Speaking to a Tweeting crowd

This image was posted on Conversion Agent this morning in a great post titled "Twitter Brings Interaction to Events." In it, Valeria Maltoni offers some great tips to speakers on how to craft presentations that are interactive and sustain audience attention.

This is certainly a must read for anyone on the speaking circuit today, especially if you are addressing large audiences from a stage and may have wondered why half the crowd appears to be asleep during your presentation. You can be assuaged of your self doubt and take comfort in the knowledge that all those bowed heads are probably distributing, commenting and conversing about your subject matter to the world at large via Twitter.

Having spoken from large stages, I can vouch for the energy a speaker derives from eye-to-eye contact with the audience. The increasing number of Tweeters wrapped up in their own broadcasting makes that harder to achieve.

Personally, I wonder if the resolve for speakers is as simple as setting up a Twitter account for each presentation with appropriate hashtags, project it live onto the screen, and seamlessly incorporate the comments that ensue directly into their presentation.

There is no doubt that this would complete the circle of social interaction. But in any event, it is clear that speakers who are used to the "1.0" method of addressing a crowd - you presenting and the crowd listening - need to adopt new communication skills for a new kind of audience.

Kinda like every thing else these days.

-- Davison
Twitter:1000wattmarc

Here lies Web 2.0

John Cable published a blog post this past October titled "The End of Web 2.0?"

His end was marked by the drained IV bag of venture capital that no longer pumped its lifeblood into the veins of all the loosey-goosey ideas hatched to amass audience rather than revenue. When the flow stopped, so did they.

Many are now on life support. Last December, Peter Schwartz published this article in the The Huffington Post. He cites the Web's most popular social network, Facebook, and the $300 million they earn as having little impact on the expenses they burn. With ad dollars evaporating and their need to add more servers and personnel, their future, in a way, looks grim. 

Peter talks about Web 2.0 burnout, and the "longing to return to the wholeness of the physical world." That has resonated heavily with me for a while now.

As Peter explains, Facebook grows by reaching new audiences but also recedes as old audiences shut it off. They unhook. And go back to taking long walks, reading books, hanging with real friends and seeking some white space in life. 

Twitter continues to grow at an explosive rate. In better, more fantastical times, fanciful conjecture such the late Portland journalist Russell Shaw's prediction that Google should buy it might be exciting. But this would'nt be too thrilling today unless Twitter or Google could explain how to monetize all those millions of disposable and time sensitive Tweets. 

The true fate of Web 2.0 

In recent months we've read about layoffs in the Web 2.0 space. Jaxter, LastFM, Mahalo, Yoomba, LinkedIn and YouSendit are some of the many firms doing everything they can to weather the storm.    

None of this comes as any surprise given the state of our economy. But does all this point to a pandemic that could wipe out even the most popular Web 2.0 sites? 

It's still too early to tell of course. But we all need to be prepared. There are plenty hanging on for dear life in real estate.

In order to survive they must evolve out of the primordial FREE waters of Web 2.0, deliver real benefits and start charging their users. This presents a challenge to the many people who have been enjoying and benefiting from these no-cost services.

A couple weeks ago real estate's largest online community, Active Rain, enacted a controversial subscription fee for new members. It would be absurd to think that AR could continue operating without finding some way to monetize members who use its platform to build their businesses.

Recently, on Twitter I posed the question, "Would anyone here pay for their Twitter account?" Every single single response I got was "not I."

Really? Mmm. I would. Considering the benefits I've reaped from a free Twitter, I can only imagine what I could garner interacting with a paid membership. The thought of Twitter going away because they can't create revenue from its millions of users who have been spoiled by free is alarmingly sad. 

So given the inevitability that many more Web 2.0 sites will perish, including those inside our own industry, do you have a game plan for what's next when the free service you've been leveraging either goes belly up or starts charging?

You should. After all, it's not likely that door knocking is going to come back into fashion.  

