News and Analysis
Street Fight Daily: Google Says Sites Can Still Opt Out of Web Crawling, The Alexa Revolution
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Good News for Yelp — Google Will Continue to Allow Sites to Opt Out of Its Web Crawling… Millions Use Alexa to Shop, and Brands Need to Start Paying Attention… Brand Safety in 2017: Where We’ve Been, Where We’re Going…
Street Fight Daily: Amazon Thrives on Last-Minute Shopping, Pubs See Gains in E-Commerce
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Last-Minute Shoppers Boost Amazon As Yearly Usage of Expedited Delivery Services Doubles… For Some Publishers, The Holidays Bring Jumps in E-Commerce Sales… Search Disruption: How Brands Will Compete with the Duopoly in 2018…
Street Fight Daily: Voice Fuels CNBC’s Efforts to Monetize, Inside Google Maps’ Data Gold Mine
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… CNBC Eyes Monetization After Its Voice Audience Doubled This Year… This Cartographer’s Deep Dive Into Google Maps Is Fascinating… The Top Stories and Trends of 2017 in Data-Driven Advertising…
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10 Months After Furor, Hyperlocal News Service Journatic Presses On
In the spring of 2012, Journatic, the for-hire community news shop, was a hot property in the hyperlocal industry. But less than three months later, following a report on “This American Life” about Journatic’s practices, Tribune and several other publishers suspended all work by the local news company. Tribune has resumed some use of Journatic’s work since, and I recently went to the company’s new VP of media services, Hanke Gratteau, to find out more about how the service was faring…
Openings & New Hires at CityGrid, Google Wallet, Groupon, 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. (Plus, scroll down for jobs on offer now.)
LBMA PODCAST: Dwolla, Kiip, MoodMedia, and Now Founder Ben Broca
In this week’s episode, hosts Rob Woodbridge and Asif Khan talk about ISIS’s plan to bring loyalty to vending machines. Meanwhile, Dwolla closes their $16.5 million series C; Kiip powers the “sour to sweet” campaign for Sour Patch Kids; MoodMedia pinpoints you by the music your hear; Google Now! comes to the iPhone and leaves a lot to the imagination; Foursquare is about to sell your data; and PJs that tell stories. Plus special guest Ben Broca, founder of Now…
Street Fight Daily: Village Voice Editors Walk Out, Tumult at CityGrid
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal content, commerce, and technology.… Top Editors Abruptly Leave Village Voice Over Staff Cuts (New York Times)… What’s Going on at CityGrid? (Screenwerk)… Daily Voice Bankruptcy is a Setback for ‘Hyperlocal’ News (Fortune)…
How Publishers Can Create Hyperlocal Magazines Using Flipboard’s New Tools
This morning Flipboard launched a new web application called “Flipboard Editor,” the latest in a series of tools that allow users to create magazines for the Flipboard app. The new editor makes it even easier for users to create beautiful magazines (of already existing content) that they can share with other users. As Flipboard grows out not only its aggregation tools but also its user base, it’s important that hyperlocal publications take notice…
Case Study: Local Deals Site Increases Subscribers With Offerpop Promotions
When Matt Toomey set out to launch a daily deals site in California’s Bay Area in September 2011, he knew he’d be challenged with competing against industry giants like Groupon and LivingSocial. What Toomey has learned in the 20 months since his company’s launch is that it takes more than just a great idea and close relationships with local businesses to make a deal site profitable — it also takes subscribers…
Street Fight Daily: Facebook Reportedly Circles Waze, Klout Dips Into Local Commerce
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal content, commerce, and technology.… Reports: Facebook Is Buying Social Mapping/Traffic App Waze For Up To $1B To Court Mobile Users (TechCrunch)… Klout Dips into Q&A and Local Commerce with Launch of New Questions Feature (GigaOm)… Trulia Agrees to Buy Real-Estate Software Maker Market Leader For $355 Million (Wall Street Journal)…
Groupon Rebounds in First Quarter Without Mason
Eric Lefkofsky, who is serving as co-interim chief executive with Ted Leonsis, opened the earnings call Wednesday evening with an apology to investors, admitting that the company had “spread [itself] too thin and failed to focus on things that will have the greatest impact.” Part of that extension, Lefkofsky admitted, was overinvesting in a secondary businesses like Groupon Goods at the cost of its more profitable local segment…
Employees’ Overtime Suit Forces Daily Voice to Seek Bankruptcy Protection
Daily Voice, the recently scaled-down regional network of 41 community news sites, filed for and won Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection this week. The move gives the company relief from an expensive class-action suit by two former reporters who said they and other Daily Voice staff worked overtime consistently but were never paid for the extra hours…
AOL Chief: We Will Use ‘All Means Possible’ to Get Patch to Profitability by Q4
AOL’s hyperlocal media network Patch has rolled out its redesign from a handful of pilot communities to around 100 markets across the country, Tim Armstrong, AOL’s chief executive, said during an earnings call Wednesday morning. The move comes as AOL focuses in on Patch’s model, pushing the closely-watched hyperlocal news network to reach run-rate profitability by Q4 of this year…
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