Classified aggregator Oodle has partnered with increasingly popular social network Facebook. A post on the Oodle blog last night from CEO Craig Donato goes into detail. This distribution channel for Oodle makes sense, given the classified activity that happens in…
For subscribers of The Kelsey Group's Interactive Local Media Program, a new report is available that examines Citysearch's recent moves to redefine itself. This includes last week's redesign, new personalization features and the integration of small-business video ads. It also…
NBC-Universal has unveiled DigPhilly, a city site designed to complement WCAU 10, an owned- and-operated station (and the homebase for the president of NBC O&Os). The site is serving as a template for NBC-U's other O&Os, so the stakes are…
Most of us get a lot of e-newsletters every week. Most of them are powered by Constant Contact. But, given the alternative means that local businesses have to communicate (blogs, RSS, videos, podcasts, etc.), is the era of the e-newsletter…
This week saw a healthy dose of Web site redesigns and feature enhancements. After Citysearch's landmark relaunch on Wednesday, Superpages.com has redesigned its search page (via Greg Sterling). Yell.com also earlier in the week launched a new look and feel…
Cox’s Palm Beach Post.com, fighting to stave off Craigslist and slackening ad trends for newspapers in general, has focused on creating a super site for shopping. The site is replete with free ads, new features such as video, free direct-connect…
Building the perfect template for hyper-local media has been the endgame for a number of companies BackFence, American Town Networks, Pegasus News, and Citysquares, to name a few. HyperLocal Media has been working at it as well, focusing on the…
As my colleague Mike Boland noted this morning, the new version of Citysearch is finally out, and it's a good effort that is appropriately heavy on video and personalization. The change coincides with new leadership at the company. Jay Herratti,…
Tangentially related to local (as far as social networking has growing ties to local search) is the unprecedented power of social networking that was shown yesterday in the much hyped Digg HD-DVD debacle. The transparency and collective will that we’ve…
As was announced by IAC head of media and entertainment Peter Horan from the stage at Drilling Down on Local, Citysearch will integrate small-business video ads throughout its site. The partner of choice for the video production and creative is…
Last night at the YPA awards dinner, Neg Norton announced that Local Insight Media has acquired Hawaiian Telcom’s Yellow Pages unit for US$435 million. This is another significant transaction for Local Insight, backed by the private equity Welsh, Carson, Anderson…
New York Times Digital Chief Martin Niesenholtz, keynoting the Yellow Pages Association conference this morning in Las Vegas, called local "a huge untapped opportunity in the directories arena that no one including the portals has yet tapped." I'm not at…
Ten years ago, The Kelsey Group was asked to make a general session presentation at the Yellow Pages Publishers Association annual convention. Although titled "Six Trends That Will Shape the Industry in the Year 2010," we chose instead to make…
For a variety of reasons, I am unable to attend this year's YPA Annual Convention in Las Vegas. The Kelsey Group is very well represented at this conference, just as we were at the Association of Directory Publishers event a…
There is a lot happening in the local search and media worlds today. Here are some notables. Yahoo! has coughed up $680 million for the remaining stake in online media exchange Right Media. It previously owned 20 percent of the…
Check out this YouTube clip of Marge Simpson using Google Maps and a variety of other local online activities. It’s a good parody of online media for a Friday afternoon, which takes jabs at Google, online shopping and online gaming,…
The next wave of online mobile has taken a step forward with the introduction of voice recognition technology. In a recent Boston Globe article, several new voice applications for mobile Web search are discussed including Microsoft's recent acquisition of Tellme.…
I only have time for a quick post, but it strikes me how so many local search plays are launching SMS-based search services. As noted earlier, NearbyNow has this; vFlyer launched a mobile search product today; Vehix.com plans to do…
As we’ve expressed in past writing, the targeting abilities and architecture of IPTV could open up some interesting local advertising opportunities (also see TKG White Paper From Reach to Targeting: The Transformation of TV in the Internet Age). But it’s…
Coming off NearbyNow's $5 million B round, I had the chance to talk to CEO Scott Dunlap today. Part of this announcement is an expressed goal to be in 103 U.S. cities by November (Dunlap stated this goal to me…
