News and Analysis
Street Culture: mParticle CEO on Appreciating People and the Founder’s Journey
“We want people who have historically been lucky. People who have demonstrated the ability to go out and create their own luck,” CEO Michael Katz says. “People who are curious, who engage and ask questions and generally listen, [who are] not just waiting for a pause in the conversation. “
Street Fight Daily: Facebook Feed to Demote Pubs and Brands, Amazon Takes it Slow on Alexa Ads
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Facebook to Make Major News Feed Change That Demotes Publishers and Brands… Amazon to Agencies: Alexa is the Future, But We’re Going Slow on Voice Ads… How CES Highlights the Speed of Change for Brands…
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Street Fight Daily: GoDaddy Acquires Locu, Zillow Snaps Up StreetEasy
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal content, commerce, and technology… GoDaddy Acquires Merchant ‘Finder’ Startup Locu for $70 Million (AllThingsD)… Leaked Revenue Figures Illustrate Need For Hundreds Of Patch Layoffs (TechCrunch)… Internet Impacts Roughly $1.83 Trillion in Offline Buying (ScreenWerk)…
6 Strategies for Patching Up Patch
To meet the promise he made to shareholders, AOL’s chief executive Tim Armstrong is in the process of cutting staff and other costs at Patch in the hopes that his network of hyperlocal sites will be profitable by the end of 2013. But just making short-term cuts to hit profitability might not be the optimum choice. Patch also has to plant seedlings for mid- and long-term benefits that the company can reap 6-12 months from now…
7 Mobile Tools for Customer Communication
When it comes to customer service, convenience is everything. Businesses that expect customers to reach out with questions in person or via telephone are taking the wrong approach. Here are seven tools that local merchants can use to communicate with customers and answer questions about product availability, hours of operation, location, and other basic support information…
Street Fight Daily: Inside Patch’s Revenues, Yelp Adds Mobile Reviews
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal content, commerce, and technology… 
Inside Patch’s Leaked Revenue Numbers And Its Hunt For Profitability (TechCrunch)… Yelp Adds Mobile Reviews (Mashable)…
Groupon Suspends Sales Rep While It Investigates Thinly Veiled Yelp Review Threat (AllThingsD)
Local Search Needs a Standard Business Listing
Search engines are the preferred medium for local search — Moz’s David Mihm estimated that about 7.5 billion searches a month have local intent — and business listing information is the foundation on which these local queries are served. Whether you’re a listing publisher, data aggregator, consumer or local business, a verifiable business listing that complies with a standard will help everyone win in local search…
Openings & New Hires at Patch, Groupon, Flickr, Search Influence and More
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, new hires at Square and Groupon, and job openings at Street Fight, AOL, Yahoo, BuzzTown, Yext, and the Weather Channel…
LBMA Podcast: WillCall, SpotSetter, and Wistia Co-Founder Chris Savage
In this week’s episode: WillCall looks to be the Square for concerts. Spotsetter launches (and we wonder why). Pizza Hut goes responsive with Amaze. Tradus brings location to online product search. Geolog helps conserve battery power through smart GPS use. Bytelight launches their Light Field Communications Reader. iOS 7 will track your every move. Wistia co-founder Chris Savage on location and video…
Street Fight Daily: Patch Layoffs Coming, ‘Pay-Per-Gaze’ Advertising
Patch Layoffs Coming Today (AllThingsD)… Journatic Made ‘Very Poor Decisions’ About Content, Say Aggrego Founders (Poynter)… Is Millennial Stuck in the ‘Middle Seat’ Even with JumpTap? (i2G)…
Hyperlocal Leaders Weigh In on Impact of Bezos’ Wash Post Buy
Amazon founder Jeff Bezos’ purchase of the Washington Post is sure to have ramifications all the way down to the hyperlocal level. With all the retail and media disruption, and more on the way, I asked leaders in hyperlocal news how they see Bezos’ purchase of the Post playing out in their territory…
Case Study: Supermarket Chain Increases Basket Size With Card-Linked Coupons
At Lunds & Byerly’s, a chain of 22 upscale grocery stores in the Twin Cities region, marketing manager Dan O’Rourke faced certain operational limitations that made it difficult for his company to expand into the digital arena. To overcome these challenges, O’Rourke looked into vendors that offered card-linked coupons…
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