Archive for February 7th, 2008
Yahoo has launched a new service, Live.Yahoo.com, which allows anyone with a webcam to stream themselves live. “We’re still testing it, but for now the service is very unstable and keeps going down,” writes TechCrunch. “It’s also clearly got a ways to go with features - videos are not archived for playback, for example, meaning once it’s broadcast live, that’s it.” One cool feature: You can track Yahoo Live’s Twitter account to see what’s streaming right now (similar to LiveNewsCameras.com).
February 7th, 2008
Following the lead of CNN.com, CBSNews.com has begun linking to affiliates for local news stories. CBS News announced the plans to their affiliates today, asking for the stations to send them links to a story that “deserves the national spotlight.” It’s great to see more national websites recognizing the quality of local journalism from their TV partners in these markets rather than relying on wire copy that’s available on many sites. It’s also appreciated by the stations who get the traffic spikes, I’m sure. (Disclosure: My employer owns two CBS-affiliated stations that could get linked to.)
In this photo you can see the link in the bottom right to WCAX.
February 7th, 2008
You knew this was coming. Google News now allows you to localize a section of the stories. Scroll down just beneath the fold for the box to type in your city or zip code. I typed in Seattle, and a local news aggregation section appeared:
And that’s just the first two stories in the list. “This is pretty huge, folks, and it spotlights the need for everybody in the local news business to adopt best practices when it comes to unbundled distribution,” writes Terry Heaton. True enough, as Google News ranked #9 in Nielsen-Netratings for December — higher than USAToday.com and WashingtonPost.com.
February 7th, 2008
Former Jobster CEO Jason Goldberg is working on a stealth startup called Social Median to “participate in the disruption” of traditional news. No details yet, other than the company will strive to deliver more relevant, personalized news to users. “I don’t think anyone has cracked the code on helping consumers get their news,” Goldberg says.
February 7th, 2008
CBS has teamed up with Loopt to serve mobile ads tailored to a specific user’s location and the time of day. So if you’re near a restaurant during happy hour, it could serve an ad to that effect. “Location-based advertising is the sweet spot in mobile marketing,” CBS Mobile executive vice president Cyriac Roeding said in a statement. “We are thrilled for CBS to be the first media company in the country to help our clients realize highly relevant yet nonintrusive mobile ads using location-based technology.” The technology will power ads across CBS’ news and sports WAP sites.
February 7th, 2008
The local search/directory reached a record 11.6 million unique visitors in January, reports the company. And Local.com also plans to expand its direct sales efforts by outsourcing call centers. Borrell reported last month that Local.com grew revenues 136 percent in 2007. Similar to Google but on a smaller, but significant scale, Local.com is making a concerted and successful push to reach small to mid-sized businesses. Yes, this is the business local media should be in, too.
The pitch on Local.com’s site for local business advertisers.
February 7th, 2008
