One of the most interesting sessions I attended at Mind Camp was led by Dan from Biznik on Social Networking. Social networking tools allow people to share information about themselves, other people and other things (like photos, products, etc) in a setting that attempts to foster a certain level of trust among users. For example, if I’m in the market to find a real estate agent, Biznik allows me to see the real estate agents that Dan would recommend I use. Assuming I know and trust Dan, that’s probably a pretty good recommendation.
The social networking website with the most buzz today is clearly MySpace. I can’t claim to know or use this service, but I know that my teenage sister (warning: music!) can’t imagine life without it. When she visits, she spends most of her visit checking up on her friends…
But there are lots of other social networks, and depending on how broadly you definitely the term, there could be hundreds, if not thousands, of social networking tools on the internet…
Some of the more popular social networks we identified during the session included:
These are some of the more popular services that are directly built to be “social networking” tools in that they are designed around giving users the opportunity to connect with “friends”. Some of them, like LinkedIn and Biznik, are designed to let users share job hunting and business contacts while Judy’s Book is about sharing references and recommendations about anything local.
The idea is that you’d be much more likely to purchase a product or use the services of someone if you knew that they were recommended by a friend (or more likely a friend of a friend).
[photopress:seo_networking.jpg,thumb,alignright]I’m often surprised that I don’t see more real estate professionals talk about social networking tools because real estate is really about relationships and social networks on the internet are just an extension of this idea. Social networking tools are one of the most powerful ways for real estate professionals to use the internet to connect with potential buyers and sellers. When you get a reference (or lead) from a social network, this person comes to you with a certain level of trust!
By the way, the tricky part about defining social networking tools is that most people don’t limit them to websites. Tools like instant messaging (IM) and email are simple ways to start building up a community through the internet.
In addition, tools like Flickr and del.icio.us, have perfected the art of using community input to make a service that is better than the mere sum of its parts. When sharing photos with Flickr, you enter a community where good photos are commented on and added to groups where a magic “interestingness” rating identifies photos most worth seeing. With del.icio.us you can follow the links and notes of the friends and they surf the web to find webpages worth visiting. (Both of these sites were bought by Yahoo for vast sums of money because of their ability to use the general web-surfing public to organize webpages for Yahoo!).
Which brings up the most controversial part of existing social networking tools. Just about every single one of them requires the user to input information (tags, descriptions, etc) that benefit the owner of the site, but very few of the tools (and none of the major ones) allow a user to output their information or delete their information when they don’t feel like “sharing” any more. Jim Benson probably covers this topic better than anyone else I know and his recent article, People vs. Peep Hole, dives into the idea that a corporate controlled community can never be free.
These concerns are interesting, and definitely worth following, but most real estate professionals are so far behind the curve in effectively using online networking tools that they should worry first and foremost about “getting involved”. In the future, someone will figure out how to keep our data “free” while still providing all the wonderful benefits of a social network, but until then, I’d highly recommend taking part in an online group that interests you… (By the way, joining a group of bloggers also counts! 😉 )
UPDATE:
Right after I hit publish on this post, I got an email alerting me that the MindMap (a topic worthy of another blog post) for the social networking session was published on a file sharing site used for MindCamp stuff. Download the pdf file on the site to see a much more comprehensive list of social networking sites!
great post.
Your point about being about being able to “turn off” or delete network information when done is a particularly interesting concern. We are working to improve tagging, RSS, and other such online tools and approaches to the real estate industry and are dealing with many of the same issues that you mention. Also, thanks for the MindCamp update for those of us that could not make it!
great post.
Your point about being about being able to “turn off” or delete network information when done is a particularly interesting concern. We are working to improve tagging, RSS, and other such online tools and approaches to the real estate industry and are dealing with many of the same issues that you mention. Also, thanks for the MindCamp update for those of us that could not make it!
Nice overview. Looks like Mindcamp was a good time.
