Market research firm ForeSee was commissioned to study both merchant and customer satisfaction with Groupon. The Daily Deals behemoth scored an 83 with customers and 79 with merchants, way ahead of most online retailers.

The jump from 25 percent to 30 percent mobile access from December 2011 to March 2012 may have been the catalyst for the new “up-to-the-minute” Groupon Now success, with 1.5 million Now deals sold.

With past store-owner complaints that Groupon was being far too selective in its choice of who could offer Deals, it’s nice to see that merchants are declaring their happiness with a Deals site.  We suspect that merchant approval is partly due to the Groupon Merchant Center, where merchants can track response, administer and see the history of their deals, and manage their Groupon Rewards activity. Here’s the earnings report.

Consumers searching for dining deals can, for example, search as specific as cuisine. They can see reviews and recommendations for the various restaurants, as well as contact details and menu. The consumer enters her or his credit card information once and the BiteHunter BiteBuy technology takes care of the rest of the buying process for every transaction from then on.

This is technology worth emulating. We hope they add Android capability soon.

Mumbrella reports that Akhurst will be replaced temporarily by Rick Ellis, Telstra Digital Media’s group MD, during the search for a replacement.

In a statement from the company, Akhurst said:

“I have enjoyed my time as CEO of Sensis. It is time now for a change and I look forward to exploring new opportunities. I have been amazed and inspired by the commitment and resourcefulness of our people.”

“The Sensis team is executing a significant transformation and building an exciting future for a once traditional print business. Their talent, customer focus and dedication has been exceptional. I thank my team and my colleagues at Telstra and wish everyone in the business every success in the future.”

HireRabbit is a brand new recruiting platform for Facebook. Its video demo claims that any employer can create a Facebook presence for candidate search in just a few minutes, with no technical expertise required. Included are five tabs – overview, benefits, Why us?, Team and even puzzles. While we’re not sure, it seems that these tabs are customizable.  Candidates can search and apply without leaving the employer’s fan page. The hiring manager can include videos, photos and testimonials. There’s also an employee referral system, and analytics that tell employers about views, likes, shares, and number of employee referrals. HireRabbit can also integrate with an employer’s own ATS.

We have lots of questions including cost and interest in media collaboration, and have asked for a conversation. At first glance, it’s efficient, easy to understand, and attractive. Our one complaint – it is difficult to understand the video-demo speaker. 

Kevin Doyle, SVP, GM Apartments.com presents check to Ed Shurna, exec director, Chicago Coalition for the Homeless.

An Apartments.com spokesperson just told us that in its hometown of Chicago, Ill. more than 100,000 people were homeless in 2011, and in the US 3.5 million are homeless. So, Apartments.com solicited nationwide participation and greater attention through its  “Raising Awareness. Taking Action: A Campaign to Help End Homelessness” Facebook initiative.

As part of the campaign, Apartments.com promised to donate $1 to the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless for every new “LIKE” it received on Facebook  from November 1, 2011 – December 31, 2011.  February 2 Apartments.com SVP and GM Kevin Doyle  presented a check for $15,000 to the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless. 

“The relationship touched everyone involved especially the Coalition as they rely on donations and grants to serve the Chicago area,” the spokesperson told us by email.

Here’s the announcement: 

APARTMENTS.COM DONATES $15,000

TO CHICAGO COALITION FOR THE HOMELESS

Facebook Campaign Generates Awareness and Funds for Local Charity

CHICAGO—(February 2, 2012) — Apartments.com presented a check for $15,000 to the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless yesterday at the culmination of their “Raising Awareness. Taking Action: A Campaign to Help End Homelessness” Facebook initiative.  As part of the campaign, Apartments.com promised to donate $1 to the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless for every new “LIKE” it received on Facebook from November 1, 2011 – December 31, 2011.

“In every aspect, this campaign was a huge success. We received overwhelming positive feedback from our Apartments.com staff and customers, as well as the general public,” said Kevin Doyle, senior vice president and general manager of Apartments.com.  “We know $15,000, by itself, won’t bring an end to homelessness, but we hope it helps the Coalition to be able to continue the monumental good they do each and every day.  It was an honor for our organization to be able to do our small part on behalf of the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless this past holiday season.”

The Chicago-based advocacy group was selected as the beneficiary of this inaugural campaign as the leading voice for the homeless in the city of Chicago, where Apartments.com is headquartered. It was estimated that last year more than 100,000 people suffered from homelessness in Chicago¹ and an estimated 3.5 million people each year experience homelessness². Apartments.com designed the initiative to generate nationwide participation and help bring greater attention to this widespread issue across America.

