Local Online Week-in-Review. (The news you might have missed!)

We know you always mean to read everything that pops into your Bloglines feed, your Twitter page, and your email inbox. But just in case your week got crazy, we've got you covered.



Obama having dinner with Zuck? Navigating the new Facbook Pages. New data about local business...

Are you caught up?



Here's a quick snapshot of the news that made headlines this week in the local landscape.



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Obama’s Dinner in the Valley (NYT)



Whether Zynga is really worth $10 billion seems not to have been the main topic of dinner conservation when President Obama met with technology executives on Thursday night.

“The president specifically discussed his proposals to invest in research and development and expand incentives for companies to grow and hire, along with his goal of doubling exports over five years to support millions of American jobs,” Jay Carney, the White House press secretary, said in a statement to Bloomberg News. Read More.



How Google Can Beat Facebook: No, Its Not on the Web (GigaOm)



A few years ago, Jeff Jarvis, a good friend of mine, published a book called What Would Google Do? When he wrote that book, Google had an aura of invincibility. Fast forward to today: Thanks to Facebook, it doesn’t seem so invincible. The new social web has passed it by. So, the question today is: What should Google do? Read More.





Social Media Marketing Up 40% Among Local Businesses (InformationWeek)



Local businesses are turning to inexpensive social media to promote their products and services, but the few that have experimented with group discount offerings from online sites are unlikely to repeat the experience, a new report from MerchantCircle found. Read More.



5 ways the new Facebook Pages can benefit your business (TNW)



Last week brought a whole new set of Facebook page changes which we covered in some depth but there is another angle that we’ve been thinking about that didn’t occur to us at first and that is business networking. Read More.

Q1 2011 Merchant Circle MCI Survey Results

Below are the results of our quarterly Merchant Confidence Index (MCI) survey for Q1 of 2011. The Index is designed to track trends in small business sentiment over time.



This fifth Merchant Confidence Index survey was fielded online, between January 22nd and February 3rd, 2011, and sent to a random sample of MerchantCircle's member base of over 1.6 million local business owners. There were 8,456 total responses from local business owners across the United States.



Expectations for the future



How do you expect your sales revenues to change over the next three months?

State of the U.S. economy



How would you rate today’s economy compared to the past twelve months?

Hiring expectations



How do you expect your company’s headcount to change over the next three months?

Marketing expenditures



How do you expect your marketing/advertising expenditures to change over the next three months?

Merchant Confidence Index Calculation

Adoption of specific online marketing services

Are you promoting your business with the following websites/services?

Marketing budget



What is your annual ad/marketing budget?

Most effective marketing channels



Select the top THREE most effective marketing or advertising methods your business uses or has used.

Expectations for length of recession



To what extent do you agree with the following statement? “The worst effects of the recession are behind us?

Respondent Profiles



How many people does your business employ?

Which single business category best describes your business?

Local Online Week-in-Review. (The news you might have missed!)

We know you always mean to read everything that pops into your Bloglines feed, your Twitter page, and your email inbox. But just in case your week got crazy, we've got you covered.



Groupon's dicey Superbowl ad dominated the post-game conversation, and not everyone agrees that it was a misstep. What's your take on their risky approach?



Here's a quick snapshot of the news that made headlines this week in the local landscape.



___________________________________________



Groupon's Superbowl Ad Quickly Draws Backlash (WSJ)



"It’s not clear yet whether Groupon sought controversy for its Super Bowl commercial to gain publicity, but either way the venture capital-backed daily deal site sure got it. Immediately after one of its three commercials ran during Fox’s second-half coverage of Super Bowl XLV, hundreds of people took to Twitter to air their displeasure with the ad." Read more.



Groupon Win? Why They Knew Exactly What They Were Doing With The “Tibet” Ad (Social Times)



"With the ads, we have seen the best and worst that social media has to offer. At its peak, the online realm fosters debate, promotes curiosity, and gets people thinking outside their comfort zone. The Groupon videos are being talked about on Facebook and Twitter, embedded on blogs and forwarded through email, as well they should." Read more.



Google Gets Heavy-Handed In Local Search (Small Biz Trends)



"It’s been hard not to notice the very calculated steps that Google has been taking over the past few months as it’s geared up its local and mobile properties, slowing trying to push everyone else out of its way. Well, unless you haven’t been watching. If not, here’s what you missed." Read more.



Google Local Search Strategy Needs Marketing Muscle (eWeek GoogleWatch)



"While Google has a veritable gold mine of mobile, local and social technology, what it lacks is the marketing oomph to make others aware of it." Read more.