Local Search is the linchpin of commerce these days. AOL is making it a core part of their business model, with good reason; local searches grew 58% in 2008 and online advertizing is expected to be taking another enormous jump this year.
AOL is now the proud adoptive parent of the small local community network Patch Media Corp. and the young adult-aimed entertainment social network Going, both of which were scooped up by the firm just recently. Both buys will help AOL in their quest to boost AOL’s existing local and social content and ad offerings. Going is the location for up and coming socialites to post and comment on upcoming local entertainment events and meet up with others interested in attending them, which makes it a nice complement to AOL-owned Bebo.
Patch is styled as a local, community journalism project with a strong focus on local content topics such as sports, restaurants, directories, and events. There’s even a special area for practical stuff such as contact information for local government, schools, etc. New AOL CEO Tim Armstrong is an investor in the firm, launched late in 2007, so the acquisition was not unexpected.
AOL’s local operations already included City Guide, Yellow Pages, MapQuest, and Moviefone. Patch and Going fit well with their ready to hand sources for local information, and the Google ex-pat running the show knows it:
“Local remains one of the most disaggregated experiences on the Web today — there’s a lot of information out there but simply no way for consumers to find it quickly and easily,” said Tim Armstrong, AOL’s Chairman and CEO. “It’s a space that’s prime for innovation and an area where AOL has a significant audience and a valuable mapping service in MapQuest…Going forward, local will be a core area of focus and investment for AOL. The acquisitions of Patch and Going will help us build out our local network further with excellent local services that enable people to stay better informed about what’s going on in their neighborhood.”
Tags: AOL, Going, local search, MapQuest, Patch