News and Analysis

DNAinfo and Gothamist Shuttered Suddenly by Ricketts Following Vote to Unionize

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The delete button has hit two well-known and established local news sites. The twin closures came a week after the staff at DNAinfo New York voted to be unionized under Writers Guild of America East.

GateHouse’s UpCurve Acquires Closely to Complement ThriveHive

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Closely will be integrated into ThriveHive’s digital solutions, deepening UpCurve’s ability to aggregate and analyze SMB data. The buy enhances ThriveHive’s data-driven product suite by marrying its guided marketing platform with social media management software.

Borrell Sizes Up What’s Behind Local Ad Media Choices

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We know from the numbers that local advertisers are increasingly choosing social media to place their messages. But they’re also turning out to be cautious businesspeople who like to maintain a balance in their placements among multiple media, according to a new study from Borrell Associates.

Latest Posts

Report: Blocking Access to Wi-Fi Could Hurt Retailers

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Wi-fi connectivity may be starting to affect where consumers decide to shop, according to a new report by JiWire. The study, which surveyed users across the company’s ad-supported wi-fi network, found that one out of two mobile consumers are influenced by the availability of in-store wi-fi when deciding where to shop…

Street Fight Daily: AOL COO May Exit, Airbnb Expands Hyperlocal Contnent

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A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal content, commerce, and technology.COO Artie Minson Could Exit Aol, Patch Issues To Blame? (TechCrunch)… Airbnb’s Neighborhoods Program Expands With the Addition 93 Local Guides in 4 New Cities worldwide (The Next Web)… Foursquare CEO Looks Beyond Mobile Handsets: Anywhere There’s A Screen, We Want To Be On It (TechCrunch)…

Groupon’s Stock Dives as Deal Margins Shrink

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Groupon lost more than a quarter of its market value in after hours trading on Wednesday after the company reported diminishing margins and continued international stagnancy in Q4. The once-resurgent daily deals company saw gross billings increase 24% year-over-year in the fourth quarter, but declining margins in both its local and ecommerce business forced its gross profit down 10% from a year earlier…

With Mobile Growing, WPP Sees Opportunity to Make DOOH Smarter

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The agency’s Spafax Networks has announced a new partnership that will bring PlaceIQ’s audience data to its DOOH buying process. Like PlaceIQ’s channel partners in the mobile space, Spafax can use the latitude-longitude data associated with its inventory to target media by audience segments like “middle aged moms” or “business travelers” in vendor and geography.

LocalVox Turns to SMB Seminars to Drive Leads in New Markets

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New York-based LocalVox is expanding from New York and Boston to Washington D.C. The move is a small-but-significant step in the company’s grand plan to replace legacy players like ReachLocal as the marketing platform of choice for local businesses. LocalVox’s product allows small business to publish content across their own email, social, and web properties, as well as to a host of listing sites and other media properties from a single touchpoint…

Street Fight Daily: Samsung’s ‘Passbook’ App, PayPal Co-Founder’s Payments Play

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A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal content, commerce, and technology.Samsung Takes a Page from Apple’s Passbook With New Wallet App (Verge)… PayPal Co-Founder Levchin Launches New Payments Startup, Affirm (AllThingsD)… Apple Patents Situational Awareness And Location Information Sharing For Mobile Devices (TechCrunch)…

Just Another Chat With a Frustrated Patch Editor

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“We have had two conference calls in a row the last two weeks with the people at HQ excitedly talking about big ideas that are going to get us to profitability, but the ideas sound like bad ones, not to mention ones that they have already tried,” said this editor, a mix of frustration and exasperation in his voice. “They are getting farther away from the hyperlocal vision and really pushing generic SEO content to try and get unique visitors…”

How to Ensure That Your Geofence Is Sized Correctly

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Location-based push campaigns have a lot of upside, from satisfied customers to higher ROI. But it can be a thin line that separates a successful campaign from one that leaves mobile users extremely annoyed — so really homing in on how to deliver the right geofence to optimize your campaign is crucial…

Street Fight Daily: Foursquare Expands Deals, Visa Teams with Samsung

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A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal content, commerce, and technology.Foursquare Opens Up Check-In Deals to More Kinds of Plastic (AllThingsD)… Visa Teams Up With Samsung on Mobile Payments (New York Times)… With ClubLocal and New SaaS Tools, ReachLocal Wants to be the Amazon of Local services (PandoDaily)…

Voice Media Group Relaunches City Apps — Can Mobile Really Be Alt-Weeklies’ Salvation?

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Voice Media Group, which acquired 11 alt-weeklies around the country back in October, is re-launching its various cities’ mobile apps, which it hopes will become go-to listings and reviews guides for their local markets. According to Tiffany Shackelford, the executive director at the Association of Alternative Newsmedia, many alt-weeklies, like VMG, are beginning to understand the importance of mobile…