News and Analysis

Street Fight Daily: How Brands Leverage Snapchat Spectacles, Mobile App Installs Drop Sharply

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A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… How 5 Brands, Including GrubHub and Hyatt, Are Using Snapchat Spectacles… Mobile Boom Stalls, with Double-Digital Decline in App Installs… What Makes People Buy from a Brand They Follow on Social Media?…

Zuckerberg Raises the Right Questions – Local News Should Answer Them

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Mark Zuckerberg posted a remarkable manifesto on Feb. 16 about our fractured communities and how to heal them. But why was Facebook’s founder and CEO saying this first? Why aren’t America’s news publishers, especially local ones, defining the crisis and offering their blueprints for solving it? Zuckerberg’s manifesto was 5,735 words long, but its core was these 138 […]

Street Fight Daily: How Waze Will Scoop Up Driver Data, News Orgs Stick by Platforms

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A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Waze Digs into Your Car’s Dashboard… Report: Despite Monetization Concerns, News Orgs Are All In On Platforms… If Anyone’s Going to Buy Directly from a Chatbot, It’s Millenials…

Latest Posts

Placecast President: Increasing Relevance With Location-Aware Ads

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Placecast is a location-based mobile ad company that uses “geo-fencing” to help brands extend offers to consumers in the vicinity of their store. The company says it “has pioneered the first fully integrated platform solution for device manufacturers, local directory companies, and mobile operators to easily integrate and monetize location-based information from virtually any source.”

U-Deals Represent a ‘Profound’ Shift in Consumer Dynamic

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Loopt’s new u-Deals services has been widely dismissed it as not much more than a “reverse Groupon.” But there are a couple of reasons that such comparisons are a mistake — and that the u-Deals model may be more profound than it first appears.

Hyperlocal Ad Marketplace Local Yokel Media Launches

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Digital media vet Dick O’Hare has announced the launch of Local Yokel Media, an ad network that claims to be the “first hyperlocal online ad marketplace specializing in monetizing hyperlocal ad impressions.” The company’s technology allows local and national advertisers to target online audiences via aggregated inventory on hyperlocal news and information sites…

Street Fight Daily: 07.18.11

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

Yelp now has over 20 million reviews, up from 10 million in March, 2010 (and 17 million in April). The reviews bring in the visitors, and visitor growth tracks pretty closely with the growth in reviews. Yelp hit 53 million visitors in June, according to its own stats. (TechCrunch)…

Connecticut law-enforcement officials are looking into whether Groupon is breaking consumer-protection laws that prohibit gift cards from expiring. (Wall Street Journal)…

In Hyperlocal News, Mom-and-Pop Shops Will Win

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Economies of scale do not apply in hyperlocal news. Rather than going up with scale, CPMs not only go down—they disappear. If Gap buys an ad across a network of hyperlocal sites, the CPM will likely be lower than if a local store advertises, because the Gap can buy that region from any number of sources. Conversely, the corner grocer will pay a comparatively premium CPM when they know for sure their ads show up in the right place.

Street Fight Daily: 07.15.11

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

Over the past six months, daily deal sites such as Groupon, Living Social and Gilt Groupe have attracted more than $1.69 billion in venture capital and other investments. Globally, there are more than 3,000 total daily deal companies, including more than 1,000 in China, more than 900 in Europe, and more than 600 in South America. (Daily Deal Media)…

Groupon has filed new S-1 from for its IPO where it is looking to raise at least $750 million. The daily deals site has added new underwriters Williams, RBC, Loop, Citadel, JPMorgan, Allen & Co, BofA, Citi, Barclays and Deutsche in addition to previous underwriters Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and Credit Suisse. (TechCrunch)…

CheckIn+ Aggregates Check-Ins, Could Be Big

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Street Smart Moves: The best or biggest deal, assertion, investment or other strategy this week. Who: SHAPE Services What: Introduced CheckIn+, a location-based aggregator that includes augmented reality Last summer, Business Insider noted the start of a wave of check-in aggregators, following hot on the heels of the wave of location-based services–just like daily deal […]

The Alternative Press: A Successful Hyperlocal in the Garden State

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The story of why InJersey went out has been told in so many conflicting ways it could be called “Garden State Rashomon.” I’d like to tell the story of another New Jersey hyperlocal, The Alternative Press, that is less maddening, and more optimistic. Would-be hyperlocal publishers and editors, give TAP founder and CEO Mike Shapiro five minutes of your time.

Case Study: Online Marketing In a Small Town

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When Todd Kuhns opened Pickler’s Famous earlier this year, he hoped to save money on advertising by creating buzz online. Unfortunately, the Kirksville, Mo., ice cream parlor owner has found that many residents of his small town are reluctant to use tools like Foursquare and Twitter. So, he’s developed a blended approach to advertising that […]

Street Fight Daily: 07.14.11

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

When EveryBlock was launched in Chicago in 2007, the site’s mission was to fill people in on everything going on in their individual neighborhoods. Now, with new community features in place and a presence in 16 cities, the MSNBC-owned site is planning to expand out nationally. (American Journalism Review)…

Location-based Q&A platform Localmind has raised $600,000 in angel funding. The service differs slightly from fellow Q&A apps like Opinionaided or Locql, because Localmind’s real-time, location-based platform sits on top of existing check-in services like Foursquare and Gowalla. (TechCrunch)…