Hyperlocal Media as a Community Service

My article “Hyperlocal as Community Service Media” on Streetfight discusses why building local media resources to serve the community makes sense. Creating local media is no longer the province of media companies, curation and aggregation tools make it easy for anybody to develop a simple local media resource that maintains itself 24×7. The disruptive concept [...]

Read full story Comments { 0 }
Google + Widget

Google + Widget

Now that Google+ is bonafide, get the widget at widgetsplus.com

Read full story Comments { 0 }
Hyperlocal media as a free community service could disrupt advertising models

Hyperlocal media as a free community service could disrupt advertising models

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 [...]

Read full story Comments { 0 }
Airbnb creates real estate liquidity

Airbnb creates real estate liquidity

Airbnb (see my previous article on Airbnb for a description of the business) creates a new revenue layer in real estate that supplements cash flow for property owners (and even renters).  Yes, vacation rental sites like HomeAway and VRBO have established rental classifieds system but they operate as advertising media and require upfront annual subscription [...]

Read full story Comments { 0 }
Social travel – how Airbnb changes hospitality, even real estate

Social travel – how Airbnb changes hospitality, even real estate

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, [...]

Read full story Comments { 0 }
Why Groupon has Legs

Why Groupon has Legs

With Facebook Deals and Google Offers launching the exact same service as Groupon (and have been tagged “Groupon Killers“), pundits are questioning Groupon’s sustainability and market share. Deals have become commodities, and Groupon will certainly lose market share simply due to the growing volume of deals being distributed by a wider array of publishers. So [...]

Read full story Comments { 0 }
Analysis: Groupon offers a real estate deal

Analysis: Groupon offers a real estate deal

Groupon is now offering topic specific deals, and unveiled its first real estate deal last Friday with a $25 coupon redeemable for $1,000 cash at transaction closing. With over 163 sold over four days of a one week deal, Groupon validated the concept that home buyers and sellers will pay a nominal fee of $25 [...]

Read full story Comments { 0 }
Institutionalizing Entrepreneurship and the Education Tradeoff

Institutionalizing Entrepreneurship and the Education Tradeoff

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 [...]

Read full story Comments { 0 }
Groupon for Real Estate

Groupon for Real Estate

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 [...]

Read full story Comments { 0 }
Groupon for Real Estate

Groupon for Real Estate

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 [...]

Read full story Comments { 1 }