News and Analysis

Street Fight Daily: Amazon Undercuts Rivals Ahead of Holidays, Facebook Expands Messenger Ads

A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Amazon Discounts Other Sellers’ Products As Holidays Approach… More Brands Will Be Able to Send Sponsored Messages on Facebook Messenger… Uber’s Business Has Recovered After #DeleteUber, But Lyft Made Lasting Gains…

Openings and New Hires at Infogroup, Vistar Media, Unacast

Every two weeks, Geoff Michener covers some of the latest openings and new hires in this dynamic industry. This week’s edition includes moves and new openings at Functionize, Emissary, X-Mode and dataPlor.

Raise Report: Privy, Reflektion, InVision Lock Down New Funding

Every two weeks, we round up some of the biggest fundraises taking place in hyperlocal marketing, commerce, and tech. This week’s edition includes funding for Glint, Instart Logic, Wibbitz, ActionIQ, and Connatix.

Latest Posts

Case Study: New Loyalty Program Connects ’Wichcraft With Customers

After years of using paper punch cards to promote loyalty at its 16 locations, ’Wichcraft is going digital with a mobile loyalty program. By tying customer phone numbers to ‘Wichcraft’s POS system, director of marketing Ellen Kim hopes to send targeted promotions based on individual purchase histories and build more intimate relationships with the most frequent customers…

Street FIght Daily: Shopkick Hits Profitability, Groupon Expands Reporting

A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal content, commerce, and technology.Shopkick Says It’s Now Profitable, With Its Shopping App Adding $200M In Sales For Target, Best Buy And Others In 2012 (TechCrunch)… Groupon Unveils Merchant Impact Report, a Free Service So Merchants Can Justify Their Deal Performance (The Next Web)… AOL’s Patch to Go From Lousy Local News Network to Even Worse Community Message Board network (PandoDaily)…

#SFSNYC: Jim Brady on Building Engagement and ‘Stacking Digital Dimes’

The TBD vet and Digital First Media editor-in-chief says that hyperlocal media must fill two roles for the reader. It has to be a water cooler — a place where people come to engage with news in a community — and an ATM, a utility connecting readers with actionable information.

#SFSNYC: Making Data Work for Hyperlocal Media

In the wake of the Journatic scandal, the role of automation in hyperlocal publishing remains uncertain. Leaders from top hyperlocal media companies addressed the issue during a panel at Street Fight Summit on Wednesday. They discussed how use of data is affecting media today and the way it can make scale possible tomorrow…

#SFSNYC: Think Context Not Platforms, Says Google’s Tim Reis

While 2012 was mobile’s breakout year, Tim Reis, head of mobile and social solutions at Google, urged marketers to move this year beyond platforms and instead focus on context during a morning keynote at the Street Fight Summit on Wednesday. “Consumers are very comfortable across [multiple] platforms; they don’t silo these activities,” said Reis…

#SFSNYC: Patch has Grown Up ‘Enormously,’ Says Webster

In a fireside chat with Forbes’ Jeff Bercovici at the Street Fight Summit on Tuesday, Patch’s co-founder and president, Warren Webster, defended his closely watched hyperlocal network, denying reports that the AOL property was struggling to sustain its rapid growth.

Street Fight Daily: Facebook Threatens Yelp, Locu Expands

A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal content, commerce, and technology.Watch Out Foursquare And Yelp: ‘Places’ Really Shines On Facebook Graph Search (TechCrunch)… JiWire Serves Up Location-based Ads Over Airport Wi-Fi (GigaOm)… Locu Brings Up-To-Date Menus to Restaurants on TripAdvisor and Citysearch (The Next Web)…

#SFSNYC: Solving the Local Data Problem

“The job of getting local data right, much less international data, is bigger than any one company,” said Tyler Bell, VP of product at Factual, during an afternoon panel discussion at the Street Fight Summit.

#SFSNYC: Making Hyperlocal Media Work

Amid a body-strewn battlefield on which even the smartest media companies have fallen, some founders of post-2009 start-ups, Leela de Kretser, publisher of DNAinfo (New York and Chicago); Zohar Yardeni, CEO of Daily Voice (suburban and rural New York state and Massachusetts); and Josh Fenton, cofounder of GoLocal24 (throughout New England); discussed ways to beat the curse during a panel discussion at the Street Fight Summit in New York City…

#SFSNYC: Local Commerce Shifts Toward Retention

As deals firms lick their wounds, leaders from the local commerce space agreed during a morning panel discussion at Street Fight Summit in New York, that the ecosystem has shifted focus from acquisition to retention…