Snippets Present a New Threat to Traditional Media?

Jonathan Mendez's Blog post about snippets Provides an interesting take on a "new" threat to portals with undifferentiated content. In particular, he points to the "everyday" weather portal such as the Weather Channel, AccuWeather and maybe local media sites. He suggests they must offer something more that the table stakes to avoid further commoditization by the snippet. TWC has such a strong brand that maybe it transcends this issue at times. Do local media companies win or lose in this situation? I think that many stations and broadcast mets probably need to do more. There are probably too many mets just collecting a paycheck for delivering a 7-day forecast and some severe weather coverage. They need to provide new value to elevate above the wide array of sources for weather data including the snippet. That value could be superior forecasting, superior explanations of what is happening and what to do (decision support). It seems to me this is a critical issue for local media in general. What can I get at 6p that I can't get somewhere else? I think -- not much. What new value can local TV bring and weather is a critical place to start.

http://www.optimizeandprophesize.com/jonathan_mendezs_blog/2013/01/the-new-google-era.html

Roundup: Twitter Geo Live, FourSquare to Offer Biz Tools, Layar Relaunches, Hubbard Does DataSphere

Interest in Geo is accelerating. There was too much geo news to cover in individual posts, so here's a brief list:

• Technology Review covers challenges of determining physical location accurately and turning coordinates into meaningful information, and protecting users' privacy.
• ReadWriteWeb notes that Layar re-released its augmented reality iPhone app this time with Foursquare integration. 
• The NY Times reports Foursquare, plans to "distribute a free analytics tool and dashboard in the coming weeks that will give business owners access to a range of information and statistics about visitors to their establishments."
• Twitter just turned on its geolocation today, according to TechCrunch. TC notes, "While Twitter’s geolocation feature has been live through its API since last November, there was no sign of integration into the main twitter.com site until now."
• CNET reports Google Maps is "set to provide a new option for getting around town: biking directions" during the National Bike Summit in Washington, D.C.
• DataSphere is back in the news, this time launching hyper-local sites with Hubbard Broadcasting.
• Everyone is reporting that Facebook location sharing is coming soon.
  
  
   

Patent Links Location to Access Permissions

Google filed for and was awarded a patent for restricting access to documents based on -- in part -- the users location. The patent reads:

United States Patent: 7664751: "Users may be presented with different viewing interfaces for a document based on a combination of factors relating to display rights possessed for the document and user specific information. In one implementation, the user's location is used to determine portions of the document that can be displayed to the user. More particularly, access privileges to a document for a user are determined based on geographical location information of the user and based on access rights possessed for the document. Portions of the document may then be formatted for display to the user based on the determined access privileges."

I'm not sure what Google is thinking. Maybe they are anticipating that publishers will want to restrict access based on DMA, similar to broadcast companies and sports clubs. Or, maybe they want to restrict access to documents based on proximity to a building such as a library or the pentagon.

Google Reaches Out to Local Business

Google is reaching out to small businesses in San Francisco. While it is positioned as an opportunity to learn for businesses, it is more likely a chance for Google to learn -- basically, a focus group. It is hard to believe Google would conduct these sessions all across the country. Traditionally, they have monetized the long tail through better technology and automation.

The article in Local Search News states, "Google is providing a very valuable service here, but business owners need better communication and support from Google."

Google needs to understand local business better and understand where their are getting tripped up by Google services in order to drive adoption.

This is again a shot across the bow of local media.

Adsense on Maps Makes Sense

I've been meaning to post this for days. It should probably be filed under, "what took so long."

Google is finally giving geo map developers a new option to earn revenue by releasing Maps Ad Unit, which is AdSense for Maps.

Developers overlay AdSense on a Google Map which they have embedded on their sites. Developers and users should link their Maps API implementation to an AdSense account to earch from this new online ad revenue scheme.

The theory -- as with most geo-ads -- AdSense Publishers will generate revenue because users would find those ad units more relevant do their location.

Local Based Advertising

Check out this company. It is the first company I have seen that has really figured out how to deliver location-based advertising. They blow away companies like LAT49. The later focuses on delivering ads on maps. The implementation is simple and unsophisticated. Placecast processes multiple types of location, demographic and other information and then adjusts the ad delivery based on what is relevant in terms of location. They have a robust network of advertisers. They have sophisticated engines that drive the ad delivery and they can plug and play with major players such as DoubleClick/Google.