News and Analysis

In Case You Missed It: Facebook Axed a Post on This Founding U.S. Document Last Week

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The anniversary of its home country’s birth was not without incident for Facebook, which attracted attention for automatically striking down a post, flagged as hate speech, containing the words of the Declaration of Independence.

Google Faces Heat After Automated Threat to Shut Down a Cloud Client’s Project

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This week’s tech giant in hot water? Google, whose abuse-prevention system apparently shut down and threatened to delete a Cloud client’s project in three days due to perceived misdoing on the client’s part.

Some of London’s Top Retailers Call for a Sales Tax on ‘Largely Online’ Rivals

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Under the banner of The New West End Company, the several-hundred-strong collective of some of the U.K. capital’s top retailers is lobbying for a 1% sales tax on primarily online retailers to parallel the property-linked taxes they already pay.

Commentary

When Big Platforms Go Local

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Though Amazon’s plan to have drone delivery by the end of the decade may seem far-fetched, it speaks vividly to the notion that large online platforms are working hard to localize their inventories, and even to redefine what “local” means…

Yext’s New ‘Pages’ and the Future of One-Stop Solutions for Small Businesses

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The first large-scale technology company that can service small businesses in all of the following four industries will have the best opportunity to be the next leading hyperlocal superstar: 1) Website building, 2) email/loyalty marketing, 3) hyperlocal technology and 4) Online advertising, promotion and deal solutions…

As Digital Ascends, Is Legacy Media Becoming a ‘Sinkhole’ for Marketers?

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One of the most insightful studies released this year by Boston Consulting Group found that the 23 million small businesses in the U.S. allocate only 3% of their advertising spend to digital. Larger companies spend more, but digital still comprises only 15% of their marketing budgets. Meanwhile, it’s clear that the effectiveness of digital media has surpassed that of legacy — and it’s no longer even close. So marketers are spending the vast majority of their budgets on media that consumers are no longer engaging with…

Latest Posts

Street Fight Daily: Groupon Knocks Off Yelp, Apple’s Loyalty Program

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A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology…With Yelp Knockoff, Groupon’s Still Searching for Magic Bullet (Recode)… Apple Pay Loyalty Program Due to Start Within the Year (Bank Innovation)… Macy’s Links With Google To Show Mobile Users What’s In Stock Nearby (AdAge)…

Yelp Cashes In on YP Partnership — If Only for the Moment

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The company posted stronger-than-expected revenues Tuesday, but cautious guidance sent shares tumbling in after-hours trading. The revenue increase appears to have come, in part, from a partnership with YP that the company made earlier this year…

Angie’s List Reports Wider-Than-Expected Loss, Stock Tanks

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The company reported the addition of 350,376 gross paid memberships during the period, down six percent from the third quarter of 2013. Its stock price fell more than 17% percent on Wednesday, continuing an 18-month drop…

With Carrier Data, Vistar Media Finds Foothold in Mobile Ad Fray

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Vistar, a digital out-of-home startup, wants to use carrier data to map consumer behavior in the real world. Through a partnership with AirSage, Vistar has developed a system which it says can allow marketers to analyze where nearly 110 million of consumers live, work and shop in an anonymized and privacy-sensitive way…

Wooing Restuarants, Retail Software Startup LightSpeed Buys POSIOS

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Point-of-sale startup Lightspeed said Wednesday it has purchased a belgian competitor, POSIOS, to help the firm enter the food service vertical and expand internationally. The deal underscores the potential for consolidation within a small business software segment that has seen an intense influx of capital and redrawing of product lines…

Street Fight Daily: Apple Opens Listings, Yelp Adds Hotel Bookings

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A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology…Apple Launches “Maps Connect,” Self-Service Local Listings Portal (Search Engine Land)… Yelp Leaps Into Hotel Bookings With New Hipmunk Partnership (Skift)… Uber Drivers Across The Country Are Protesting Today — Here’s Why (Business Insider)…

Gannett Papers Evolve to Avoid Becoming Publishing’s ‘Buggy Whips’

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In the news media’s digitally focused 21st century, newspapers are often dismissed as an “industrial-age” product. But it’s not clear that they’ll become what whale oil was to the 19th century’s petroleum . For a macro-look at how this is playing out at Gannett, we caught up with the media giant’s SVP for News, Kate Marymont…

Making the Case for Ambient Services (Again)

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The excitement around ambient services has faded as Highlight and others have failed to gain traction. But in many ways the ambient services that failed in 2011 and 2013 are poised for a comeback. Within the next few years, the technology will be in place to make these long sought-after scenarios a reality…

Street Fight Daily: Search’s Mobile Problem, Square Eyes Back-Office

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A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… First Half Ad Revenue: Search Dominates PC Ads But Not Mobile (Search Engine Land)… Square Testing New Payroll Product as Ambition Grows (Recode)… Gannett Earnings Strong, But Publishing Revenues Continue A Steep Slide (Poynter)…

5 Influential Products That Helped Define Local Tech

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The local industry has yielded a bevy of popular products. Some have survived while others have faded into the background, but the industry continues to merit the hype. Here we take a look at the five best products in local tech over the past few years…