by Pat Kitano on January 16, 2012 in Breaking News, Hyperlocal, Social Media, Trends
Last week at Inman Connect, a real estate technology conference, Jeff Jarvis discusses two ideas we believe in: 1) Real estate professionals can leverage their networks to become hyperlocal media resources. And by doing so, they benefit from building the community networks they need to source referrals for their real estate business. 2) Real estate [...]
by Pat Kitano on December 24, 2011 in Hyperlocal, Local advertising, New business models, Social Media, Trends
Here are six trends in 2012 that will impact hyperlocal media and business models. This was originally published at Street Fight last week. 1. Cross platform conversations Livefyre and Disqus show glimpses of how conversations can move from Facebook and Twitter to online media and blog commentary. Local conversations happening on social media, especially Facebook, [...]
by Pat Kitano on September 12, 2011 in Advertising, Hyperlocal, Local advertising, Mass Media, New business models, Newspapers, Publishing, Social Media, Trends
Journalists continue to search for a viable business model that supports online hyperlocal publications, but they won’t ever reach the threshold of revenues to maintain operations if they rely solely on traditional advertising fees from local merchants. That doesn’t mean local advertising is also poised to fall off a cliff. On the contrary, BIA/Kelsey states [...]
by Pat Kitano on July 7, 2011 in Advertising, Breaking News, Hyperlocal, Local advertising, New business models, Newspapers, Publishing, Social Media, Trends
The classic, and perhaps only business model supporting hyperlocal journalistic efforts like Patch.com and other local media is local advertising. On StreetFightMag.com last week, Ted Mann, Digital Development Director for Gannett NJ, discusses why Gannett’s hyperlocal experiment InJersey.com failed. The main and obvious reason is simply local advertising cannot adequately cover expenses. So… What if [...]
by Pat Kitano on June 6, 2011 in Facebook, New business models, Real Estate, Social Commerce, Social Media, Social networking, Trends
Airbnb, according to Techcrunch and others, is planning a mega-round raise at a $1 billion+ valuation, and validated social travel in one swoop. It redefines what a “hotel room” is, even one year ago the only viable short term rental space for the masses. Airbnb allows anybody to rent out living space – a refurbished basement, [...]
by Pat Kitano on April 11, 2011 in New business models, Technology, Transparency, Trends
Through one of my new favorite “social discovery” services LetsLunch.com, I had the pleasure of lunch with Sarah Lacy. She brought me her latest book Brilliant Crazy Cocky, a tome to the universal entrepreneurial spirit in six countries she surveyed last year. I read most of it over the weekend (and recommend it highly). One [...]
by Pat Kitano on March 24, 2011 in Breaking News, Hyperlocal, Local advertising, Real Estate, Social Commerce, Trends
Groupon-like deals can work for real estate, but not as a typical $10 for $20 worth of product purchase. Real estate can’t be sold as a 30% off purchase price item (although they certainly tried variations of this at California real estate investment clubs in 2005). Real estate marketing has generally relied on variations of [...]
by Pat Kitano on March 19, 2011 in Hyperlocal, Local advertising, Social Commerce, Trends
On Media Transparent last October, I explored the idea of real time deals, which requires consumption of a daily deal within a limited time frame. Merchants with perishable products – seats at a restaurant, theaters, hotel rooms, airlines – want a deals system that quickly and efficiently fills excess inventory, especially at a moment’s notice. [...]