TikTok IS about local, Google Perspectives perspective, New GBP "by owner" button

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Tiktok IS about Local but not the way you think

While the Wall Street Journal thinksTikTok holds companies hostage and a small business in Philadelphia thinks it is unfair to get so many fake reviews, there is no denying that Tiktok has scale. While it hasn't really provided any real local discovery options, any given video can get so much traction that it can be felt at the most local of levels.

Google Perspectives: innovation for the SERPs or bandaid to prevent social media flight?

Google has rolled out a new mobile CTA at the top of many serps called Perspectives which provides a dedicated area at the top of the search result for social media related commentary on the topic of your search. Depending on the query intent it might show first in the radio buttons or it might be last but it includes YouTube, Reddit, Quara and Twitter (amongst others) commentary on the topic. Many think that things have become less useful on Google; too many ads, too much spam, et cetera, and Google has to respond to it. The question is whether this is an adequate response.

New Google GBP feature “By Owner” & new Whitespark tool reflect reality that GBP is rented not owned

Google is now highlighting “all” owner controlled GBP content in one tab; By owner in the mobile business profile. It includes the business description and their updates (aka Posts). It is not clear why a user would ever select or be curious about that tab.

Whitespark has released a new dashboard that tracks the changes that users and Google regularly make to all of the other data in the business profile like phone number, address, categories, URLs etc. and reports these annoying changes back to the business owner.

When viewed together, any rational business should be able to understand that they control very, very little of their own profile on Google and what they do control is unlikely to be seen.

The Near Memo is a weekly conversation about Search, Social, and Commerce: What happened, why it matters, and the implications for local businesses and national brands.
NearMemo Ep118

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