Monster.com socializes job search at last
By Sharon Hill
Monster Worldwide, one of the last major job sites to come to the social recruitment table, has finally announced the ability for job candidates to see which of their socially-networked friends have connections to the hiring firm, right from the Monster.com site. Candidates won’t be searching Facebook or LinkedIn - they’ll be searching BeKnown, the Monster-Worldwide-owned Facebook app. If a candidate tries the search and is not set up on BeKnown, she or he will be prompted to create that free BeKnown profile and account.
There’s nothing really innovative here. However, the fact that it’s Monster means that 100 million monthly visitors – most of whom have not set up a BeKnown profile – will be encouraged to do so. That’s good for BeKnown, which in the social recruitment battle is way behind both fellow-Facebook-app BranchOut, and LinkedIn. For more on what each of these big three social recruitment sites offer, what Monster told us about the socialization and why it waited so long, and where each firm is headed, see our upcoming CIR.
Here’s the Monster Worldwide announcement: Continue reading
Fifty percent off for a group buy? How about completely free? New Canadian startup does just that
Groupon is so 2011. Indeed, there are so many group buying sites these days that to stand out you have to do something completely outrageous. 50 percent off? No way. How about 100 percent off?
That’s the idea behind Vancouver, Canada-based startup TikTok which offers deals on its mobile app that are completely free. The deals are geo-located so the freebies can pop up as you’re walking to work – a free latte at that new café? Sure, why not?
TikTok has some catches and, depending on how you spin it, they’re either really cool or big turn-offs. First, the free offers are usually pretty small: a single slice of pizza. The merchant is hoping you’ll also buy a second slice, some garlic sticks and maybe even a drink. But the slice is still free.
Second, the offers expire quickly, often in a number of hours. TikTok is trying to balance a business’s traffic during the day. You won’t see those free slices during peak pizza time. That’s good for the merchants, who won’t have to worry about a flood of customers with half-off Groupon vouchers clogging up the lunch time rush.
The service is free for now. TikTok, which just launched, plans to charge merchants for premium functionality – for example, to customize the target audience or run more offers.
TikTok has about 2,000 users signed up and 120 businesses on board in Vancouver. The company will be expanding to other cities in Canada, with eyes on the U.S. market as well.
AutoScout24 in race to build first nationwide repair portal
By Christo Volschenk
Munich-based AutoScout24, Germany’s second biggest auto portal, is caught in a race with two competitors to roll out its repair service mediation portal nationwide. The competitors Fairgarage.de and Reparaturpilot.de are independent, in the sense that they are not linked to any of the big auto portals. All 3 conducted test-runs of their ideas in Munich, before launching rudimentary sites in December 2011. Continue reading
New marketing head at Tamedia Online Classifieds
Germany’s youth gets own small ads portal
By Christo Volschenk
Germany has a new free small ads platform. It was developed in-house by media group Die Heisse Draht in Hanover, is called Smazaar.de and was launched on May 13. Smazaar.de is unusual, in the sense that it narrowly targets a user group, namely the smartphone-carrying, social-media generation, which is a predominantly younger-than-40 market. And it’s interesting, because the media group created competition for itself with Smazaar.de. Continue reading
RentCompass adds Facebook app for Canadian rentals
The Toronto-based real estate classified site RentCompass has launched a new Facebook app to complement the mobile apps it already has.
The basic concept behind RentCompass is nothing we haven’t seen before – a Google Map with available rentals appearing as house icons. Click any item to go to the property’s details page, which includes the usual goodies – pictures, contact info, floor plans. But in the relatively smaller Canadian market, a small fish can make a bigger splash.
RentCompass has so far been available as a website and as a geo-smart mobile app that shows you apartments in the vicinity of where you are at the moment – i.e., walk down the street and see what’s for rent. It’s available for the iPhone and Android phones.
The Facebook app basically puts the standalone app’s functionality into Facebook. Once inside the the social network’s all-encompassing world, you can like, share and comment on a rental, as well as ask your Facebook friends their opinions too. Given the popularity of Facebook for mobile, it’s a good move by RentCompass.
The company also has a presence on Twitter (with its own app too), but the tweets are just a feed of every new property appearing on the website; it’s not location savvy, making it more of a promotional ploy than a truly functional addition to the RentCompass family.
Listing and searching rentals are free on RentCompass. The company says it’s the first mobile service in Canada for rental apartments and the number one downloaded app in Canada for rental searching.
- United States:
- Vizu Moves into Social Media Ad Success Measurement
- McClatchy Names Elaine Lintecum As Vice President, Finance And Chief Financial Officer And Announces Other Leadership Changes
- United States:AutoTrader.com Announces New Leadership at VinSolutions
- Grenlist.com is a “Classifieds Community”, with environmental integrity! Every aspect of the site, has been created by the people, for the people!
- Canoe.ca publisher Quebecor reports Q1 2012 results
- Yellow Media Reports $3 Billion Quarterly Loss
- Zillow Introduces Zillow Partnership Platform
- HomeFinder.com Launches 2012 Agent Makeover Sweepstakes
- Quick Response Codes made available for Classified Liners with AdPerfect Classified Advertising Solution Release 2.9
