News and Analysis

‘Media-Nxt’: How Local News Can Finally Enter Its Digital 21st Century

The newly published report “Media-Nxt” wants to help the local news industry not only to know what it should do, but also actually start doing it. Its main authors are the students of Sean Branagan. In this Q & A, he explains why new technology is so hard for the local news industry to adopt – but why it should and must take the leap.

Attribution and Measurement are Creating a Data Management Arms Race

“When you look at the shifts taking place in the ecosystem, there’s such a focus on data for so many smart reasons from a marketer’s perspective,” says NinthDecimal CEO David Staas. “They really want to be able to better understand their customers, and one of the biggest problems is filling in that blind spot in customer intelligence.”

Street Fight Daily: Facebook in Another Metrics Scandal, Big-Boxes Partner with Amazon/Google

A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… A New Phase for Street Fight… Facebook Tells Advertisers It Can Reach More Young People Than Exist… Kohl’s and Home Depot Sign On to Sell Voice Assistants In-House…

Latest Posts

How Real Estate Agents Are Using LBS to Connect Buyers and Sellers

Real estate has always been about “location, location, location,” but that maxim is truer now than ever. Mobile apps and location-based services are increasingly becoming an important part of a real estate agent’s marketing arsenal, and an important part of the way prospective buyers find places to live…

Street Fight Daily: Yelp Surges, Google Monetizes Third-party Maps

A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal content, commerce, and technology.Yelp Surges as Growth Potential Counters Lockup Expiry (Businessweek)… Google Launches New Ad Formats To Help Developers Monetize Google Maps (TechCrunch)… Square Extends Its Retail Reach, Now Sells Its Card Reader at 1k AT&T Stores, 20k total (The Next Web)…

Why Are Local Search Results Polluted With Bad Content?

Really good local is half Q&A, half search and includes enough activity and ratings and comments to provide more than temporal relevance. But many sites that come up high in searches have few ratings, and don’t provide me with particularly useful or relevant information. And there is rarely a social graph overlay…

6 Ways to Encourage User Contributions on Hyperlocal Sites

Encouraging readers to comment on stories, share news tips, and contribute content involves more than adding a commenting widget or slapping a “Tips” button on the header of a site. Here are six tips from successful publishers and editors about how independent publications can solicit feedback from their readers online…

Street Fight Daily: Yelp Bulls Get Bearish, Google Wants More Wallet

A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal content, commerce, and technology.Yelp Traders Brace for Lockup Expiration; ‘Better to Be Safe Than Sorry’ (Wall Street Journal)… Google Wallet Aspires To Hold All Your Cards and Tickets (GigaOm)… How The Web ‘Check In’ Is Growing Up (Forbes)…

Where Do Business Listings Come From?

At some point in the future, local data must become purely digital, because the phone book will not be around forever. But until a critical mass of U.S. businesses understands the rationale for managing online data, this fundamental problem will continue. We need the concerted effort of all local search players to educate the local business community and advocate for the transition to digital data…

Clif Bar Uses Foursquare’s API for Geo-Targeted Twitter Campaign

By restricting advertisers from targeting users at specific locations, Twitter has made it difficult for big brands to use its platform when running geo-targeted campaigns in the past. Clif Bar found a way around this challenge earlier this summer, when the company began asking customers with GPS-enabled devices to voluntarily tweet their locations for the chance to win coupons and prizes…

Street Fight Daily: iPhone Leaks Show NFC, LivingSocial Sued

A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal content, commerce, and technology.Here Comes Passbook: Latest Leak Points To NFC-Equipped Next-Gen iPhone (TechCrunch)… Marketer That Sued Groupon Now Targeting LivingSocial (CNet)… Marketer That Sued Groupon Now Targeting LivingSocial (CNet)…

Data That Thinks ‘Big,’ But Acts Local

Local media is increasingly colliding with the emerging super-sector known as “Big Data.” This will define the “mobile+local” promise we keep hearing about — that location targeted ads will boost relevance, performance and thus monetiztion. But one thing often missing from the discussion is what the heck we mean by “location targeted?”

Can Mobile Technology Fix What’s Broken in Loyalty Programs?

New mobile and in-store technology allows merchants to utilize relatively low-cost devices, such as an iPhone or an iPad, to take advantage of data-driven programs that do more than simply count down the punches until a customer’s next free sandwich. Here are two ways in which mobile tech has improved loyalty programs for small merchants…