News and Analysis
Street Fight Daily: Groupon Puts Itself on the Market, Google Demoting All Slow Sites
The latest in local and hot takes on tech & marketing… Groupon Reportedly Puts Itself on the Market… Google Speed Update Is Now Being Released to All Users… Some of London’s Top Retailers Call for a Sales Tax on ‘Largely Online’ Rivals…
SMB Index Declines Slightly Over the Course of a Volatile June
June was a volatile month in the public markets, which saw the SurePath SMB Index give back 1.1%, after climbing 7.9% in May. Web.com led last month’s winners, leading the index with 31.5% growth in market cap following news of an acquisition offer.
In Case You Missed It: Facebook Axed a Post on This Founding U.S. Document Last Week
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.
Commentary
How Will Jeff Bezos Redefine the Newspaper?
Amazon has always been a virtual marketplace, where the location of the buyer has very little to do with a transaction. Bringing the Bezos vision to bear on a community-oriented portal could mean any number of things, but it certainly means the potential for services that bear some resemblance to traditional journalism but are remediated into a form that takes advantage of digital commerce and social media, while maintaining a sense of local community…
As Local Media Shed Staff, Personal Franchise Sites Could Fill the Void
The independent voice of the individual can make “the news” more personal, more compelling, and more exciting. The nuances of the trade can be taught, but people planted within the community with knowledge and perspective offer something that traditional media companies can’t or won’t. And linking local bloggers together is a viable concept…
How to Sell Hyperlocal Into Chambers of Commerce
After lots of research with local chambers, I’ve noticed that the chambers provide minimal resources to local businesses on how to navigate hyperlocal and which tools are the most valuable. In my opinion, that really should be a key responsibility of the Chambers. They should be vetting and approving the technology that will help their members to grow their businesses…
Latest Posts
Productivity Solution: Free Wireless Internet On-the-Go
FreedomPop, the nation’s first 100% free internet service provider, offers a nationwide hotspots that provides free wireless internet wherever you are. Simply turn on a FreedomPop hotspot and instantly connect to the internet. There are no contracts or cancellations fees. Get a special offer now…
Street Fight Daily: Lay’s Uber Picnic, Google Buys Jetpac
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Lay’s Is Launching an Urban Picnic, Brought to You by Uber (AdAge)… Google Buys Jetpac To Give Context To Visual Searches (TechCrunch)… Amazon’s Square-Like Payment System Could Be Data Goldmine (AdAge)…
As Franchises Bounce Back, A Golden Market for Local Tech Surfaces
A booming franchise sector presents a unique opportunity for hyperlocal firms to blend the scale and reach implicit in the digital marketplace with the granularity and flexibility afforded by mobile, social and other locally-driven platforms. What’s more, the franchise industry — with its unique combination of scale and fragmentation — could help provide a critical stepping stone for vendors to reach the small business market…
Openings and New Hires at the LSA, GoLocalPDX, ElasticBox and UpSnap
Every two weeks, Search Influence’s Kelly Benish — who knows practically everyone in hyperlocal — covers some of the latest job changes taking place in this dynamic industry. In this week’s edition, moves and new openings at the Local Media Association, PlaceIQ, Colony Logic, Sonata, Happenings Media, Ping4 and more…
LBMA Podcast: Mobiquity’s ‘Smart’ Malls, Bing Improves Mobile Targeting
Top stories of the week include: Tinder match-making for dogs; The Traces launches an app; Shazam releases their Resonate platform; The Ninja Sphere for your connected home; Westpac adds augmented reality to banking; Track Toronto tracks the lyrics of the city; Drop closes a small round; Timex has a new non-smartphone connected watch…
Street Fight Daily: Mobile Ad Revenue Hits $19B, Food Delivery Roll-Up
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… IAB: Search And Display Fuel $19.3B In Worldwide Mobile Ad Revenue (AdExchanger)… Delivery Hero Joins The $1B Valuation Club As It Gobbles Rival (TechCrunch)… Yahoo Dusts Off E-Commerce Service to Juice Revenue (Wall Street Journal)…
Report: Mobile Context and Location Services Market to Reach $43.3 Billion by 2019
The mobile context and location services market is set to reach $43.3 billion by 2019, according to a new report. That’s up from an estimated $12.2 billion in 2014. The report also found that by 2019, more than two-thirds of revenues will be driven through highly targeted and contextually aware ad-supported apps…
How Santa Barbara’s Noozhawk Zeroes In on News and Profits
In the increasingly tough world of community journalism — where both readers and advertisers can be fickle and local advertising markets like Santa Barbara are crowded with competitors — Noozhawk succeeds because it’s not in the news business, but “the business of news.” Here, founder Bill Macfadyen explains what that means…
Street Fight Daily: Pinterest Eyes Small Business, More Fuel For Taxi Wars
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Pinterest Expands Self-Serve Promoted Pins Platform To More Businesses (TechCrunch)… More Fuel for Taxi Wars: GetTaxi Raises $25 Million (Financial Times)… The Government’s Upping Its Phone-Tracking Game (Voice of San Diego)…
Study: Facebook Is Most Effective Social Media Site for Small Business
A new study from G/O Digital, the digital marketing wing of Gannett, finds that consumers tend to use Facebook for product research more than any other social media outlet. The study found that 68% of respondents prefer checking reviews of Facebook, compared to 11% on Twitter and 12% on Pinterest.
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Meta Is Automating Ads, But Brands Still Face a Bigger Problem