News and Analysis
Street Fight Daily: Google Sued Over Fraud Refunds, Net Neutrality Repealed
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Google Sued for Allegedly Not Refunding Advertisers Hit by Fraud… The FCC Is Ending Net Neutrality, Presenting New Concerns for Brands and Tech Companies… H&M Plunges as Digital Rival Zara Thrives…
Street Fight Daily: Target Acquires Shipt, Facebook to Stop Paying Publishers for Video
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Target Acquires Instacart Competitor Shipt to Compete with Amazon… Facebook Plans to Stop Paying Publishers to Make Videos for News Feed… Uber Under Criminal Investigation, Justice Department Confirms…
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SMG’s Thompson: ‘Not One Client’ is Not Interested in Hyperlocal
“Across Starcom MediaVest’s portfolio, I cannot think of one client that is not interested in this space. You have consumer-packaged-goods (CPG) brands that are asking how location can help them best reach their audiences; you have auto manufacturers who want to reach people in real time at a given place; and you have travel companies that want to understand those audiences. Across the board, brands are curious about location. … They just don’t understand which technologies are out there, and how they can harness these signals and make sense out of them.”…
Non-Profit Indies, One-Time Successors to Local Media, Face Funding Woes
You think traditional broadcast media like TV and radio are struggling with depleted revenue models as audiences move to online screens? Consider those who were already depleted: Community broadcasters on cable access TV and local radio. These folks face even greater challenges with sparse audiences, a limited to non-existent revenue model, and funding from foundations drying up faster than fresh rain in the Mojave Desert.
LBMA Podcast: ‘Connected’ Cars and ‘Connected’ Homes
In this week’s episode, Asif’s take on location in Singapore; SingleTouch launches their FollowMe service; uKnow partners with ESRI to help track your family; Gannett acquires Belo’s television stations and tries to go hyperlocal; Tred delivers your next new car test drive; Google’s Project Loon soars; The connected car is going to be big; Special guest Mike Soucie of Revolv on the connected home.
Street Fight Daily: Clinkle Raises $25M, Square Poaches AdSense ‘Godfather’
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal content, commerce, and technology… Silicon Valley Luminaries Bet on Clinkle, a Payments Start-Up (TechCrunch)… Square Poaches Facebook’s Lead Ad Engineer Gokul Rajaram (AdAge)… Cramer: Macy’s Hyper-Local Strategy to Drive Sales (CNBC)…
Nextdoor: Where Privacy Is a Double-Edged Sword
Nextdoor has some issues to sort out in whether and how much neighbors want to be walled in from adjacent, or even non-adjacent, communities. In researching this story, I signed up for the service and discovered firsthand its power of engagement — but found its walls dampened the enthusiasm it had engendered in me, and I wondered if the latter will impact the potential of the former to make good on the company’s $100 million valuation…
The Good and Bad of Local Discovery on Our Summer Road Trip
Greetings from a summer road trip in the Pacific Northwest. Amid games of twenty questions and alphabet animals, we have faced the typical needs of the traveler: shelter, food, gas, and fun. Naturally, we’ve turned to local search, just like the other 31% of leisure travelers (up from 18% in 2010). I’ve written mainly about local search on the homefront and travel is another kind of use case entirely, one that in many ways has been “solved” by existing services — but has it? In our experience, you often have to be creative to get what you need…
Street Fight Daily: Revel Raises $10M; LevelUp: We’re ‘Android,’ Square is ‘Apple’
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal content, commerce, and technology… Revel Systems Raises $10.1M To Help It Grow iPad Point-Of-Sale Business (TechCrunch)… LevelUp: We’re ‘Android,’ Square is ‘Apple’ (Local Onliner)… Why Angie’s List Hires an Auditor to Read its Business Reviews (Bloomberg)…
Everybody Is a Media Company, So Now What?
The explosive growth of personal media has disrupted everything it touches. The same inexpensive tools that consumers are now using are also available to any-sized businesses, which has the potential of entirely leveling the playing field in consumer goods and services by driving down the cost of marketing. The neighborhood doughnut shop can just as easily make and distribute media as the Kroger Bakery up the street or, by God, even Walmart. We may chuckle today but just wait…
Do Hipsters Do Hyperlocal?: Bedford + Bowery Editor on Communities and Culture
NYU’s hyperlocal East Village blog is growing up and adding a few new ‘hoods. The Local, which had covered New York’s East Village and the Lower East Side, has become Bedford + Bowery, a site that now also covers the Brooklyn neighborhoods of Williamsburg, Greenpoint, and Bushwick. So what makes these neighborhoods — hipster havens of the highest order — a fertile proving ground for hyperlocal? We spoke with Daniel Maurer, the NYU professor who oversees the venture to talk a bit about how the project has evolved…
Street Fight Daily: Zagat’s Workplace ‘Nightmare,’ Square Launches Marketplace
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal content, commerce, and technology… How Zagat’s Workplace Turned Into A ‘Nightmare’ (Business Insider)… New Square Service Targets Local Merchants’ Market (USA Today)… Microsoft Partners With Deem To Expand Its Ad Inventory With More Local Offers And Deals(TechCrunch)…
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The Road Ahead: What Autonomous Cars Teach Us About Marketing Automation