Street Fight Daily: 05.09.11
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal media, technology, advertising and startups.…
Groupon is preparing to launch Groupon Now, a mobile app that will connect customers with real-time coupons for retailers in their vicinity. Tap the app’s “I’m hungry” button, and you might be offered a discount on a slice at a pizza parlor a few blocks away. But you’ll have to move fast: The deals will be time-sensitive and good for just a few hours. (CNN/Money)…
Lauren Fisher writes that “2011 could be the year that the check-in arrives, albeit differently to how we thought it might look.” (The Next Web)…
Street Fight Daily: 05.05.11
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal media, technology, advertising and startups.…
Those who use social location-based apps such as Foursquare or Facebook Places represent just 17% of the mobile population, according to a new study. Of those opting out of participating in the checkin craze, or any other social location behavior for that matter, 48% cited privacy concerns as their primary reason for not doing so. (Mashable)…
During AOL’s earnings call, one of the top questions from analysts was what is AOL’s plan with Patch? The company dumped $40 million into the hyperlocal network for the second quarter in a row, and it didn’t generate much revenue. Here’s Tim Armstrong’s explanation. (Business Insider)…
IAC-owned local media and advertising property CityGrid Media is acquiring social media monitoring and sentiment analysis platform BuzzLabs. The company allows publishers to leverage social content, keeps consumers better informed, and helps local businesses monitor their presence across the web. (TechCrunch)…
Street Fight Daily: 05.02.11
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal media, technology, advertising and startups.…
Online local media and search company Local.com has acquired location-based shopping data aggregator Krillion for $3.5 million in cash. The company provides local shopping information on over 70,000 consumer products from over 50,000 retailers, including in-store availability, comparison pricing, current discounts and images. (TechCrunch)…
Startup thruSocial offers neighborhood pizza places and Pilates studios a one-stop platform to create their own promotions, which the company distributes to social-networking sites, as well as its own consumer-end deals site, thrupon.com. (GigaOm)…
AOL’s Patch network of hyperlocal blogs, which has suggested that a number of initiatives are coming to increase community engagement with its sites, has hired well-respected Brooklyn hyperlocal blogger Liena Zagare to lead the effort. (PaidContent)…
Street Fight Daily: 04.28.11
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal media, technology, advertising and startups.…
Guardian News & Media is ending Guardian Local, a project it launched in 2010 to try and figure out the future of local journalism. “Unfortunately, while the blogs have found engaged local readerships and had good editorial impact, the project is not sustainable in its present form,” writes the publisher’s digital engagement head Meg Pickard. (PaidContent)…
Though two years old, the Daily Deal market is now worth billions and specialty layers are forming to slice apart that value. Jim Moran offers “The Daily Deal Stack” a visual representation of the different segments forming within the market. (Yipit Blog)…
Sparkfly, a provider of promotion redemption and tracking technology has raised $2.5 million in funding for SparkQuest, its patented mobile engagement platform that connects consumers deal redemption with merchants at the point of sale. (Daily Deal Media)…
Street Fight Daily: 04.25.11
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal media, technology, advertising and startups.… Foursquare CEO Dennis Crowley is reportedly exploring a new funding round at a $500 million valuation. The company’s last round of funding, in the summer of 2010, valued it at $100 million. (WSJ)…
Both Foursquare and Gowalla are making inroads in marketing entertainment properties via mobile platforms to users who check in at various sites recommended by the broadcast television networks or their talent. (Variety)…
Michael Arrington thinks the massive valuations for Web services like Groupon signify that we’re in the middle of another tech bubble that is waiting to pop. (TechCrunch)…
Street Fight Daily: 04.21.11
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal media, technology, advertising and startups… EBay is buying location-based service and ad network WHERE in a deal that gives it added ability to drive more local and offline commerce. (GigaOm)… Foursquare has grown to almost 10 million users by connecting them to where they are now. But the company now will focus on the future movements of its users, said Dennis Crowley.(GigaOm)… Whatser, the location-based service that lets users share their favorite locations with friends, is launching a “marketing platform” in which local merchants and brands can “claim” a location that they operate and then communicate with users. (TechCrunch)…
Gowalla’s Josh Williams: Groupon Is One-Dimensional
Location-based check-in service Gowalla is kind of a virtual tour guide, to use the analogy of the day for such companies. Mobile users log in with their location and get information about the places around them, nearby businesses and places their friends recommend. Gowalla integrates both Facebook Places and Foursquare check-ins, and lets users share photographs tagged to places.
