It's hard work distilling 20,000 people, hundreds of sessions, droves of start-ups, seemingly endless parties and even a Mike Tyson cameo into a cliffs notes recap of SxSW Interactive. Not that anyone is shedding any tears for me. America loves lists…
SCVNGR “chief ninja” Seth Priebatsch and Gowalla CEO Josh Williams both employ game mechanics to elevate their location-based services, and both believe that gaming’s inherent fun factor can motivate more important behaviors, including social good. But that’s where the similarities…
Yesterday I had the chance to talk to Foursquare GM Evan Cohen. A former Jupiter analyst and Bebo exec, Cohen was brought aboard last year to help steer the ship amid rapid growth. The wide reaching discussion hit upon the…
To date, most location-specific advertising requires in-store check-ins to unlock discounts and special offers. Naturally, that necessitates having a storefront that lends itself to walk-in -- and check-in -- traffic. Foursquare, Gowalla, Loopt and others have garnered first-mover hype with these…
During the 72-hour whirlwind that was ILM:10, several other announcements also came down the pike. Among them: - Group buying giant Groupon continues its flurry of partnerships. The Chicago-based deal a day inked separate deals with the Chicago Tribune Media Group and…
While 2010 has been lauded as "the year of local," it has also seen an influx of interest and spending by national brands to drive neighborhood-level store traffic. These initiatives have taken diverse (and sometimes highly publicized) forms: Gap's deal-a-day offer…
At ILM:10, Pandora's Cheryl Lucanegro (senior VP of ad sales) and Brian Mikalis (VP of performance sales) made it very clear where the popular Internet radio service is headed next -- to your car dashboard. The company is leveraging two…
There is a lot going on in online media on the East Coast evidenced by the panel on geolocation here at the Internet Summit in Raleigh, North Carolina, sponsored by TechMedia and Southern Capital Ventures. Geolocation continues to be major…
Google has been telling anyone that will listen just how bullish it is on local/mobile commerce, and it has backed the bombast with a series of initiatives (Places, Place Search and Tags just to name three recent, relevant examples) to aggressively court…
With more than 150 brands offering daily deals, and traditional media companies now building out their own deals platforms, the need for differentiation is apparent. LivingSocial, which according to compete.com boasts as many monthly unique visitors as Groupon, has acquired social adventure company…
Online "ad versioning" has taken on heightened significance as national and regional brands vie for their own piece of the sizable local advertising pie. However, as SEM becomes more sophisticated and consumers expect smart targeting from commercial messages, basic…
For iPromote CEO Michael Barr, "a picture is worth a thousand words." Now he's trying to convince third-party publishers, and the local clients they represent, that it's a no-brainer to serve keyword and location-based display ads alongside the text-based search ads…
BIA/Kelsey has asserted that a logical next step for deal-a-day providers is to target smaller geographical radii and specific consumer preferences to bolster their value proposition. LivingSocial has made a move in that direction by serving deals at the neighborhood…
The location-based, check-in phenomenon that Foursquare, Gowalla, Loopt and now Facebook Places have popularized domestically is going global, and the Austrian social Yellow Pages community Tupalo wants to be the first mover as the virtual check-in line crosses the pond. The Vienna-based…
As the demand for dependable call-tracking tools intensifies in the SMB marketplace, WebVisible -- the Irvine, California-based local online marketing provider -- has unveiled upgrades to its portfolio of services to enable more focused ad geotargeting and greater call-tracking capabilities for businesses.…
We note with interest the new partnership between New York Magazine and Foursquare, the location-based service now in 21 cities that lets friends see where you have “checked in” and lets you vie to be mayor (hail Outside.in’s Camilla Cho,…
Blog king Robert Scoble, during a presentation at Inman Real Estate Connect today in San Francisco, said we've entered "the third movement of information" during the Internet era. All are necessary to boost appearances on Google, he told the real…
Blog king Robert Scoble, during a presentation at Inman Real Estate Connect today in San Francisco, said we've entered "the third movement of information" during the Internet era. All are necessary to boost appearances on Google, he told the real…
Local consumers are presumably in buying mode when they are researching where to have dinner, attend an event or go to the movies. How about when they are researching directions to get there? In fact, mass transit directions in themselves…
Where (formerly uLocate) continues to redefine itself as a mobile local content and ad targeting play. Its latest move offers coupons and nearby specials to users who check in to places through its mobile app. According to today's release: When…
