News and Analysis

Street Fight Daily: Instagram Growing Rapidly, Gannett Earnings Suggest Bleak Outlook for Newspapers

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A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Gannett Earnings Forecast a Bleak 2017 for Newspaper Companies… Instagram is Growing Faster Than Ever and Now Has 700 Million Users… Waymo Is Hitting Uber Where It Hurts…

Macaroni Kid Pushes Stroller Into Big and Site-Packed Local Parent Space

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One of the earliest hyperlocal networks for parents is Macaroni Kid, which was founded by “recovering lawyer” Joyce Shulman and her husband, marketing entrepreneur Eric Cohen, in their community on Long Island in 2009. In this Q&A, Cohen talks about the company’s recent acquisition of also-well-established Stroller Traffic.

Street Fight Daily: Amazon’s Shipping Ambitions, Search Engines Remain Crucial to Local Discovery

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A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Amazon’s Plan to Dominate the Shipping Industry Is Taking Shape… Most Internet Users Prefer Search Engines to Find Local Products… Publishers Say Facebook Can Save Instant Articles with Better Data, Subscription Tools…

Latest Posts

Local Quotables: Moyal, Mims, Tolles, Lessin and more…

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As the first week of 2012 commences, everyone is speculating about what will happen this year in the hyperlocal industry. Jonathan Moyal sees Lucky Ant helping communities play a bigger role in local business. Jeremy Mims predicts growth for Groupon and Michelle Jones hopes to create an alternative to Yelp. Also, Sam Lessin describes how Facebook’s check-in with timelines is an entirely new kind of LBS and more.

PODCAST: This Week in Location-Based Marketing — LBS in 2012

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In this episode of This Week in Location Based Marketing, a video podcast from the Location Based Marketing Association, hosts Rob Woodbridge and Asif Khan try to make sense of the rapid-paced location based world that was 2011 and cobble together a few thoughts on what 2012 will look like…

Street Fight Daily: 01.06.12

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A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal media, technology, advertising and startups...

Armstrong: ‘Really Large Amount’ of Patches to Be Profitable by End of 2013 (Dow Jones Newswires)…

GoLocal24 Expands Into Massachusetts, Hires Veteran Newscaster (Boston Globe)…

Groupon Still Chasing $25 Billion Mirage (Forbes)…

Case Study: Delaware Coffee Shop Sees 50% Return for Daily Deal Customers

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At The Java House Café in Middletown, Del., (pop. 18,871), Cleo Clarke has run promotions with a couple of daily deals sites. She’s managed to turn 50% of those group coupon buyers into repeat customers. Clarke is now exploring Foursquare as a way to tap into her tech-savvy customer base — 90% of whom currently use smartphones…

Local Spend on Social Media to Increase Seven-Fold by 2016

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A new report from Borrell Associates indicates that local merchant spending — not simply presence — on social media will explode over the next four years. Total local online social spend is estimated to grow from $1.1 billion in 2011 to $7.8 billion in 2016, with the local’s share of the total spend doubling from 12 percent to 24 percent over the same period…

Street Fight Daily: 01.05.12

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A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal media, technology, advertising and startups...

Groupon Merchant Center Now Shows If Customers Love or Hate Your Deals (TechCrunch)…

Groupon’s Drop Below IPO Price Reflects Daily-Deal Risks (Bloomberg BusinessWeek)…

PayPal: Mobile Payments and Location-based Offers Go Hand-in-Hand (GigaOm)…

The Problem With Local Online Advertising — It’s Ugly

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Advertising can really be an eyesore, and a lot of local online advertising elicits consumer aversion. It’s only a matter of time before it becomes obvious to local merchants that bombarding local residents with “visual pollution” in the form of banner ads on hyperlocal sites is on the way out…

Case Study: Southwest Airlines’ Time Limits on LBS

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Platforms like Foursquare and Facebook haven’t had any trouble attracting attention from national brands, but what’s the secret to attracting interest from these brands in lesser-known start-ups? According to Southwest Airlines emerging media specialist Christi McNeill, it all comes down to persistence, innovation, and a little bit of hand-holding…

Street Fight Daily: 01.04.12

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A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal media, technology, advertising and startups...

No Startup Is Better Than Foursquare With New Products (PaidContent)…

Groupon Grows 6% in November Despite Thanksgiving Dropoff (Yipit)…

Furious Merchant: ‘Groupon And Living Social Are Doomed’ (Business Insider)…

Potential Danger in Hyperlocal Social Ads

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Social promotions are becoming an important phenomenon in online advertising, but they could spell trouble for hyperlocal news publishers who run local ads suggesting that neighbors “like” a product without getting permission to use such endorsements…