- Davison

Twitter: 1000wattmarc

Google's OpenSocial and the future of the MLS

Brian published this post back on November 6th, 2007. The observations he made then about the social implications and viability of the MLS resonate today -- Marc

I’ve been chewing on the idea of Google’s OpenSocial for the past few days. I’d like to draw some direct connections to real estate, but I’d be stretching. As big a deal as it is in the wider world, it seems but a tangent to the real estate sphere at the moment.

Social networks surely hold opportunity for real estate practitioners. ActiveRain has demonstrated that. But the consumer-facing prospects have yet to come into focus. While examples of blogging success abound, cases of leveraging mass-market social networks to grow a real estate practice are next to non-existent (if you’re aware of one, I’d love to hear about it). And while it is certain that some online real estate companies will develop applications using the OpenSocial APIs, I don’t see any game-changing moves on the horizon.

The real value of the OpenSocial announcement for real estate is thus instructive. An object lesson on what might be – for MLS organizations and the NAR in particular.

Here’s one way we might look at this:

Consider that the MLS is really a social network. Its value has always been much more than as a warehouse for listings. It’s the marketplace, the cooperative -- the network of people with similar interests doing business -- that gives it its juice. Hang a few features off the core interface, say, a facebook-like profile with professional preferences and other elements of the “social graph”, and the decidedly uncool MLS starts looking pretty hip – and much more valuable.

This would be a “socialized” MLS. But one that is still walled in, limited by its increasingly problematic geographic boundaries. But what if NAR ceased conjuring a fantastical “gateway” that will take years to build and created a series of APIs -- children of RETS, if you will – that enabled vendors and MLS organizations themselves to inject simple applications into Web-based MLS systems?

Rather than drawing yet another circle around the outside of the listings world, why not create new pathways into it and let a thousand flowers bloom, as they say?

In this scenario, MarketLinx, Paragon and Rappattoni and the like are the real estate equivalents of LinkedIn, Orkut and Friendster – the parties who adopt the API protocols. Like OpenSocial, these APIs would respect the business and community rules of participating partners. Data integrity and ownership would be protected and worlds of new value would be unlocked for MLS organizations and their members.

Michael Wurzer over at FBS Blog has examined these issues with far greater insight than I have here. And there are MLS organizations cooking up progressive initiatives. But from my position on the periphery, it looks like far more need to embrace and advocate for the ethos represented by OpenSocial if they are to remain competitive.

-- Brian Boero

Real estate on steroids

Stattweets launched today, enabling sports fans to follow their favorite teams, get spreads, scores, standings, ranks etc.

The idea isn't new but their angle is. The content here is broadcast direct from the teams themselves rather than from the arbitrary public. 

Immediate info.
Direct from the source.
I love this.
 
And I would love this from real estate.

Imagine a REStatweets that broadcast Just listed, Just sold, Pending, local stats and spreads from every major, minor and collegiate real estate brand locally and nationally. 

Subscribers might include agents and brokers who would be able to acquire new listing information from any or every one of the brokerage brands listed in the network. If agent A gets a listing right this second, how much time would elapse before that listing is uploaded into the MLS and broadcast to out to the agent population? How much time would it take before it's broadcast out to the marketplace?

REstattweets could reduce that down to seconds. 

This does not replace the MLS. It simply acts a surrogate service that gets the ball rolling quickly. It's a listing alert on steroids. It's an open house alert on steroids. It's what's happening on every block on steroids. 

It's real estate on steroids.
 
Consumers could subscribe too. Now, I know sports engenders a certain fanaticism that you may think real estate does not have. But I'm not dribbling in that end of the logic court. I believe real estate is addictive. I believe it's voyeuristic. And I believe those who work inside it (agents, title reps, mortgage orginators, and the like) as well as those outside - the consumer - possess a healthy passion for it.

Especially now.

