Street Fight Daily: 09.29.11
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal media, technology, advertising and startups...
In an effort to diversify revenue and maintain its rapid growth, Groupon is fast evolving its business model. Recently Groupon deals have gone mobile, real-time, and location aware. Now the company has launched “Groupon Goods,” an ecommerce product that marks the company’s most aggressive departure away from its core daily deal offers. (CNET)…
Daily deals service Signpost is growing its sales force at a rapid pace that could surpass competitors like Groupon and LivingSocial by the end of the year, according to the company’s CEO, Stuart Wall. Signpost employs local contractors, called Deal Scouts, to sign up local businesses for the service. (SocialBeat)…
CEO Josh Williams Explains Gowalla’s Overhaul
Last Thursday, Gowalla released a much-anticipated revamp of its location-based application, capping off a blockbuster summer for the geo-social space. The company’s CEO Josh Williams announced the redesign in early September, citing a return to Gowalla’s fundamental mission of encouraging people “to go out and explore.” The driving force behind the Austin-based company’s renaissance appears to be elsewhere — less an ideological about-face and more, an extensive retrofitting aimed at making Gowalla a potentially profitable company….
Street Fight Daily: 09.22.11
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal media, technology, advertising and startups…
Ad sales chief Scott Colontonio is leaving AOL’s hyperlocal network Patch after little over a year to join Google. Meanwhile, AOL CEO Tim Armstrong reiterated his assertion that some Patch outposts would be profitable by the end of the year. (PaidContent)…
LivingSocial may raise more than $200 million in funding that would give it a valuation of as much as $6 billion, rather than proceeding toward an initial public offering. (Bloomberg)…
Street Fight Daily: 09.13.11
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal media, technology, advertising and startups...
With Foursquare having won the battle for the check in, Gowalla has undergone a serious transformation. Technically version 4.0, the new version bears little resemblance to the previous versions of the app. Gowalla is no longer predominantly a check-in service. That’s still one aspect of it, but the idea is now to focus on two key areas: travel and storytelling. (TechCrunch)…
The daily deals market is still a bit chaotic, but it’s opening up opportunities for companies that can make sense of it all. That’s true of CityPockets, which offers a digital wallet for storing past deal offers as well as a secondary market for buying and selling discounts. (GigaOm)…
Street Fight Daily: 08.26.11
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal media, technology, advertising and startups...
Local business reviews site Angie’s List filed for an IPO yesterday. The company will raises as much as $75 million. Angie’s List offers consumers a way to review and rate doctors, contractors and service companies on the Web. (TechCrunch)…
Yipit’s data report revealed substantial shifts in the daily deal space occurring over the past month: Daily Deal industry revenue declined 7% in July in North America’s largest markets. Groupon’s revenue declined 4% while LivingSocial’s revenue declined 18%. (Yipit Blog)…
Street Fight Daily: 07.01.11
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal media, technology, advertising and startups...
It is still not too late for Groupon to get back on track and succeed in China if they can implement the right strategies with focus and speed, writes Helen Wang. Someone has to change the game. (Forbes)…
Ever wonder what Groupon’s all-time, best-selling promotion was? Research conducted by data scientist Paul Butler reveals just that. (Huffington Post)…
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)…
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: 04.04.11
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal media, technology, advertising and startups.…
Craigslist, long blamed as the killer of newspaper classifieds (and, by extension, local news), may have jumped the shark. (Business Insider)…
Daily deal sites, most notably Groupon, are taking over the landscape that once belonged to the local newspapers. Whether those newspapers that survive can reinvent themselves is yet to be seen. (Daily Deal Media)…
Gowalla says it will double the size of its operations this year and reshaping itself as a “social Lonely Planet.” (Independent)…
#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 […]