Web 2.0… get it now, before its gone!
Pursebuzz.com
I just can’t agree.
I see the following three reasons for online social networking to fizzle out in the real estate community in the next 36 months:
1. Passive Relationships
Online social networking is by design, a series of systems that allows people with common interests to connect in a virtual environment. I think it’s a little “too†easy. Linking, connecting, and chatting online are low risk activities, with such little personal investment, these relationships tend to be passive, meaning once the chat, link, or reading of a particular blog is over, the parties depart, most times never engaging again. I’m not sure consumers are going to be attracted to, much less participate in real estate networks, like Active Rain for instance. Success in real estate sales requires constant contact over long periods of time, to catch your clients when they are “in-marketâ€. Low-risk, passive activities are better suited to small dollar selling.
2. Content Production & Commoditization
I have a myspace page, www.myspace.com/agentscoreboard one of my “friends†on there (MySpace), Pursebuzz (who happens to be a licensed CA broker) is a very good friend of mine (in the real world) that produces short 4-5 minute videos about applying makeup that have topped the charts over at YouTube. She has some 1300 + friends, does she know them? Heck NO. Has she converted this following into big money? Not Yet. The problem here is that she is now a producer of content, not a makeup salesperson; she has to find someone to put all of those pieces together to monetize her fan base. She must focus on producing compelling content or be crushed by upstart competitors.
Real estate, unlike Pink Lighting eye shadow, doesn’t sell itself, and the best commentator on a particular real estate market, may not be the best real estate agent. Real estate agents have a lot on their plate now, adding “develop and maintain compelling local content†is going to be a tall order for most. Eventually, they will resort to purchasing someone’s feed, and then we’ll have the IDX all over again, 90% of the agents will have the exact same content on their little “cookie cutter†website they pay $49 a month for.
3. No measurable ROI
Calculating ROI for online social networking would be very difficult, as there are so many variables on a given profile or blog that creating a repeatable profitable formula for lead generation might prove impossible. I have yet to see anyone that has credibly claimed to generated significant numbers of leads from social networking, or even blogging for that matter.
Online social networks are cool and fun, but there is little new or interesting about them. What is new is that Google is using the content to index them better than any previous search technology, which is allowing obscure information to be found and enjoyed more easily. Keep an eye on Powerset, they have some scary smart people w/ a big ole pile of “Pay Pal†money looking to kick Google in the gut.
There will be some benefits from online social networking, it will allow people to figure out who they “don’t†want to do business with much faster.
Hey Mike, good points… that “impact” article is what I call a FutureSpeak article, we’re definitely not there at all… most agents wouldn’t know what Facebook is anyway or how to use it. I agree joining Facebook networks doesn’t seem to make sense now (absolutely 0 ROI), but eventually personal day-to-day networks will move online. Although low risk and passive, having that personal network online will begin to play roles similar to Craigslist, Angieslist, even Agent Scoreboard, in providing references, implicit or explicit, to others within a variety of networks. As a builder of a reputation management platform, I bet you can see how adding an Agent Scoreboard “referral” or review widget into the Facebook application might help to market and differentiate an agent. Facebook already has a lot of referral and review widgets for their members to market their musical tastes and networks… real estate marketing oriented widgets will arrive soon as Facebook pages start looking more like “agent websites”.
In fact, networking tools should be passively managed for efficiency purposes because there will be massively multiple sets of networks that agents may participate in. In aggregate, network participation is a marketing tool, akin to listing your name in a search engine… and this shouldn’t be a lot of work.
Comment by Pat Kitano — July 6, 2007 @ 2:52 pm
I get your point, and you make sense. I have always looked to the real world to reflect on how to best organize groups of people. Facebook, had a great plan when they started w/ college kids aligned themselves with their school, team, sport, major, or frat. Now its open to everyone, I belong to several groups and clubs, just like I did on Yahoo and Google, but even with widgets, I don’t participate enough, and their aren’t enough filters to block the unwanted content noise.
I remember when email was the “killer app” and everyone said UPS, USPS, and FEDEX were finished. Now email is about spam and filtering the junk. I think web 2.0 tools are great, but they don’t make it easier to find and filter information, it just provides me a way to mash up my interests, which I must now filter.
Comment by mike — July 6, 2007 @ 3:12 pm
[...] Agent Scoreboard website thinks it will never work. This blogger makes some valid [...]
Pingback by Against the Grain RE Blog » Blog Archive » Are social networks a waste of time for real estate? - MA, RI, CT, NY Flat Fee MLS Listing Service — July 7, 2007 @ 8:31 pm
What if an agent or broker were to build a local social network at which they were the center? It stays community-focused and invites participation from the community, but allows the Realtor to post listings and contains other lead generation mechanisms and realty-related tools like mortgage calculators/home valuation.
Connecting Neighbors is a somewhat less than Web 2.0 version of this idea, but is an example of what I’m referring to. Think CN + social media integration.
Your thoughts?
Comment by Paul Chaney — July 11, 2007 @ 2:14 pm
Paul,
Good questions… I’m still not convinced that “real estate” as a community topic is enough to drive ongoing and regular participation, or at least not enough to deliver compelling ROI. The rule of thumb is “if the commuinty exists offline, it can thrive online” there just aren’t any commuinties where people interact over real estate in RL. At least none that I know of.
Its a good question. If you are doing that, I’d like to know the outcome. mike@agentscoreboard.com
Comment by mike — July 11, 2007 @ 4:01 pm
This is a very interesting thread of discussion. I believe that community/real estate related blogs would thrive if blogging were to become an activity that agents did as a routine and scheduled task that they would view as a need to do, not a “If I can squeeze in a few minutes, I’ll try”. It would be nice if the industry did a turnabout and viewed themselves again as the experts of dissemination of pertinent information, rather than balking about the information already available on the web, because it’s not going away:-). If there were consistent blogs about relevant topics specific to communities, consumers would most likely return, because most homeowners are interested in local community happenings and things that will directly effect them. More national topics will not have such a following.
Comment by Rebecca Levinson — August 11, 2007 @ 9:20 am
Real Estate Investment…
I couldn’t understand some parts of this article, but it sounds interesting…
Trackback by Real Estate Investment — August 29, 2007 @ 2:59 pm
I think agents need to use the web more to what users require not what the agents think the users need. Google is coming in to market and will render agents usless in a few years.
Comment by acmerealty.ca — April 9, 2008 @ 12:09 pm
It is amazing how real estate values and investment opportunities can vary so much among different regions. Our market here in Austin, Tx has remained strong and is still growing.
Comment by David — April 15, 2008 @ 11:41 am