Real Estate's Social Networks / by Drew Meyers
Categories: Technology, Thank you, Events and Premieres, Blogging
Hail to the Yankee Blog Swap!
My post today is over at Zillow Blog, and Drew Meyers, editor of the Zillow Blog, moves to Transparent to give us a fine overview on real estate's social networks. A quick note - Drew and I spent a lot of time together bouncing ideas off each other, and we enjoyed the process of preparing for the Blog Swap. May there be many more; it's a fine way to develop relationships. Check out the list of swappers below Drew's article, or at Yankee Blog Swap.
--pk
REAL ESTATE'S SOCIAL NETWORKS
First of all, we – the Zillow Blog team and I – are delighted to appear on Transparent Real Estate’s blog and have the opportunity to visit with a different audience. Or, we assume it’s a different audience. Maybe it’s not since real estate bloggers and readers have a tendency to travel in similar circles, so here’s a quick hello to Greg, Ardell, Dustin and other RCG contributors, Mary, the Sellsius guys, Joel, Douglas, Christine, Jon, and Maureen (sorry I can't name everyone).
It seems appropriate to devote this post to the topic of networking in the real estate blogosphere (*REB,* for short). It’s amazing how close-knit the lead real estate bloggers have become in the past year - numerous friendships have even been built via blogging. Clearly, blogging by real estate professionals has just started to take off. If you’re thinking about starting a blog in 2007, our advice is: "go for it". The lesson here should be: contribute and participate (and do it often) because it's impossible to build valuable relationships by just reading blogs.
Looking back, there were a few important initiatives in 2006 that have resulted in a stronger RE Blogosphere:
- Active Rain. Zillow's David Gibbons is a member of the AR community, though being on the technology side, he is in the minority. There are 11,000+ real estate bloggers on Active Rain. The vibrancy of the conversations is fascinating (some bloggers average over 30 comments per post). AR seems like a great place for RE Professionals to network with their peers and learn from the collective knowledge of the community.
- The Carnival of Real Estate. Since the carnival began in July, it’s had good support from RE bloggers. Participating is simple -- just submit your best post each week and then read the top posts highlighted by the carnival’s host (this week's edition). I hope that the other CoRE participants have built relationships with at least one other participant due to the carnival – I know we’ve met some fantastic bloggers through this project.
- The Rise of MyBlogLog. If one service were selected for its ubiquity amongst real estate bloggers (and bloggers in general), MyBlogLog may be it. Over the past few months, many real estate blogs that have added the MBL "Recent Readers" widget that displays the list of faces you’re no doubt familiar with. MBL puts a face on your blog’s readers and enables you to find "diamonds in the rough" by clicking through to their blogs. You can also contact individual bloggers via the service and leave them a personal message on MBL.
- The Yankee Blog Swap. The Yankee Blog Swap is a creative idea – and judging by the energy behind this first event, it seems to have taken off. Guest bloggers are not a new concept to blogging. For instance, Jim at Real Estate Tomato has had Teresa Boardman write two guest posts over the past few weeks. The Yankee Blog Swap aims to extend the concept of guest blogging to a larger audience within the REB -- here is a submission form if you'd like to be included in future swaps.
Blogging is an important part of real estate networking – it’s both fun and valuable. The REB is a large place and it’s growing everyday. There is a vast amount of knowledge being shared that can help you grow your business -- participating in the REB community helps build relationships with knowledgeable professionals. Be sure to check out the fantastic articles from the blog swap participants! Mary deserves a huge THANK YOU for putting this event together -- and Zillow Blog looks forward to future blog swaps. Of course, thanks to Pat for allowing us the opportunity to reach his audience. Happy blog swapping!
Thank you Drew and Zillow Blog! Read all the Yankee Blog Swap posts!