Micro-broadcasting in real estate is still in its infancy. Early adopters are currently focused on broadcasting about themselves and what they are doing. I've learned there is value there but I am still convinced that content only has a few seconds of real relevancy and pales in value to reporting useful data. 

Sports might be apples to real estate's oranges. But data is data. Any engine that could power the instant delivery of it is one I believe is worth subscribing to, paying for and driving. 

- Davison
Twitter: 1000wattmarc

Facebook, your brand, and the company you keep

Recently, I shared some thoughts on Facebook here. And subsequently raised questions regarding Twitter here.

I view Facebook with some measure of reserve. It's catching on big in real estate and, while it holds great promise, the stampede to its banks may cause many to overlook the crocs that lie in waiting. 

While I believe it's a place to establish an online persona -- and a far better one than the "About You" section of your website -- there is also something undeniably bizarre and counterfeit about it that fuels my wariness.

Facebook began as a college directory, and, in that guise, the friend network made sense. As it moved beyond the collegiate environment, I toyed with the idea of Facebook as a new White/Yellow Pages that not only offered contact information, but a personal look at those listed and what they're about.

And I thought that was pretty cool.

But over the last year, as Facebook has finally caught on in real estate, I am getting more and more creeped out by the "Friend" thing.

Many of us are guilty of willingly accepting strangers as "friends" on Facebook. And Facebook does not offer a way to distinguish between a true lifelong friend, a casual friend, a client, a reader, a prospect, a stalker, etc. You might think, big deal. But next time you go check someone's Facebook profile and notice they have 3,000 friends, I wonder how honest of a representation you'll find that to be.

Through this mish-mash of associations, those who are really your true friends -- those whose own brands and reputations stand as testimony to yours by virtue of a true connection -- become diluted.

For the casual Facebook user, this might not mean a darn thing. But for a real estate person who intends to derive professional value from it, one who is seeking ways to offer a more transparent look inside their business and themselves, I not only question the value of surrounding oneself with hundreds of strangers called friends, I worry about the potential adverse affect this might have on the very reputation you are trying to build.    

I'm not the only one dwelling on this. Meezoog, a startup out of Israel with a core focus on dating, has built a social proximity meter into its platform dealing precisely with this issue. Unlike LinkedIn or Facebook or most social networks that allow us to play in the six degrees of separation game, Meezoog believes that placing a value on our connections is not only important, but serves to enhance the trust which, in their world, the one of dating, could lead to compatibility.

In our real estate world that very same trust leads to building a better brand.

This is an interesting and consequential development in light of the user generated love-in that has characterized the Web 2.0 phenomenon.

I won't deny the success many in real estate have had scraping Facebook's surface for business and or marketing opportunities, much like I won't deny the success some have had scraping bus benches, shopping carts, bus tours and magnets combing for opportunity. 

But I worry about the mark all these things place on the balance sheet of our brand P&L. After all, you are the friends you keep. 

What if we could evaluate our Facebook friends and categorize them according to who they really are in our world? That would be great. As it turns out, Meezoog plans to offer their proximity meter to other social platforms such as Facebook, which would allow users to do something close to what I am suggesting.

Wow. 

As we continue to show and tell ourselves on the grand online stage, we should be be careful about who joins us.

- Davison

Online real estate's final frontier: The neighborhood

We've got a few things pretty much nailed in online real estate. IDX, mapping, and data integration -- they're all reaching a point where innovation comes in small increments. I can see the path forward on mobile applications in real estate. And larger trends like the semantic Web and data portability just seem remote.

But there's one nut no one has cracked: The neighborhood.

It seems so natural. Real estate has always been about neighborhood conversations. Did you hear about the new principal? What'd the 3 bedroom on Sheridan go for? You know a good grout guy? Shouldn't someone, somewhere, be able to capture that with some Web 2.0 magic?

