A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology…
Facebook Is Testing a New Feature That Makes It More Like Craigslist (Business Insider)
Facebook is testing a feature called “Local Market,” a new way for people to buy and sell things on the site. Earlier this year, Facebook launched For Sale Groups that let users list prices and pick-up locations for products they wanted to sell. Local Market looks like a new way to search for different categories of goods nearby.
Google Is Testing Foursquare Tips in Google Now, Even When the App Isn’t Installed (VentureBeat)
Google is showing some Android users place recommendations courtesy of Foursquare. The integration is interesting because Google already has plenty of this kind of data. This could amount to a major deal for Foursquare, as it brings in revenue by licensing its location data.
#SFSNYC VIDEO: Where Are Today’s Billion-Dollar Local Opportunities? (Street Fight)
In a panel at the annual Street Fight Summit, two experienced venture capitalists active in the local space shared their outlook on funding trends, pitches they frequently hear, and the growing internationalization of startup culture.
Amazon Launches ‘Pay with Amazon’ Buttons for Mobile Apps (Recode)
Amazon says it’s finally ready to turn its huge customer base into a big payments business outside of Amazon. The company is bringing “Pay with Amazon” buttons to mobile apps, while “tripling down” on placing its Pay buttons on websites in overseas markets.
Raise Report: Gobble, Bownty, and Clutter Post Strong Series A Rounds (Street Fight)
Every two weeks we round up some of the biggest fundraises taking place in hyperlocal marketing, commerce, and tech. In this edition, new investments include rounds for Gobble, Bownty, Clutter, Karhoo, Convoy, ArtLifting, and Filld.
Porch Acquires Mobile Advice Marketplace Fountain (TechCrunch)
The Seattle-based online home services platform Porch announced that it has acquired Fountain, a service that connects internet users with doctors, lawyers, mechanics, tech support, and other experts through video chats, texts, and annotated photos.
Despite New Mobile Tech, Marketers Still Favor Coupons for Offline Attribution (Marketing Land)
A new survey reveals that among the roughly 48 percent of respondents seeking to motivate store visits and purchases, mobile coupons were the most common way to measure the impact of campaigns. Coupons were also regarded as the most effective attribution method.
Newsonomics: Here Are 10 Questions We’ll Be Talking About into 2016 (Nieman Lab)
Ken Doctor: Will we still be talking ad blockers? Can local papers find a way to get digital reader revenue unstuck? As we head deeper into the annual bloodletting that is news media budgeting for the new year, here are the top questions I think we’ll be talking about.
Sochat Lets You Text Anyone Nearby Via Bluetooth, and It Just Raised $2 Million (Business Insider)
What if there were a way to text anyone around you without needing a person’s phone number — or even without Wi-Fi or cellphone service? That’s the goal of a new messaging app called Sochat, which relies on Bluetooth technology to connect you with other people nearby.
Digital Business Q&A with Liza Landsman, Jet.com (Forrester)
Martin Gill: At Jet.com, Liza Landsman is responsible for producing a compelling end-to-end customer experience with the tools and technologies that drive growth. I caught up with her to chat about digital strategy, customer behaviors, and the ways that Jet.com handles its competition.
Visiting Etsy, Amazon’s Next Prey (New Yorker)
Handmade at Amazon, which launched earlier this month with just a few thousand artisan sellers, is hoping to encroach on Etsy’s stable of more than one million. “The bottom line, for me, is: Does business have to be this zero-sum, gladiatorial thing?” said Etsy CEO Chad Dickerson. “We’re explicitly not competing on price and convenience alone…we’re betting on humanity.”
LBMA Podcast: Google Unveils Shopping Insights, Uniqlo Monitors Shoppers’ Brainwaves with UMood (Street Fight)
On the show: Google unveils Shopping Insights tool; Uniqlo’s UMood monitors shoppers’ brainwaves to help them pick the perfect t-shirt; Zikit’s “Now or Never” coupons; paying with sounds; Short Edition short story vending machine; GPS-based metering in New York City. Plus, news from Target and MapQuest.
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