“Chicago Coalition for the Homeless was founded over 30 years ago on one simple premise: that in a just society, housing is a human right.  To that end, we work with families, youths and adults, advocating to better lives through access to shelter, housing, jobs and schools,” said Ed Shurna, executive director of the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless. “The staff of Apartments.com clearly knows the importance of housing and we are grateful to have their generous support.”

The Apartments.com campaign, “Raising Awareness. Taking Action: A Campaign to Help End Homelessness” aims to heighten visibility and bring in funds to benefit organizations that advocate for and serve the homeless. ”Like” the Apartments.com Facebook page for updates on next year’s “Raising Awareness. Taking Action: A Campaign to Help End Homelessness” initiative.

About Chicago Coalition for the Homeless

Chicago Coalition for the Homeless is a non-profit organization that works with people hurt by homelessness. Guided by its belief that housing is a human right in a just society, the coalition seeks to prevent and end homelessness by addressing its root causes. Its community organizers offer monthly outreach at more than 20 emergency shelters and transitional housing facilities across Chicago—reaching out to mothers with children, unaccompanied youths, children and teens struggling to access public schools, ex-offenders and low-wage workers. For more information or to donate to the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless, visit their website. 

About Apartments.com
Apartments.com  is a leading national apartment Internet listing subscription service with more than 50,000 unique addresses representing millions of rental units from managed properties, newspaper classifieds and for-rent-by-owner properties. By incorporating the most relevant products to reach renters including personalized searches and highly visual ads featuring live chat, real-time rent, online video walk-through demonstrations, professional photography, a mobile website and iPhone and Android app, Apartments.com creates easy access to its listings. Providing unmatched exposure to its advertisers through an intuitive name, strategic search engine placements, featured partnerships including Yahoo! Real Estate, Univision and more than 120 newspaper websites and innovative emerging media, Apartments.com reaches millions of renters nationwide, driving both qualified traffic and highly-engaged renters to leasing offices nationwide. Apartments.com is a division of Chicago-based Classified Ventures, LLC. The Apartments.com network of apartment rental websites includes Apartment Home Living , a leading social media apartment website distinguished by a “live for fun” community experience, proprietary lifestyle matching and local living guides to help renters find their perfect place to live.

  IAC, which operates more than 50 Internet businesses across 30 countries, just reported impressive quarterly growth in areas that include search, Match.com and ServiceMagic. 

NEW YORK— February 1, 2012—IAC (Nasdaq: IACI) released fourth quarter 2011 results today.

• Q4 revenue and Operating Income Before Amortization reached record levels, with strong double-digit growth for the 8th consecutive quarter. Operating Income Before Amortization grew 88% to $90.9 million, which included the write-off of $23.0 million in deferred revenue related to the Meetic acquisition.

• Free Cash Flow for the twelve months ended December 31, 2011 was $332.4 million, up 32% over the prior year, while cash flow from operating activities attributable to continuing operations was $372.4 million, up 9% over the prior year.

• IAC repurchased 4.6 million shares of common stock between October 29, 2011 and January 27, 2012 at an average price of $41.70 per share, or $191.2 million in aggregate.

• IAC declared a quarterly cash dividend of $0.12 per share to be paid on March 1, 2012 to stockholders of record as of the close of business on February 15, 2012.

• Q4 Adjusted Net Income and Adjusted EPS more than doubled from the year ago period.

• Q4 net income and GAAP EPS comparisons were impacted by certain discrete items as further described herein. Collectively, the net impact of these items benefited Q4 2010 net income and GAAP EPS by $77.4 million and $0.80 per share, respectively, but had no impact on Adjusted Net Income and Adjusted EPS.

Here is the complete release.

The latest cuts are effective as of this Friday.

The company is emphasising digital growth and investing in new self-service technology to provide more efficient service for customers.

Read more at AdNews.

Recruitment vertical publishers could learn much about what recruiters and hiring managers want from Fistful of Talent, a featured blog on Workforce Management. Most specifically publishers could get ideas from a post by Kelly Dingee, Talent Acquisition Specialist for Staffing Advisor. Dingee’s Thanksgiving Day post enumerated her HR must haves:

LinkedIN -  Thankful for its search, InMail, groups, wildcard asterisk.

Google+ - Thankful for extraction tools and alternative search engines.

Indeed.com’s resume database -  Thankful for the quality of  its candidates and its LinkedIN “who you know” feature.

Summify - Thankful to see what her networking is reading and tweeting.

Flipboard -  Thankful for reader access and access to sites not read by her network.

The Ladders - Thankful for teaching events.

For more details on the features that each offers to help Dingee recruit, read “Let’s Talk Turkey…This is What a Source is Thankful for.”  How might you mimic these features on your own site, or collaborate to provide them?

Read more here.