Well, no one has. Plenty have tried:

• ConnectingNeighbors, a sort of proto-local-social application, was (and probably still is) an effective lead generator for agents, but never seemed to spark neighbor-to-neighbor discussion on a large scale
• Fatdoor, once a neighborhood-level social play, changed its business model (and name) before it even emerged from private beta
• PropertyQube, which launched as a local hangout for the "property obsessed," seems, from the look of its website today, much more like Trulia, with a heavier focus on search
• StreetAdvisor and YourStreet still feel vacant to me
• Backfence, in its original incarnation, is gone
• Localism is still in beta-like repose
• VillageMaker, which launched at Inman in January, is something of a Web 2.0 take on the ConnectingNeighbors concept, but is too focused on the Realtor, in my opinion
• Trulia Voices, perhaps the best example of online real estate conversation, is more rooted in topic than place; Zillow Q&A is tied to specific properties and I could not find a single thread in any of the "Neighborhood discussion" fora in my area.

Why is this space still ripe for innovation?

Well, part of me thinks it's a simply a non-starter. I've written about this before. There's not a lot to suggest that people are eager to meet the neighbors online.

But I also think we've been going about it wrong.

Neighbors do connect when there's an event -- what we called in social science an "exogenous shock." A crime. A policy change. A shift in home values.

I'll give you an example: My neighborhood has a Yahoo! Group, basically a simple email listserv. It binds our community. A few weeks back, a police helicopter descended upon the neighborhood at 3:00 a.m. The next morning I had twenty emails from neighbors who reported in real time on what had happened. By the end of the day, darn near everyone new the deal.

Any time there's a crime, an important city council issue, or a new building going in our little commercial strip, the listserv lights up.

People are moved most effectively by self interest. And those who have attempted to connect people at the neighborhood level haven't really leveraged that. A "conversation" is unlikely to happen without some basic impetus.

There are some clues out there about how someone might nail this.

I'm really intrigued by Everyblock, a site that aggregates things like restaurant inspections, liquor license applications, zoning permits and news at a hyperlocal level. Imagine this information piped into a neighborhood forum. Would rats at the local coffee shop get you talking?

I also think no one has effectively leveraged local market data in a neighborhood social environment. Current market stats are great conversation fodder. And that conversation has value: I can't tell you how many times I've been puzzled by a sale price, and tried to interpret it relative to my own home's value, only to have a neighbor make sense of it with something like, "The Hayward fault runs right under the house."

As I look forward to Inman Connect next month, I'm hoping someone unleashes something cool in this space. I think there's a business there.

-- Brian Boero

The Swiss Army Knife problem

Realseekr launched this week. The site is the newest among a group of IDX-based search plays, which includes Roost, Terabitz, Estately and others.

Here's what I like about it:

1. The listings strategy. IDX is the way to go if you can stomach the legal, political and data hassles
2. The integration of chat and SMS
3. Grant Freer, founder and CEO. He's smart and has an infectious enthusiasm I really like

But these things are overshadowed, in my mind, by a problem that afflicts many in the online real estate category: Lack of focus.

The site, like a Swiss Army Knife, does many things but doesn't do any one thing especially well (if you've ever tried to use the little scissors or saw on the Swiss Army Knife you know what I mean.) It offers some home search, some local/social stuff, blogs, agent search and more. The site suffers from bad information architecture and I struggled with the extremely busy user interface.

One of my favorite books on Website usability is titled "Don't make me think." When I look at the Realseekr home page, I have to think a lot:

Here's just a sample: The consumer and industry facing messaging here is mixed, so I have to parse that. Then I need to think about what the check-marked benefits mean. For example, what does "Make friends and connections" mean here, on a real estate site? As a consumer, I may think, "what does "FSBO" mean?" I also have no idea what "featured properties" means. Why are they here? And in any case, any of these "featured" properties is almost certainly not the one property I ultimately hope to find (if I'm a buyer).

