8 Takeaways From BIA Kelsey Marketplaces

The BIA Kelsey Local Marketplaces conference ended Wednesday with off-the-cuff takeaway reaction from  company president Neal Polachek and vice president Peter Krasilovsky.

1. On  AOL's $50 million investment in hyperlocal site Patch.com: Cynics may think they can't pull it off, but they can if AOL is associated with, but not "leading" the brand. (Polachek)

2. On "game mechanics" that MojoPages described and that also make sites like Groupon fun: More and more media apps are going to be involving such mechanisms. (Krasilovsky) and : An eye-opening moment that also explains the American Idol phenomenon  (Polacheck)

3. Will social media lead local businesses to believe they don't need to spend money for something they can do on their own? Krasilovsky:  Business that can figure out how to profit from helping small businesses for low amounts will "catch on. Others, not so much." Polacheck:  Those in the online appointment setting space may be best positioned. "I think   as we continue to integrate these things (he held up his iPhone) into our daily lives, the more we're going to  want to be reminded we have dental or spa appointments." If that helps small businesses reduce cancellations, it becomes a valuable  small-business solution.

4. On the CityGrid distributed ad network from CitySearch:  "I think it's going to be a real winner"  although "I don't really see the large conspiracy" behind Google's creeping mass. (Krasilovsky)

5. Could Google respond by building out local content? Three years ago, "everyone was loving Google" (Polacheck). Now, he believes people don't want to see them as being the only organizer of the world's information for everyone. He postulates that Google's next step could be attempts to "cream-skim local markets," and hire expert local salespeople in efforts to generate more revenue from local search results.

6. How profitable can social media business  be? Polacheck: As "time marches on and newer businesses become more engaged in the whole process of sites such as  FaceBook and Twitter," they'll still need partners to manage, sort through and deliver Web content, products and services.

7. On the iPhone: "Location-based services are hot." (Krasilovsky)  The iphone keeps changing everything. Years ago, Intel believed location-based services would be offered in a device the size of a Netbook. It's arrival came in a mobile-phone sized device. (Polacheck)

8. What's the future of content creators, with sites like Examiner.com paying "pro-am" writers  $1 per article.   "I don't see how that sustains itself. Maybe they go from 75,000 people to 20,000 who do most of it." (Krasilovsky)  

Polacheck added that he has a friend who owns an art gallery in Joshua Tree, Calif., and  has just signed up to chronicle the scene for Examiner.com. "She doesn't care about the money. She cares about talking about the the local arts scene. Such people are motivated to do such things and become recognized as experts for different reasons than for $1 per story.