TKG Data and Analysis: A Weekly Recap

Here is the week-in-blogging from TKG, in case you missed anything. Click below to read each post in full.

Google’s Street View Cameras Go Offroading
Google announced today that it has expanded its coverage of six cities in Street View, and has added 13 more. These cities map well (no pun) to Forbes’ recently released list of top U.S. cities for businesses and careers. Along with this launch, Google has also freed the Street View API for publishers to embed street views directly into their sites or applications. (read more…)

PagesJaunes se Porte Très Bien, Merci
One of the most significant announcements in the past year about the Yellow Pages business was made by PagesJaunes. In order to get in front of the faster migration from print to online that is occurring in France’s major cities, the publisher reduced print advertising rates in Paris by 20 percent in 2008. (read more…)

YouTube Offers Insight to Video Producers
YouTube launched a series of new analytics features today, known as Insight. The product gives video producers more detailed information about where and when their videos were viewed. For now this drills down as far as state and country (using IP address) and day of the week. Future versions could get more granular with ZIP code level reporting and day parting. (read more…)

More on Loladex: A Conversation With CEO Laurence Hooper
If Facebook is really the next marketing platform, the guys at Loladex will have guessed right. The new rating and review company, formed by two alumni of AOL Search and Yellow Pages, had initially been incubated as a destination site that enables user reviews, business listings and third-party content from sites such as OpenTable.com and ServiceMagic.com. Sometime last year, the decision was made to build specifically for Facebook. (read more…)

Loladex Launches Today
Local/social search product Loladex launched this morning, currently built exclusively around a Facebook application. The application will specifically seek to tap into the trust inherent in a group of Facebook contacts, as a source of information on, and interaction around, local business information. (read more…)

Google Adds LocalTel to AdWords Network of Resellers
Lawrence, Massachusetts-based Yellow Pages publisher LocalTel has partnered with Google’s AdWords program to sell keywords on Google and Google Maps, and for ads to appear on partner sites within Google’s AdSense network. (read more…)

Krillion Research: Users Look for Products, Then Stores
The balance between merchants and brands is being shifted by the increasingly common use of enhanced “product locators,” which adds store locations, maps — and frequently promotions such as coupons — to the mix, says Lauren Freedman, president of The E-Tailing Group in Chicago. Freedman has just completed a round of shopper behavior research for Krillion. The results, not surprisingly, reinforce Krillion’s mission of providing brand information, and now actual store inventory, to local shoppers. (read more…)

Slifter Brings Local Shopping Search to Mobile
Last week at SES New York, I had the chance to catch up with Alex Muller, CEO of new mobile shopping search product Slifter. The mobile application allows users to search for products that can be found in local stores, including how many are on the shelf. To do this, it works with big-box retailers such as Best Buy to pull in their retail feeds and make them searchable in a mobile application interface. (read more…)

Does the Economy Hold a Silver Lining for Yellow Pages?
I’ve spent quite a bit of time over the Easter holiday talking with friends and family about the economy and how they are dealing with the budget crunch we are all experiencing. One of the common threads of all these conversations has been the need to stay close to home, combine shopping trips and call ahead so you don’t waste time and fuel going to multiple stores. (read more…)