And it's quite possible (again, if I am a consumer) I will not know what any of these three search categories mean:

I'm not picking on Realseekr. I just think it's the most recent example of a larger trend in online real estate: Scope creep, feature bloat, Swiss Army Knife Syndrome ... whatever you want to call it -- there's too much out there that's too complicated.

I've been thinking this about Zillow for some time now. It does not suffer from the IA and usability problems Realseekr does, but it nonetheless seems a bit scattered to me.

I think about this like the difference between going to a barbeque and going to get a haircut. At the barbeque, I'm up for anything: A beer, a margarita, a little frisbee, some grilling and playing around with the kids. When I go to the barber, I'm there for one reason, and there's no confusion about what I'm going to get.

Online real estate, for those who are serious, is more like getting a haircut. I want something: A home, a mortgage, an agent -- not a half-satisfying taste of everything seasoned with a sprinkle of serendipity.

There are exceptions, of course. Companies that get lifestyle media and marketing can pull off a more experiential, less utilitarian sort of site. The thousands of Active Rain members demonstrate that real estate pros are willing to socialize online.

I just don't think that's where most will succeed.

The brass ring lies in making something complicated astonishingly simple.

-- Brian Boero

Today's open social, a legacy from the past

If you think your customers know you because of your website bio, think again.
If you think you create loyalty from a simple brand statement, think again.
If you think all this innovation separates you from tradition, please think again.

The Past

Every Friday morning, as a boy, I joined grandma on her weekly trek to the butcher. Shelly knew exactly what kind of chicken grandma preferred for the Sabbath meal. It  was bagged when we arrived. Her name, scribbled across the wrapping. A few  marrow bones thrown in for her soup. No charge. And a sugary bow tie cookie for me.

Every so often as a boy, I'd join grandpa to the shoe repair store. Mario, the owner, was a tiny man dwarfed by stacks of shoes and shoe parts. His olive skin held a shiny patina from all the polish he handled. "Marco Polo!" he'd scream as I entered his shop. "Looka how bigga you get." Even if he hadn't seen me for a year. Even though I had hardly grown.

Back then, New York's Lower East Side was our Internet. These shops were our destination sites of choice. The owners garnered loyalty the old fashioned way -- by being there. Holding court. Playing to the crowd of visitors, customers, members.

They'd talk and joke -- share their opinions about anything.

Shelly and Mario were yesterday's webmasters. Social networks' architects. They epitomized the very essence of what "local" meant. When I think of them, memories overtake me. They had an intimate relationship with their customers. Chicken is chicken, but there was only one Shelly.

Sometimes, the conversations inside their stores were about politics. Sometimes it was about sports. Often, it was about the neighborhood. Who did what to whom. Who bought a new car. What home was for sale. Sometimes, it was idle banter.

But  it was always real. Honest. It mimicked life. And it was the foundation of their business.

Today

Meet Tony. Zappos resident shopkeeper. Standing behind his counter. Like Shelly, garnering loyalty the old fashioned way. By being there.  Sharing his thoughts. Playing to the Zappos crowd.

I received a Twitter message last week regarding his thoughts on service. It prompted me to go to the Web site. I shopped around and ordered three pairs of Doc Martins -- sneaker shoes and a pair of summer sandals. Asked for 3-4 day delivery. They arrived the next day. Just like his tweet suggested.

Tomorrow

I  know this whole Web 2.0 stuff is seemingly fleeting, trendy and difficult to  measure.

I know it can be argued that so much of what is being twittered about -- especially in real estate -- is hardly quotable, and borderline rubbish.

I know that discounting many of Web 2.0's higher possibilities is a predominant sensibility in real estate especially among die-hard traditionalists holding onto old-fashioned ways.

But I submit that what you are discounting is deeply rooted in good old-fashioned tradition. I submit that if applied correctly, blogs, Twitter and the like could very well be the vehicle by which those old-fashioned ideologies we honor so dearly can be resurrected.

