BackFence CEO and cofounder Susan DeFife has resigned from the company, amid a major downsizing. Co-founder Mark Potts will serve as the company's interim leader as the company looks to solve what he calls "BackFence 2.0." Potts initially said that…
Sebastien Provencher reproduced a MarketWatch article on his Praized Blog that goes into great detail about most of the major trends in online social media and user-generated content. It's a nice state of the union on where these technologies are…
Following up on last week's post, here is an in-depth Search Engine Watch article that echoes some of the benefits of vertical search. Search Engine Land meanwhile profiles online travel site SideStep, which puts some of these benefits into action.…
Just in time for the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas next week, Dash Navigation said it will integrate Yahoo! Local features into its dedicated in-car GPS system. The announcement basically recycles statements made by Dash execs at DEMOfall in…
ShopLocal, the sales aggregator from Tribune, Gannett and McClatchy, is normally aimed at middle-aged women coupon-cutters. But in a bid to extend its audience, and get a little buzz, a couple of young Turks at the company have created a…
I'm a bit late on this but LostRemote and Search Engine Watch report on the launch of blog directory Placeblogger. The site is backed by the Center for Citizen Media, whose executive director is prolific blogger and Drilling Down on…
MapQuest announced today that it will enhance its MapQuest Mobile product and make MapQuest Navigator available on BlackBerries from Sprint and Nextel. MapQuest Mobile is a mobile local search platform available on any cellphone, which requires only a free download.…
Following up on yesterday's post about merging online and print newsrooms, here is an interesting piece from newspaper industry expert and Editor and Publisher columnist Steve Outing. He warns that strategies in integrating online and print news operations should even…
The Kelsey Group's basic business has always been about the impact of new technologies on local media companies and small businesses. It is one thing to discuss this in the abstract and something else to read in The New York…
Search Engine Guide editor Jennifer Laycock writes about how small businesses fit into the online advertising ecosystem. A prescriptive look at online ad buying strategies for SMEs (in going up against the big guys), it dives into lots of the…
The always influential Michael Arrington at TechCrunch lists the top online products (I hesitate to use the term "Web 2.0") that he can't live without. It's interesting to skim the list and see his reasons for these picks. Though I'm…
MarketingSherpa has a case study of Jenny Craig's integration of click-to-call. Like many local service oriented businesses, the nationally oriented diet product powerhouse relies on phone calls to drive sales. This need applies differently in different categories, but many local…
A few interesting developments have come out of the newspaper world over the past few weeks. As we reported last week, The Wall Street Journal offered the print paper and online access for free all day yesterday. The paper has…
ClickZ has an interesting article on the practice of advertising on Craigslist. Essentially this entails small businesses advertising products or services in the form of a Craigslist posting. I wrote about this for Search Engine Watch a few weeks ago.…
Year-end reviews are always kind of arbitrary. For sure, a lot of overlap occurs from year to year. So much of what we consider "the '60s," for instance, really happened in the early '70s. But clearly, r/evolution is happening in…
Just saw this Associated Press article that indicates a compromise may be in the offing to get the AT&T-BellSouth merger approved. The deal had been held up by the objections of Democrats on the Federal Communications Commission. The agreement may…
With little time to spare in the current year, the U.S. Federal Communications Commission has approved the merger of AT&T and BellSouth. This clears the way for the creation of a US$5.8 billion directory publishing entity, which will cover much…
Barry Schwartz over at Search Engine Land points to an interesting St. Louis Post Dispatch article about the software and development processes from the likes of Navteq that sit underneath Google Maps, Yahoo! Maps, MapQuest and others. It's an interesting…
PaidContent reports that Jupitermedia has acquired online tech job Web site JustTechJobs.com, signifying a possible move into online classified verticals. It's not completely clear whether this is a strategic acquisition or a financially driven one (paidContent suggests the latter), although…
Gary Price reports (via Search Engine Land) that "Google" has ranked second in Merriam-Webster's Word of the Year survey. The ranking pertains to the use of Google as a verb (i.e., to "Google" someone or something). Stephen Colbert's "truthiness" took…