I use many of those services and they have some great benefits, but I’m not sold on using them to generate business. The connections on LinkedIn are adding up, but I still haven’t utilized my network for any specific reasons. Has anybody else?
While we’re on the subject, I wish del.icio.us would add an “contact this user” feature. I’m always discovering people who are tagging really useful pages and I’d love to attempt to connect with them, but it’s very rare to actually find a way to contact them. A useful bookmark stream is about as good as a recommendation in my book.
As for exporting user data out of the system, I’ve heard that Flickr is very good about this.
By the way, thanks for the link to the mindmaps. I’m a huge fan of mindmapping, especially the tablet interface.
Nice overview. Looks like Mindcamp was a good time.
I use many of those services and they have some great benefits, but I’m not sold on using them to generate business. The connections on LinkedIn are adding up, but I still haven’t utilized my network for any specific reasons. Has anybody else?
While we’re on the subject, I wish del.icio.us would add an “contact this user” feature. I’m always discovering people who are tagging really useful pages and I’d love to attempt to connect with them, but it’s very rare to actually find a way to contact them. A useful bookmark stream is about as good as a recommendation in my book.
As for exporting user data out of the system, I’ve heard that Flickr is very good about this.
By the way, thanks for the link to the mindmaps. I’m a huge fan of mindmapping, especially the tablet interface.
Dustin…
I was thinking that you guys had never actually seen what i look like since there are no pics of me on my site. All I want to say is that I was a member way back before it was Cooool!
http://www.myspace.com/680710
Giles,
You’re making me feel so old and out of touch! 😉
Do I need a MySpace account?
Giles,
You’re making me feel so old and out of touch! 😉
Do I need a MySpace account?
I admit it. I have a MySpace account too. More of a joking around place to reconnect with friends. Doesn’t seem like THE place to be serious and make business connections. I still think that LinkedIn holds the most promise in that regard.
Dustin, you’re so uncool 😉
I think that real estate professionals of caught on how important Social Networking is and now are incorporating it in their daily real estate activities. There also has been a flood of Real Estate Networking sites for real estate professionals to choose from that makes it easier to network with other real estate professionals from around the world.
Hello everyone. I just stumbled onto this article and now that I’m here would like to announce what may be of interest to many real estate company owners or even just loan officers or brokers. AssistMeOnline.com is about to expand its website into a Social Network in less than 4 weeks. They are currently looking for real estate professionals to join their Business Network. One of the privileges is that they will allow you to showcase houses via not only photos, but also video if you’d like. Even a 60 second intro. letting users know who you are is one thing they recommend. Now, while the site will target all markets where users or consumers may need advice or support on, Real Estate is one of their top priorities and this market will be heavily pushed. I am an Internet Researcher who has been answering public questions on their paid Answers Service for over a a year.
I agree with what your saying 100%. Real Estate totally revolves around social networking. I think more than people actually realize. I have found in my dealings with Real Estate the desire to build a team of real estate professionals around me that I can trust. And that’s hard to do. I live in Utah where there are tons of real estate professionals but hardly any that you can actually trust. A social networking site for real estate would be perfect for me. I have come across one that I like and am currently signed up and using it. It’s called Realedin.com. You might want to check it out and see what you think. Here’s the link…
http://www.realedin.com
Finding Brokers that are trustworthy and professional is always tricky! What I have learned in my twenty years or so is that those that realize the benefits of working together while being friendly competitors are the most successful by far. I work in the Boston area and also have been working on a new networking site, MyAgentBook.com. We can certainly only benefit from working together and connecting with each other. Check this site out and join for free! More connections can only be a good thing!
Good post! There are a bunch of social networks for real estate professionals now. ActiveRain, RealEstateInvestor, RealTown…
Disclaimer: One of those is our company 😉
I am a loan officer and I have had a great experience using social networks for my business. I have had two deals come my way from wannanetwork.com and one from realestateinvestor.com. I think ActiveRain.com may be the best one out there for good blog reading.