I submit that these Web 2.0 tools stand to better connect you with your customers than the template, static, boilerplate Web tools you have been using for the last 10 years.

Nostalgia

Shelly or Mario never said anything all that memorable. But the social experiences inside their establishments have lingered for 40 years.

Your establishment is online. This is where conversations must now take place. To fight this inevitability is to buck the very tradition you hold dear. Real estate begins with a conversation, and what better way to start and carry one than with the array of free 2.0 tools at your fingertips?

Granted, learning how to properly use these tools might be an arduous swim upstream. But sometimes a trip back to the past is where you can birth a new future.

What  have you got to lose?

- Davison

The masked ball

I am a big believer in the power of social media. They -- or, it, really -- enables meaningful connections; it's a solvent of unnatural barriers that stifle talent; it explodes the wall of cant that brands and service providers place between themselves and customers in the name of "marketing."

But lately, in the back of my mind, I've been a little uneasy with where all this is headed.

There's something counterfeit among the blog posts, comments, social network connections and fora. I'm speaking here of the business to consumer side of things, where the promise, and the stakes, are highest.

While on the surface something like Trulia Voices or any number of agent or broker blogs may evidence plenty of open, no-pressure interaction, the sort of conversation many of us venerate, what really is there that's real here?

Social media promises humanity, but I often find it more like a masked ball, a place where cads and opportunists dart about behind avatars, user names or personas that serve to obscure, rather than illuminate, what's underneath.

For every pro who manages to channel excellence into this new medium, there are a dozen who rise to the bait of a consumer query like a trout to a fly, gobbling up "engagement" promiscuously. For every master blogger, there's a copy and paste artist feeding search engines but leaving consumers hungry.

There is thus a big signal to noise ratio in real estate social media. I wonder if the static will overtake the message entirely, if consumers will tune out.

Social media only works as a marketing strategy for agents and brokers if there's something behind the posts: A track record, a deep expertise, a capacity for interpersonal communication, something, anything, that marks one as great. I see too many jumping into this because it seems easy, because someone told them to do it, or because there's nothing else to do amid a slow market. And that's unfortunate.

I get asked a lot about social media strategy. Before I say anything else, I tell people -- whether they're making decisions for themselves or entire organizations -- that they must have something to say, they must be able to say it well, and, if that's the case, must throw themselves into it with the same seriousness they bring to their most critical business endeavors.

Right now, it feels to me like too many are just throwing on the mask.

-- Brian Boero

Exodus from the bondage of 1.0 tradition

"Hey babe, looking for a dream home?"
"Hey good looking, wanna check out my testimonials?"
"Hey toots, wanna search my database?"
 
Like catcalls from construction workers to pedestrians, false bravado, come-ons and innuendo continue to adorn broker websites. They stand as a gripping example of how out of touch brokers are with the times. 

It's getting old.
It makes no sense anymore.
And it's not what real estate is really about.

Why is that consumers can learn more about your agents and how they think sourcing them on Trulia Voices than combing through the About Our Agents section of your websites? Why is the conversation still so one-sided, replete with greetings from seasons gone by, navigation vases filled with rank, stale content and littered with sales pitch cant?

Honestly, it's blowing my mind.

Brokers, your web presence could be your lifeblood. More than you know. But the way you've gone about it, they've become your biblical Nile. Lifeless. A bloody body of vanishing traffic, relevance and importance.

I know the rap. Websites are expensive. You need to re-do them every two years. Yawn.

Chase Nation - one company, having endured the recent plagues of real estate, is making its exodus from 1.0 captivity and heading out to find a new promised land. Built courtesy of Ning.

There's no guarantee that consumers or their agents will sign up and join. Time will tell. But what makes this important is the departure this broker has taken from the bondage of traditional thinking. It's what a leader does. It's the fire at night that hovers high leading the way.

I was invited to this network last week.
I signed in.
And I began to converse with an agent.

And it was good.

- Davison