TKG Data and Analysis: A Weekly Recap

Here is a roundup of posts from the last week in case you missed any. Click below to read each post in full.

Reality Check on Yellow Pages
The sell-off of directory stocks that reached a crescendo yesterday is continuing today, with Idearc, R.H. Donnelley and Yell being hit the hardest. Each of the three has been downgraded by leading banks and has lost a substantial amount of its value. As we noted in a post yesterday, given the sell-off, it’s critical to take a deep breath and understand the drivers of the directory business. The sell-off notwithstanding, the fundamentals of the directory business remain essentially unchanged. (read more…)

Bleak Day for Yellow Pages Stocks
Thursday was a very rough day for publicly traded directory companies. With Idearc and Yell announcing results that show more weakness in print directories, the two companies’ shares moved sharply downward. (read more…)

TurnHere Gets Funding
In what amounts to yet another vote of confidence for local merchant video producer TurnHere, the company has announced a $7.5 million cash infusion from Venrock and Hearst Interactive Media. It’s also a vote of confidence for the red hot local video advertising space, of which TurnHere has proved a leader in both the quality of its videos and the distribution deals it’s formed (Citysearch, Superpages, Yellowpages.com). (read more…)

ServiceMagic Sees 20% Boost in Customer Requests
As a leading player in home verticals, IAC’s ServiceMagic is a company we watch with interest — especially as IAC intends to split into five pieces. Arguably, it is the one company at IAC that really does straddle its home mortgage and real estate businesses (i.e., RealEstate.com, LendingTree) and entertainment businesses (i.e., Ask and Citysearch). (read more…)

More Cool Google Maps Mashups
Following up on yesterday’s post about the Google Maps/Twitter mashup, the Lost Remote blog points to an interesting mashup created by Spokane, Washington’s Spokesman Review. In all the snow the area has received, it basically creates a micro-marketplace between snow plows and those in need of their services. (read more…)

Competing for Attention in the Social Networking World: Part II
MySpace has taken yet another step to follow some of the strategies proved successful by its newly legitimized (and recognized) source of competition, Facebook. The company has announced it will open up its network to outside developers to build a more robust set of applications. (read more…)

U.K.’s Brownbook a Good Web 2.0 Example for IYPs
After writing about the cautious progress of publishers adopting Web 2.0 tools and approaches, I came across the introduction of a “wiki” approach to directories recently launched in the U.K. called Brownbook. Officially launched this week, Brownbook describes itself as “a free and open wiki-type ‘local business directory’ Web site that lets consumers add and find local businesses, rate them and add reviews.” (read more…)

Google + Twitter = Super Tuesday Mashup
There are lots of places to get your Super Tuesday coverage today. Some interesting online mashups I’ve found include The Washington Post’s and Newsweek’s streaming live coverage and MTV’s network of “Choose or Lose” reporters who are live blogging and vlogging from the states where primaries are taking place. But my favorite so far is the Google Maps mashup that has emerged. (read more…)

Yellow Book Rolls Out Redesign
Yellow Book USA announced a redesigned Yellowbook.com today that features a new clean and simple user interface and a map-based search featuring Microsoft’s Virtual Earth. In addition to the enhanced mapping feature, the new site also includes some new navigation tools, such as “predictive” drop-down menus to help consumers refine their search more seamlessly. For example, when I searched for Pizza in Libertyville, Illinois (my hometown here in Flyover Country, USA), the “expand location” drop-down menu suggests “Lake County” as a logic expansion area. (read more…)

How About Microsoft’s 4% Share of CareerBuilder?
Amid all the noise about Microsoft and Yahoo!, one of the unanswered questions has to do with MS’ intent toward the recruitment business — a business that actually has some relationship with Microsoft’s core enterprise solutions (as opposed to its less established interests in social networking and arguably, search). (read more…)