups Should Be Watching as the Supreme Court Decides Samsung versus Apple…

Openings and New Hires at Adelphic, ClickBank, Web.com

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Every two weeks, Geoff Michener covers some of the latest job changes taking place in this dynamic industry. This week’s edition includes moves and new openings at Serviz, CBS Interactive.

Raise Report: Fresh Funding for Verve, Thrive Market, InVision

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Every two weeks, we round up some of the biggest fundraises taking place in hyperlocal marketing, commerce, and tech. This week’s edition includes new rounds for Condeco, Lystable, Narvar, and Farm Hill.

LBMA Podcast: Facebook, Factual, Uber and Adtile

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Welcome to This Week in Location Based Marketing, a weekly video podcast from the Location Based Marketing Association with Asif Khan and Aubriana Lopez. On the show: Adelaide Zoo, MCX, Nesa Solutions, Tywst, Posterscope + Lamar, Verve, Broadsign + TINT, Digerati Magazine.

Street Fight Daily: 80% of News Site Traffic from Facebook/Google, Walmart Expands 2-Day Shipping

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A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Amazon Revamps Alexa Skills to Stay On Top of Smart Home Market… Online News Sites Get 80% of Traffic from Facebook and Google… How Uber and Lyft Have Changed the Game for All Travel Brands…

As Gannett Acquires ReachLocal, Some Lessons From Its U.K. Exit

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As news filtered out earlier this week that media giant Gannett had bought ReachLocal for $156 million, it capped off several years of speculation in the local marketing industry about where the public company would end up. As a former ReachLocal employee (2010-2014) now living in Norway, I’ve watched the company as it has faced steep challenges […]

Why Local News Sponsorships Are More Relevant than Ever

Two Views of Community News — From 30,000 Feet and at Ground Level

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There are plenty of bad prognostications about the future of the community news business out there. But if you look at what is actually happening company by company, site by site, the view is not universally grim. There are a number of players making serious progress in digital revenue.

Street Fight Daily: Facebook Demotes Publishers on News Feed, Yelp Launches ‘Knowledge’ Platform

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A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Facebook to Change News Feed to Focus on Friends and Family, Not Publishers… Yelp Announces Expanding ‘Knowledge’ Social Analytics Platform… Google Launches Two New APIs to Improve App Intelligence and Context…

Are Community Networks the Final Frontier for Local Publishers?

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What if local publishers changed their strategy to focus exclusively on engaging and connecting their community at large? It still requires the great content that they create daily, but also a powerful and relevant search experience for users, more calls to action, and a more native and engaging mobile experience.

How Much Do You Know About Your SMB Customers?

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They say that what you don’t know can’t hurt you, but when it comes to landing SMB clients, that’s simply not the case. That’s why we went out to more than 500 local merchants and asked them about their experiences in local marketing. The result? The Local Merchant Report…