
Top stories





Marketing & MediaDaily Maverick launches a groundbreaking local bureau in Nelson Mandela Bay
Daily Maverick 15 hours

Tourism & TravelTumi celebrates 50th anniversary with campaign, 'Made for you since 1975'
Tumi 2 days
More news















What is Near Me?
A microapp is an incredibly useful, user-centric tool – a small application that’s published on a website or app to perform a specific function. Near Me’s purpose is to streamline the local search process in a new, more intuitive way – it’s a smart local search tool that can be easily integrated on any mobile site or app, where it serves as a ‘mini search engine' for nearby businesses.
This sleek microapp features clickable shortcuts, each representing a product/service category (like ‘Coffee’ or ‘Fuel’ for example) using globally recognisable icons.
When a site features Near Me, users are asked to share their location, allowing the tool to display nearby products/services, each with a distance reference published in real time. With a simple click on a Near Me icon, opted in users see a short list of local store listings. A click on a listing takes users to a landing page where they have further brand engagement options like navigate to store, call the store, share on social, and more.
Near Me isn’t only about finding stores though. It has a number of other location based functionalities, including the most innovative weather solution available on mobile web, plus nearby events, trending restaurants from Zomato and special offers, along with a host of new innovative features coming soon!
The point of a microapp is to make a user’s life easier, but publishers access additional benefits by default.
The seven local publishers we’ve integrated with – www.lockdownbozza.co.za, www.careersportal.co.za, www.slikouronlife.co.za, www.thejobsportal.co.za, www.bursariesportal.co.za, www.newsportal.co.za and www.skillsportal.co.za – have already experienced these benefits first hand.
Publisher Lockdown Bozza communicating Near Me to the public
With the new functionality that Near Me offers, users have more incentive to share their location with the publisher, and will stay on the publisher’s site for longer. End result – intent based targeting coupled with true location that increases a publisher’s ad revenue. If a user repeatedly clicks on the ‘Coffee’ icon, for example, we can make some fairly accurate assumptions about what sort of ads they’d be more interested in.
Increased, accurate location data gives publishers a unique understanding of their users and the ability to serve more relevant advertising to them. Happy users, happy advertisers, happy publishers.