News and Analysis

Local News Is Struggling — But Handouts From Digital Giants Aren’t the Answer

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Two very smart thinkers about the future of American journalism have called for Facebook and other hugely prosperous digital enterprises to pay reparations for what their success is allegedly costing journalism and democracy. I’ve worked in journalism all my life, but I don’t buy these arguments.

Street Fight Daily: Lyft Seeks $500 Million in New Funding, Snap Values Itself at $24B on Eve of IPO

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A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Lyft Seeking At Least $500 Million in New Funding… Snap Officially Sets Stock Price at $17, Raising $3.4 Billion in IPO… Instacart to Raise $400 Million as Other On-Demand Startups Die Around It…

Foursquare Releases Pilgrim SDK, Allowing Third Parties to Access Its Location Intel

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Apps and brands can now get their hands on some of the technology Foursquare uses to pinpoint where smartphones are in real-time — and get a clearer picture of when people move from location to location.

Latest Posts

LocalUp: Building Online Ordering Hubs for Restaurateurs

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LocalUp Solutions, a platform provider for online restaurant advertising and food ordering, has licensees and company-supported account managers in 30 markets around the country. The company provides groups of restaurants in small cities with an aggregated online presence and ordering capability that expands their marketing footprint.. .

Case Study: Dentist Finds the Key to Daily Deal Success

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Houston dentist Dr. Heather Wilmore has plenty of experience with daily deal companies, having run offers with a handful in just the past year. She’s learned to structure her deals in a way that increases the chances that new patients will continue returning for follow up appointments long after their coupons have been redeemed…

Street Fight Daily: 08.02.11

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

Google has snapped up The Dealmap, an aggregator of nearby shopping deals, in an acquisition that furthers its Google Offers ambitions. The purchase, whose price was not disclosed, shows that Google is proceeding even without its unsuccessful $6 billion bid for Groupon last year. (GigaOm)…

The original Yankee Stadium was demolished in 2010, but some of the seats have survived and are now being used in a novel Facebook Places campaign for MasterCard that uses QR codes to establish location. (Mashable)…

Delivering Local Deals: It’s All About the Data

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It’s become clear that the two hottest areas of digital media — deals and mobile — are colliding. Mobile payments (i.e. Google Wallet) are meanwhile closing the loop on decades-old deal redemption and tracking challenges. This has led to another important variable: Data. More specifically, mobile payment technologies open the door for more comprehensive consumer purchase data, which can fold back into the equation for more targeted deal delivery…

Using LBS to Help Merchants Manage Inventory

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As mobile becomes a more and more important element in the daily deals equation, it’s becoming clear that there are more potential elements to a location-based deal than your classic Groupon — and more ways for merchants to optimize those deals. Location-based deals platform ThinkNear is one such response to the challenge and opportunity presented by mobile…

Street Fight Daily: 08.01.11

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

Foursquare is looking to cash in on all those check-ins. The company is nearing a decision to start charging the 500,000 registered merchants which access a suite of Foursquare services that are now free, but won’t be forever, the company said. (New York Post)…

More than 91 million US consumers will use the internet through a mobile device at least monthly by the end of this year, and research shows that the increase in on-the-go web usage goes hand in hand with more search activity for local content. (eMarketer)…

Goshi Goes Live

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This week saw the debut of Goshi (formerly MapDing), a hyperlocal mobile marketplace incubated by the Chicago-based Exelerate. What’s interesting is that startups are gunning hard for Craigslist turf.

Street Fight Daily: 07.29.11

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

Foursquare users in the U.S. and Canada will start to see Groupon’s daily deals in the Explore tab of the application and on Foursquare.com beginning today. Groupon has become Foursquare’s sixth and latest daily deals partner. (Mashable)…

Are targeted local deals services cutting news organizations out of the market that used to keep them afloat, just like Craigslist did to their classifieds? (ReadWriteWeb)…

Why Hyperlocals Are Making Anonymity Obsolete

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I don’t ordinarily read anonymous comments, but “patriotmommy” stopped my browsing eyes recently on Patch’s Reston, Va., site. I was reading an upbeat story about graduation at the high school where my two daughters were educated. The article noted that South Lakes High produced a “record number” of International Baccalaureate candidates this year. At the […]

Case Study: Sandwich Shop Uses Location-Based Tools to Advertise Lunch Specials

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Lad Dilgard is always looking for new ways to promote his company, The Columbus Sandwich Company in Pickerington, Ohio. One of his favorite new tools for building brand awareness, increasing name recognition and bringing in new customers is SevenLunches, a location-based application that shows users lunch specials that are available nearby. Location-based advertising is still […]