Transcendent Web 2.0
(Web 2.0 makes people smarter)
The first part of this two part article is Explaining Web 2.0.
Stage 3) Collective intelligence
The higher order of Web 2.0 is the potential to understand a topic at an intensely detailed level. Many tech pundits believe we're far from the tipping point; that's an indication of where we are on the internet timeline (it's still early!). Ignoring the arcane details of the "semantic web", Web 3.0 and the visions of the ideal internet, Web 2.0 amasses various perspectives and data from the masses. This content is presented and filtered through Web 2.0 applications like blogs, wikis, mashups, YouTube (or any other video content bank) and Facebook - and over time, begin to fill out the soft details around the hard facts that are generally known about a topic.
Before the web appeared, enterprises were seeking solutions to data integration - getting data to talk with each other via systems - geekthink at its apex. With Web 2.0, it becomes evident that data transparency, the act of exposing data and content online, will fuel collective intelligence. One can assume that only 15 years ago, just a handful of sci-fi writers could predict that everybody would have an online voice today.
Access to collective intelligence directly affects industries - real estate, law, medicine - that have historically relied on specific, often arcane or hidden knowledge as the basis for value. Among online participants are individuals and groups who understand these opaque industries and their niches much more clearly and timely than journalistic sources or even research organizations and investment advisors who follow these industries for a living. They may be industry insiders who write blogs, participate in news aggregation sites like Digg and Reddit and tag articles of others who they also consider credible and knowledgeable.
Insiders who don't participate online don't get recognized... those insiders that "publish" on the web with credibility become thought leaders.
This is my advice to all real estate professionals.
Technorati Tags: web 2.0, web 3.0, connectsf, social networking, mashups, user generated content, semantic web, lead generation, real estate marketing
"Insiders who don't participate online don't get recognized... those insiders that "publish" on the web with credibility become thought leaders."
Excellent point. Many professionals in the fields you mentioned are leery about disseminating the information they currently hold. This is a mistake IMO because the information will eventually be available. Those leaders who embraced the new transparency and participated in this new world will be looked upon favorably while those who are still trying to control the information and keep it to themselves will lose trust and credibility.
Social media and web 2.0 offers great potential for true sharing of information and empowering the average person. The leaders in every industry needs to understand and embrace this to gain the trust (and business) of the public at large.
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Excellent points! We're using such Web 2.0 strategies to build our business, as well as using them for our business. In fact, we're going to be releasing a new product soon that will take our Web 2.0 presence up a notch.
I'm looking forward to hearing more about your thoughts on Web 2.0.
I also agree with your point:
"Insiders who don't participate online don't get recognized... those insiders that "publish" on the web with credibility become thought leaders."
I'm using ActiveRain and EZineArticles.com to offer advice and my experience on a wide variety of topics related to commercial real estate, Web 2.0, value-added services, etc.
It's this "collective experience" that will help us all to be successful.
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Trying to control and confine information during The Information Age is a futile cause.
Big real estate seems to finally be coming around and at least listening to what 'we', the gnatty bloggers, have been saying for quite sometime...further evidenced by NAR's heavy presence at the Inman Connect, a conference that was once deemed witchcraft by Big Brother.
At the closing of the last panel of Inman SF, I was serendipitously allowed to make the final comment, which consisted of words of encouragement to abandon the 'confine and control' models and to foster a more open/sharing philosophy, which was (surprisingly) met with applause.
Afterwards I was walking the hallway when a Realtor who was in his mid-upper 40's (I think) and worked under one of the big name broker houses approached me about my comment. I thought I was about to get an earful of what Glenn Kelman typically receives, when he shook my hand and said the NAR needs to get their heads out of the a**es and the status quo needed to stop drinking their Kool-Aid. This rendered me speechless...I could only smile, shake his hand, and gave him my card.
Thanks to educators such as yourself Pat, things are changing in these industries...I enjoy your eloquent and succinct writing...
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Hey Pat,
Really great write up here. We (OnBoard) were at Connect as well and noticed the same topics in the air. As a content provider to much of the Real Estate industry - from Move.com and CB to Money Magazine's Best Places and the NY Times, etc. - we've recently been challenged by many of our clients to help them add collective intelligence and content to their sites and user experiences without running into steering, slander and other legal issues. Oh the muddy waters of Real Estate legality!
I run the product development group at OnBoard and we were excited by this challenge and launched a new product at Inman called "SpotIt". Coldwell Banker and Douglass Elliman jumped on board right way as launch partners. The product allows agents, end users, seller - well really anyone - to point out the best things about their neighborhoods and see how that compares to the collective wisdom on the street. Beneath the skin is a collaboration and aggregation engine - areas we have a lot of experience with.
Unlike most Web 2.0 initiatives, our focus always has been improving our clients' business process and bottom line. Here we can engage agents by giving them tools that promote them as neighborhood experts through their participation in a meaningful way. And facilitate the communication of those things that make agents stand out - their market knowledge - to web site visitors without having to read lots of descriptive text. We're doing this through the framework of 13,000 defined neighborhoods and millions of businesses and locations that are already out in the marketplace through our product lines.
You can find info on this product at http://www.onboardllc.com/prod_SpotIt.html but it will really start to shine once our partners finish their internal rollouts. In the meantime, let us know if we can give you anymore info.
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Pat - I'm dropping this comment here because you were first to tell me about Trulia Voices. It appears to me that Trulia Voices is becoming a forum for real estate agents to post questions they already have opinions on or answers to as a means of trying to get their names in front of ???? each other ????
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Hey John, just returned from holiday... we noticed that Trulia Voices does have a B2B angle, but lately more real consumers have been populating the Voices boards. I think it's just another symptom of the evolution of Web 2.0 services in the real estate world.
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