News and Analysis
Uber Pledges to Fight California Contractor Bill
Uber and Lyft are already losing billions of dollars, and long-term concerns about whether they will ever hit profitability have endured, making for relatively weak runs on the public market. If the companies cannot come close to profitability with cheap labor forces without benefits, having to treat drivers as employees could pose an existential threat. At the very least, it may require Uber and Lyft to slow down expansion and rein in their ambitions, suggesting that the heyday (or hallucinatory days) of Web 2.0 could be coming to a close.
5 Cannabis Payroll Platforms
Growers, dispensaries, and other businesses that operate in the legal cannabis industry are caught between federal and state regulations, which make banking and payroll a challenge. Despite marijuana being legal in many states, cannabis businesses are still on shaky ground at the federal level, and banks in particular are skittish about partnering with the industry. Without solid banking partners, local cannabis businesses can have trouble keeping up on payroll. So what’s the solution?
Rather than waiting for Congress to make a decision on potential regulations that would shield banks from federal punishment for maintaining accounts for cannabis businesses, more dispensaries and growers are moving toward using web-based cannabis payroll platforms designed specifically for their industry.
Hyperlocal Social Firm Nextdoor Closes $170M Round, Adds Meeker to Board
The company seems well positioned to address the ills of social network and platforms plagued by negative user-generated content in general these days. That’s because it actually verifies the identities of its users and puts people in touch who live near each other in the physical world, definitely not eliminating all risk but limiting the chance that people use digital anonymity to harass each other without repercussions.
Commentary
Google’s Pragmatic Approach to the Truth, and Its Pitfalls
If enough people believe something, should Google consider it to be true? In a world where questionable news is very popular, it’s not so surprising that Google’s logical assumptions might sometimes produce unexpected results. After all, trustworthiness at root is a matter of how many people are willing to trust you.
Why Google Is Becoming the ‘New Homepage’ for SMBs
“So many things are happening right on Google; clicks to call, driving directions, etc., and even more so than a website,” Mike Blumenthal tells David Mihm. “For a business to do well there, things like photos, reviews (everywhere) and other visuals are becoming ever more important.”
Will Native-Social Ads Dominate Mobile?
The majority of mobile ad companies that don’t evolve their janky and interruptive banners will be displaced. A new era of mobile ads will be defined by intelligent formats that speak to the affinities of buying-empowered millennials (who are now almost 40 by the way).
Latest Posts
Street Fight Daily: Facebook’s Messenger Could Be the Next PayPal, Uber Won’t Go Public Anytime Soon
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Report: Facebook Messenger Might Become Your New Mobile Wallet (Marketing Land)… Uber IPO Uber-Unlikely (CNBC)… Searching For Google CEO Sundar Pichai (BuzzFeed)…
9 Killer Location Features for Retailer Mobile Apps
Retail apps have a reputation for being bulky and unnecessary, and for taking up space on consumers’ phones without delivering enough benefit. Going forward, the key for retailers looking to gain traction with their branded mobile apps will be integration with more location-based components.
Service Marketplace Lead Gen — What Color Do Disruptors Bleed?
Marketplaces are sexy. They have disrupted long-standing lead-gen sources like Google, Craigslist, HomeAdvisor, and Angie’s List — all of which caused disruption within yellow pages years before.
Street Fight Daily: Lyft Launches Waze Integration, ‘Platform Relationship Specialists’ Emerge
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Waze Integration for Drivers Rolls Out Nationwide in Lyft’s Mobile App (TechCrunch)… The Rise of the Publishing Platform Specialist (Wall Street Journal)… Publishers See Rising Premium on Mobile Advertising (AdExchanger)…
Raise Report: New funding for DoorDash, Handshake, GoCardless
Marley Spoon, a startup that delivers ingredients needed for specific recipes to users, has raised $17 million and some of the other top funding news of the past week in this week’s Raise Report.
Promotions and New Hires at Amazon, Nuts.com, and Gorilla Logic
An internal promotion at Amazon and some new personnel changes at Delivery.com and Gorilla Logic in the latest Movers & Shakers column.
Street Fight Daily: Apple Pay Coming to Mobile Web, DoorDash Moves Into Yelp Territory
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Apple Pay Moving to the Mobile Web, Could Give Big Boost to Mcommerce (Marketing Land)… DoorDash Takes On Yelp, Offers ‘Objective’ Restaurant Quality Scores (VentureBeat)… Microsoft Tells Possible Yahoo Buyers It Would Consider Backing Bids With Big Bucks (Recode)…
A ‘Network and Brand,’ 30A Aims to Add $1 MIllion Revenue in 2016
Mike Ragsdale’s 30A is successfully covering the Santa Rosa Beach communities in Florida, covering daily minutiae while capturing what’s special about the place. The site is also pulling in seven figures. Can others learn from him?
7 Ways Local Merchants Can Foster Customer Loyalty
Random rewards and eco-friendly initiatives are among the suggestions experts in local marketing offer SMBs who are looking to foster customer loyalty and bridge the gap between the virtual and the actual.
March Brand Battle: Marriott Residence Inn vs. Hilton Garden Inn
Spring break is a big time for family travel across the U.S. According to travel booking site Orbitz, 61% of spring travelers will be families. What are they looking for? The March Brand Battle pits two affordable luxury hotel chains, Marriott Residence Inn and Hilton Garden Inn, against each other in a fight for local-mobile hotel domination as they head into the spring break season.
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