News and Analysis

San Francisco Partially Bans Facial Recognition, Putting Technology’s Future in Doubt

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Civil rights and privacy activists asked, and the San Francisco Board of Supervisors delivered.

The city banned the use of facial recognition technology by law enforcement and other municipal agencies on Tuesday, becoming the first in the country to do so. Other bills in the works in Massachusetts and even on Capitol Hill suggest that additional restrictions on the technology may be forthcoming. 

Local Social Network Nextdoor Raises $123 Million

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The digital advertising proposition for Nextdoor is obvious—what better way to drive customers into nearby brick-and-mortar stores than to generate buzz on a social platform centered on users’ physical location? Venture capitalists see the value proposition, as Chris Varelas, co-founder and managing partner at Riverwood, proclaimed Nextdoor as the “future of local community and commerce.”

6 Influencer Marketing Platforms for Brands

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As some of the most visual social channels, Instagram, Snapchat, and Pinterest have become important tools for brand marketers. These are also the channels most likely to be used by so-called “influencers,” the social media stars who frequently partner with brands to promote products to their online followers. Influencer marketing has become a big business, with 31% of retailers now working with brand advocates to become influencers and 28% using paid celebrity influencers to spread the word about their products and services.

Here are six popular influencer marketing platforms being used by retailers and brands right now.

Commentary

Why 2017 Will Be the Year of the ‘Micro Moment’

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A micro moment is the point at which a consumer searches for nearby information, for things to do, buy, or learn in real-time. Essentially, it’s a description of a new consumer mindset: one that has switched from regularity to spontaneity in shopping and learning habits, due to ubiquity of smartphones.

Is It Time to Redefine ‘Local’ Marketing?

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We’ve reached a pivot point where local market nuances and differences can create definable opportunity. I am not saying that the age of the big box retail or e-commerce portal are over, but if a brand does a better job at leveraging local marketing it can create a competitive advantage and differentiation point.

Making Sense of Amazon’s Push Deeper Into Local

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Clearly Amazon is positioning itself in the sales funnel aggressively, Mike Blumenthal tells David Mihm. “And unlike Google their presale efforts lead directly to sales that they control. ”

Latest Posts

Booker Acquires Frederick, Expands Marketing Automation for Service Businesses

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The two companies had an existing partnership in place, and Booker has already rolled out Frederick’s marketing services to 200 of its existing customers. Following the deal, Frederick will retain its brand and will continue integrations with other business management systems.

Bot Local: Making Appointments Is Getting a Lot More Fun

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Pingup is bringing its API-powered live booking capability to “a broader range of leading-edge consumer interfaces and platforms.” This means “Pingup-powered bots” will let consumers book and confirm appointments in real time with “tens of thousands of local businesses across the U.S.”

Street Fight Daily: Verizon Fined By FCC for Tracking Consumers, Will Google+ Be Resurrected?

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A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… FCC Drops the Hammer on Verizon Over ‘Supercookie’ Usage (The Next Web)… Founder of 4chan Joins Google, Presumably to Work on Google+ (Ars Technica)… Facebook’s Trojan Horse Commerce Strategy (Recode)…

The Physical World Is Eating the Web

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Most beacon scenarios require users to jump through a set of compatibility hoops. But Google has been quietly working on an antidote: The physical web. To sidestep some of the opt-in friction, it positions the browser as the beacon interface and it transmits beacon content using URLs.

Swipely Rebrands as Upserve, Launches Mobile App and New Tools for Restaurants

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The company announced this morning that it is changing its name to Upserve, and is expanding its suite of products aimed at helping restaurateurs optimize their sales and service and manage their business on the fly.

What the C-Suite Needs to Think About When It Comes to Delivering On-Demand

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Today over 2 billion local deliveries are made annually in the U.S. And every delivery company that wants to remain competitive in this space must be able to offer an on-demand experience to their customers — whether it has its own fleet of drivers or uses independent contractors to provide its service. In a complicated […]

Street Fight Daily: Publishers to Use Facebook Messenger to Reach Consumers, Groupon CEO on Strategy

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A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Facebook Plans to Open Messenger to Publishers (Marketing Land)… Groupon CEO: ‘We Win If Local Businesses Win’ (Silicon Republic)… Europe’s Antitrust Enforcer on Google, Apple, and the Year Ahead (New York Times)…

Street Culture: A Different Approach to Hiring and Firing

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The current shortage of tech talent means candidates who have high-demand skills, such as programming, have their pick of employers. Startups are responding to that by creating ultra-transparent, collaborative workplaces.

LMC’s Coats Not Bullish on ‘Information Trust Exchange’ to Monetize Content

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After mulling over the recent proposal to realign publishers’ relationships with advertisers and readers, I went to Rusty Coats, executive director of the Local Media Consortium, to see if he thought it was something legacy media companies would buy into.

LBMA Podcast: LiveNation’s LBM Platform, UPS Invests in Deliv

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On the show: Sodimac lets you sleep on the side of the highway; Yahoo! Japan partners with IndoorAtlas; ASDA + Clear Channel UK; xAD launches MarketPlace; PlaceIQ and LiveRamp work together for TV ads; Geofeedia and Dell partner.