RSS Pieces’ Mary McKnight vs. Future of Real Estate Marketing’s Joel Burslem
St Paul Real Estate Blog’s Teresa Boardman vs. Phoenix Real Estate Guy's Jay Thompson
3 Ocean Real Estate’s Kevin Boer vs. SLC Real Estate’s Nigel Swaby
Issaquah Undressed’s Larry Cragun vs. Maury Properties’ Andrew Maury
Chicago Home Weblog's Geno Petroche vs. NY Houses 4 Sales’ Christine Forgione
Phoenix Arizona Real Estate Blog's Jonathan Dalton vs. Real Estate Snippets Bonnie Erickson
The boys of Sellsius vs. Real Estate Tomato’s Jim Cronin
ML Podcast’s Michael Price vs. FamousAgents.com’s Elise Wright
My Tech Opinion’s Reggie Nicolay vs. Ubertor’s Steve Jagger
Redfin's Glenn Kelman vs Rain City's Ardell DellaLoggia
CondoDomain's Anthony Longo vs. miOaklandCounty's Maureen Francis
The San Diego Home Blog’s Kris Berg vs. Urban Dig’s Noah Rosenblatt
The Property Monger's Jon Ernest vs. XBroker's Jeff Corbett
Realty Blogging's Richard Nacht vs. The Mortgage Reports' Dan Green
Christian Real Estate Network's Justin Smith vs. Wanna Network's Tony Senna
Sacramento Voice's Gena Riede vs. Atlanta 575 Real Estate's Brad Nix
Technorati Tags: Yankee Blog Swap, Zillow, Zillow Blog, social networking, social networks, Active Rain, Carnival of Real Estate, MyBlogLog,
Excellent summary of a lot of significant stuff Drew. The REB is truly a small (though expanding) world.
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Wow, Drew, that was a comprehensive overview of the real estate social stratosphere. I covered the semantic web today over on Joel's blog and can't wait to see how some of the social channels you mentioned here utilize SIOC and FOAF technologies to further their networks and relevancy.
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Great Swap and good post educating those who are getting started in blogosphere and good plug for AR!
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Some great stuff, Drew. I don't know what SIOC or FOAF is but I agree with you that Mary did an outstanding job with swap. It's been fun visiting everyone.
All 4 things that you mentioned, ActiveRain, The Carnival, MyBlogLog and the Blog Swap have helped me to get back in to RE blogging. The community that is being built is fantastic and I'm so appreciative for all of the other bloggers out there who are willing to share their opinions and ideas. It's helping me to expand my mind and be better at what I do.
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Thanks Drew for a great swap post. Yes, Real Estate Blogland is a close knit community and Zillow's Carnival and Mary's Yankee Blog Swap are great ways to bring us closer still. MBL and AR are great sites for sharing of information and making contacts. There's more to come.
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Nice post Drew, I come here to be educated, and as always I was. I have made many friends this year in cyber space. My family worries about me because they are not sure if you are my imaginary friends or real.
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Indeed, this brave new world of blogging is helping create relationships across the country. I've half-jokingly told my family that if they want to know what's up in my life, don't wait for a phone call or an email -- just read my blog!
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I can't wait until the next Yankee Swap as these great posts (like this one) makes me wish I had brought my "A" game. I got into this late (yesterday) and rushed throught it, but you can count on me trying to catch up soon. Great job guys!
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Drew - this really was a great post. You covered alot of areas that are great places for people who are thinking of starting to blog. You intergrated all the important pieces very well. This really was alot of fun!
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Thank you for the kind comments everyone. I was skiing all day today and did not get a chance to look at this until just now. I'm looking forward to an even stronger REB in 2007!
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Great synopsis of the impact blogging had on real estate this year. In the past, 2004 was concluded to be the year of the blog, but I'd have to suggest that, so far as real estate is concerned, 2006 qualifies. I look for great things to happen in 2007 as well. More and more Realtors are getting a whiff of blogging and many more will surely dip their toes in the water. Our company is banking on that!
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