I admit it. I am into the whole social media thing.
Facebook? Check.
LinkedIn? Check.
Twitter? Check.
I am a self-professed information junkie, so I find these sites fascinting. I have also found that they are a great way for me to stay in contact not only with my clients, but with other RE.net bloggers out there. I have met plenty of new bloggers and made some great contacts by using Facebook and LinkedIn. Twitter seems to be lacking a significant real estate voice, however. Sure, some of my favorite real estate bloggers have Twitter profiles (Greg, Joel, & Jim among them). The problem is, they don’t update them much, if ever. I think this is a real shame.
I started using Twitter a few weeks ago. I admit that I came in with a built-in bias against Twitter. To be honest, I find the stated purpose of Twitter (i.e. “What are you doing?”) pretty lame. I don’t think there are a lot of people out there who really care what I am doing at any given moment. I decided that I would try to follow 5 rules when writing my tweets. I didn’t want things to get boring.
In true Web 2.0-spirit, people have taken Twitter and turned into more than just countless status updates of millions of random people. It is truly a great place to find out what has captured people’s attention. All you have to do is seek out people who you find interesting and follow their tweets. It is a great way to stay on the bleeding edge of news and information.
Twitter has also established itself as a premier micro-blogging platform. It has been great for me because I can post links on Twitter that I find interesting, but that I don’t really have the time or inclination to use an entire blog post to discuss. There are plenty of other notable bloggers out there who are doing the very same thing. Sometimes following the tweets of others has inspired blog posts of my own. At the very least, Twitter has become a platform from which to launch discoveries into all sorts of things that I might have otherwise missed.
Real estate bloggers could benefit tremendously from using Twitter. The micro-blogging aspect of Twitter could be very valuable to people like real estate bloggers, who I am sure have all kinds of great ideas, but not always the time to write about them. Let’s say that I read a great story about mortgage fraud, but I just don’t have the time to devote a full post to it. I can post the link on Twitter, and perhaps someone else who is following me will follow the link and write a post of their own. Even if that doesn’t happen, because bloggers tend to be more plugged-in to what is happening in the industry, Twitter would help everyone stay on top of the industry by offering instantaneous communication and dissemination of information. In a way, Twitter is a living uber-wiki.
The real estate bloggers that I know are all very smart and creative people. Twitter offers a convenient and efficient way to get their message out to not only the rest of the blogosphere, but also to the public as well. I am also confident that real estate bloggers could also come up with alternative uses for Twitter that would benefit us all, bloggers, clients and customers alike.
So, real estate bloggers, if you are reading this, head on over to Twitter and get going– the RE.net needs you!
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Consumerism, Geo-mapping columnist
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Okay, you make a great case for twitter, but the problem is, I am having problems with being in all places at all times- every 2.0 idea seems to be the end all be all of the known universe! How in the hell are we supposed to know what is and isn’t worth the effort?! Seriously man, ‘uber’ is insanity!
Twitter is one of those things that requires very little effort. Like I said, one reason that I like it is that it requires less effort than blogging. I can do either, depending on how involved I want to be.
By “uber-wiki” I meant that it is superior to your average wiki in that the information is constantly changing on an instantaneous basis. Of course the fact that it isn’t static can be a drawback as well, in that you don’t really have an archive of the information.
While I don’t think that any of the 2.0 platforms has all the answers, I do think that they can be integrated into a pretty manageable and cool solution. There is a tremendous opportunity for someone to come up with a simple way to integrate all of these things. With Google’s acquisition of Jaiku, and its Orkut social-networking site, it appears as if they might be heading in that direction.
This year was big for social media sites, and the next few months and years should prove to be even more exciting.
Great post Daniel,
Twitter is really something that you just need to take the plunge and participate in to fully appreciate.
I know that we’re inundated with new services left and right, but microblogging is proving to be a rich communication channel where conversations are taking place and relationships are being forged 140 characters at a time.
In case you’re on the fence and need another nudge, heres another post that I recently came across that may help
Confessions of a Twitter Convert- http://db.tidbits.com/article/9228
I have a Twitter account. I’ve twitted (tweated?) a total of one time.
But I’ll jump in there this weekend, time permitting, and give it another shot…
Disclaimer: from treo… being brief.
I’m kind of creeped out by twitter, after trying it for a few days.
and
I really, really no longer have the time to blast messages that 3 people care to follow…
Nonetheless…I recognize the potential value of leveraging social media for mindshare.
You just motivated me to sign up. sww you on twitter.
I totally mispelled my last comment. See you on Twitter. thanks for the Info about the site.
Chris & Jay,
I’ll be following. . .
Andy,
Excellent points. I’ll continue to follow. . .
Although I signed up for Facebook in it’s early days while I was still in college, I didn’t embrace it until a year or two ago. I don’t want to be left behind with Twitter! Just play with it, you’ll find a format that works for you. Click on my link if you’d like to find me on Twitter.
I’m on twitter but I don’t know what to do with it…
Kinda feels like I got “assimilated” by “The Borg”…
and my resistance is futile…
I wish more real estate bloggers used entrecard!
I don’t know why but I just can’t get into Twitter. It seems so time consuming to me…I suppose it could be worthwhile, but I’m not someone who feels the need to constantly tell people what I’m doing and see what they are doing.
I am sure I might be missing out on some social networking opportunities that way, it definitely seems like a great way to get a following…
Hmmm…maybe one of these days