Street Fight spoke to the company’s CEO, Josh Williams, who called Groupon “one-dimensional” for now, and discussed the scramble for local ad dollars, the inseparability of mobile and location, and the persistent privacy problem around check-ins...
Street Fight Daily: 04.07.11
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal media, technology, advertising and startups.…
Examiner.com CEO Rick Blair doesn’t like the implication that his network of hyperlocal sites is effectively a “content mill.” He describes “examiners” as specialists in old-school and new media reporting with a local flair. (Mediabistro)…
Groupon is taking another move beyond its core deal-of-the-day business with the launch of home and garden deals. This, like its recent location-based changes, are part of a broader strategy to better match offers to specific interests of its subscribers. (Crain’s Chicago Business)…
“We are entering what might be called Hyperlocal 2.0, and the market is still up for grabs,” writes Tom Rosenstiel. “But how to produce local content remains a mystery.” (Washington Post)…
Street Fight Daily: 04.06.11
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal media, technology, advertising and startups.…
Hyperlocal network Examiner.com has often been frustrated by being lumped in with the so-called “content farms.” So, over the past year, it’s instituted a process to shore up the quality of its posts and contributors. (Paid Content)…
As developers build rich layers of information atop location data, our understanding of the world is changing. Foursquare is the tip of the iceberg. The new wave of hyperlocal data is surging, writes Shane Snow. (Mashable)…
The “Top 6″ local online companies in ad revenue have abundant local content — but none of it is news. Instead, the ads and associated shopping information are the content. (Poynter)…
Street Fight Daily: 04.05.11
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal media, technology, advertising and startups.…
Living Social says it expects $1 billion in revenue this year. The company has also quietly raised $400 million in funding to catch up with Groupon. (Business Insider)…
Back in June of 2009, then-new CEO Tim Armstrong made two acquisitions to move AOL into the local space: Patch and Going. While the verdict is still very much out on Patch, it’s clear that AOL is at least committed to it. Going? Not so much. (TechCrunch)…
Can the Groupon model save newspapers? Earl Wilkinson notes that the company is the number one search term on his newspaper association site, and gives a rundown of the stats. (INMA)…
#ivoted – Foursquare, Google, JESS3 Make Voting Social
Time’s running out to prepare for The Big Checkin. As you might be aware Foursquare has launched its “I Voted” campaign with a goal of illustrating in real time where you are voting and when (or at least checking in) – it all starts November 2. And of course there’s a badge (#ivoted). According to […]
Check-Check-Check-Check-Check-Check in Everywhere
That terrible choice you had to make every time you wanted to check in (which service do I use?? Brightkite? Foursquare?) has been tackled by a few different players of late, including Footfeed and Check.in. No longer do you have to pick your favorite child – a nanny-app will log you into all at once. But Footfeed will help you get proper credit for those checkins – hey, become mayor/king/sultan/boss of your fave coffee shop all at once…
Foursquare API Spawns Live Connections with ChatSq
We’ve been waiting for this one… and waiting. Looks like a small innovations lab called BubbleTree LLC decided to answer the call with ChatSq. The team there is taking a crack at auto-connecting people based on location. Smartly, they are building atop an established behavior (the check-in), specifically of foursquare. Their to-be-released app for iPhone […]
2011: The Year the Check-in Reached Puberty
In the location wars of the past two years, one of the battle cries has been the need to continually innovate “beyond the check-in” — building things on top of the core check-in function, driven by evolving device capability and user demand (or boredom).
Companies have taken this in various directions — “checking in” to TV shows, for example. Sector leader Foursquare has dabbled in things like Superbowl check-ins.
At least week’s Where 2.0 conference in Santa Clara, California, Foursquare co-founder Dennis Crowley talked about how the check-in grows up even as it stays focused on “the relationship between people and places.”..