News and Analysis

Street Fight Daily: Walmart Still Hungry for Startups, Kohl’s Makes Deal With Devil

A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… To Keep Up with Tech Competitors, Walmart Says It Will Acquire More Startups… Amazon’s Invasion of Kohl’s Has Begun… Facebook Is Officially Rolling Out Explore, Its Alternative News Feed…

Street Fight Daily: The Importance of Attribution, Newspapers & Retailers Share Connected Fate

A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Investing in the Right Measurement Tools Makes a Big Business Impact… Retail Blues Worsen, Hitting Newspapers Hard… Snapchat Ramps Up Content Deals…

Yelp Analysis Finds Bright Spots for Business Growth

A new economic outlook report released by Yelp this morning finds ample opportunity for growth for small businesses throughout the country, and particularly those located in Southeastern states. “The markets we often think of as being on the forefront of trends in food, retail and other sectors can also be the toughest for small-business success,” explains data editor Carl Bialik.

Latest Posts

Street Fight Daily: Tribune Resumes Journatic, Facebook Talks SMBs

A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal content, commerce, and technology.Tribune Resumes Limited Usage of Journatic (Chicago Tribune)… Facebook’s Dan Levy Touts Small Business Growth: Advertisers Have Nearly Doubled Since January, Promoted 2.5M Posts (TechCrunch)… BIA/Kelsey: Deals Still Aim for $5.5B by 2016 (NetNewsCheck)…

Patch Adds COO as Leadership Change Continues

AOL’s Patch network of hyperlocal news sites has made yet another significant change at the top, naming former Westwood One operations head Steve Kalin to the newly created position of president and COO. Kalin will take responsibility for the company’s daily operations — with the advertising, finance, marketing and content functions all reporting to him…

How E-hail Apps Like Uber Could Impact the Hyperlocal Ecosystem

It’s entirely conceivable that fast-growing ranks of Uber users would not be averse to other commerce offerings that could be paid for through the phone app. In fact, these users are probably even more used to the idea of paying over the phone than people who use Google Wallet or Apple’s Passbook, neither of which has achieved wide adoption or even viral growth…

Case Study: Restaurant Focuses on Online Menus, Reservations

Jen Ziskin, co-owner of the restaurant La Morra, in Brookline, Mass., says she relies on a combination of email marketing, OpenTable, and menu management platform Locu to spur interest long before customers walk through her doors…

Street FIght Daily: AT&T Launches Alerts, Foursquare’s 10.4M Users

A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal content, commerce, and technology.AT&T Launches AT&T Alerts, A Location-Based Deal Alert Service, As The Field Grows More Crowded (TechCrunch)… Foursquare Has 10.4 Million Monthly Users (AdWeek)… Groupon’s Restaurant Tools Get A VP Of Sales (Fast Company)…

SMB Social Media Is All About Branding, Not Conversions

SMBs may become frustrated when they can’t see tangible results from social media, but they should realize that most of their potential customers are absorbing and reacting to social media conversations and understanding brands through these interactions. Brand marketing, not the 0% conversion rates, is social media’s key strength…

Conference Notebook: Commerce and Content Collide

Selling stuff makes most editorial folks uneasy. But as the price of online (not to mention mobile) advertising inventory drops, online shops, affiliate programs, and daily deals are becoming a key revenue strategy for local and national publishers…

Street Fight Daily: Cash Crunch at LivingSocial, Startups Tackle Local

A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal content, commerce, and technology.LivingSocial May Be Running Dangerously Low on Cash and Time. Will Amazon Come to the Rescue? (Pando Daily)… Startups Tackle the Local Neighborhood as the Next Frontier  (GigaOm)… Google Updates iPad App to Make Search More Local (Mashable)…

Using Contextual Awareness, Qualcomm Labs Targets Tokyo

Dentsu has teamed up with Recruit Co. and Qualcomm Labs to create a massive location-based marketing campaign in Tokyo. The campaign builds upon a technology provider’s newly released contextual-awareness software development kit, Gimbal, to dynamically distribute offers to consumers by synthesizing a user’s location and social graph without draining battery life…

WNYC’s Schachter: Many Hyperlocal Startups Don’t Focus on ‘Things That Matter’

“The amount of coverage of restaurant openings that you see in the hyperlocal space is disproportionate to the significance of restaurant openings to the world as a whole,” says the WNYC news VP. “That is probably a little uncharitable, but not too much.”