“It’s no secret that mobile devices have completely changed the way consumers shop, making it crucial that retailers – automotive or otherwise – understand who mobile shoppers are and how they’re using their devices differently than their laptops or desktops,” said Sharon Knitter, Cars.com senior director, Mobile, in the announcement. “This study informs our ability to deliver a great car shopping experience to our users no matter what screen they’re visiting us on, as well as making us a better partner to our dealer customers and advertisers as they implement their own mobile marketing strategies.” 

Report details:

• Individuals 34 years of age or younger made up 40 percent of the respondents
• Seventy-three percent were in the market for a new car
• Nearly 80 percent had household income over $50,000
• Most paid $20,000-$40,000 for their recently-purchased car; the average price was over $28,000
• Of the 83 percent of respondents shopping by smartphone, most used apps. The 28 percent searching via tablets headed to websites to do so.
• Fewer than 10 percent had a specific vehicle or dealership in mind when they started their digital shopping.

Contrary to what we might expect, 99 percent use their mobile devices to shop from home. The most popular activity is looking at photos. Nearly as many look for dealerships, while 51 percent read dealer reviews. Two thirds search listings.

“What hasn’t changed with the growth of mobile usage is the importance of mastering the basics of selling a car,” said Knitter. “Smart phone users are viewing photos, searching inventory, researching prices, looking up dealer contact information and reading reviews. That means that many issues, such as poor merchandising, incorrect contact information and customer complaints, can be amplified for the mobile shopper, sending them elsewhere.”

SPH is the publisher of the Straits Times newspaper among 18 others and according to Yahoo’s news website SPH has asked Singapore’s High Court to stop Yahoo from further reproducing articles from its newspapers and pay unspecified damages for infringement.

A pre-trial conference is scheduled for Jan. 9, 2012. Read more here.

Superpages.com Mobile App Redesign Brings Easier Navigation and Voice Search

DALLAS–(BUSINESS WIRE)– Superpages.com®, the local search expert, has released a complete redesign of its Superpages mobile application user-interface and search engine technology. The Yellow Pages by Superpages® app is easier to use than ever before with new single field auto-complete search, voice search and a category spinner. Consumers can search the Yellow or White Pages, find business information, maps, driving directions, consumer reviews, movie listings, and more. 

“Spin it, Say it, Search it,” saidChris Folmar, director of mobile products atSuperMedia. “With the new features we’ve added, consumers can easily search and find information and insights on local businesses and retailers.”

With a flick of your finger, the new Superpages spinner will make quick work of browsing popular categories. The spinner is on the home page of the app and lets consumers spin to more than 75 popular Yellow Pages categories.

“The new Superpages app is a significant improvement over earlier versions,” saidGreg Sterling, senior analyst Opus Research. “It’s smarter, easier to use and the scroll wheel is kind of addictive.”

In addition to the spinner, consumers can also search by voice. No more typing when on the go, consumers can now say what they’re looking for and search results appear, ordered by distance to the current location. When typing is needed, the single field search with auto-complete will guess what consumers are looking for and help complete the entry faster.

The android version of the app launched in July and users are saying: “much easier to use” — “voice search is a nice addition” — “easy navigation” — “seems to add more relevancy to the searches” — “I like the spinning wheel.” To read more great reviews visit your app store.

The Yellow Pages by Superpages applications are available on the iPhone® or iPod® Touch, and Google Android platforms, and the Superpages Mobile Web site at m.superpages.com, is available to use on nearly all mobile phones. The app will also be available for iPad® in the coming months.

Other super features:

• Search money-saving deals from local restaurants, auto repair shops, health and beauty services, home improvement contractors, hotels, and more.
• Business Detail pages now have swipe-bar actions. Easily click-to-call, read or write reviews, save or email business info, view Web site, get maps and directions, or share onFacebook.
• Get Directions and find your way: Get step-by-step interactive driving directions with an option to have multiple stops on the way to your destination.
• GPS Assist Auto-location with Manual Override.
• See your local five-day forecast with current conditions and access your My Superpages account to easily see your previous searches.
• Find Movies Fast: Search by movie or theater and see show times, read reviews, or watch trailers.

Follow Superpages.com on Twitter (@Superpages) and become a fan on Facebook.

About SuperMedia

SuperMedia Inc. (NASDAQ: SPMD) helps small- and medium-sized businesses grow through effective local marketing solutions across print, online, mobile and social media. SuperMedia solutions include: the award-winning SuperGuarantee® program, Superpages® directories, published for Verizon®, FairPoint® and Frontier®, Superpages.com®, EveryCarListed.com®, Superpages for your mobile and Superpages direct mail products. For more information, visit www.supermedia.com.