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Is Google+ Isolating Us?

Steve Castaneda — Mon, 08 Aug 2011 20:05:36 +0000

Social networking is all about building relationships. Since that buzz word has become hot, this has pretty much been hammered into our heads through training and what the experts predict to be the trend in online social networking.

That’s why Adriel Nation’s post on Google+ yesterday really caught my attention. He brings to light some very good points:

Its (Google+) sharing architecture actively contradicts tribe behavior and isolates the individual. You can create any type of group you like with circles – but the other group members don’t choose to be there. You can mark someone as a friend and they have no choice in the matter, whether to affirm or deny. They don’t even know what you’ve called the circle you’ve put them in.

What Adriel believes is that the inherent grouping nature of other social platforms like Twitter or Facebook is the key towards driving the social relationships you’re building forward. The anonymity of circles, and your place in other user’s circles, violates this golden rule and inadvertently isolates Google+ users.

It’s different; that’s for sure. Different isn’t always good, but I would of preferred Google to do something different than to “+1″ themselves as another typical social network competing for traffic and users. Google+ is their take on social networking; their attempt to be fresh.

Not all Google products have been slam dunks (read: Google Wave). Google+ still has a lot of room to mature and it’s presence in headlines lately affirms that it’s getting the attention it needs as a new product to take baby steps in the right direction.

Is Google+ Isolating Us? was originally posted at TechForAgents.com - News, tools, and tips for techie real estate agents.

Trulia Adds Social Recommendation Tool

Steve Castaneda — Fri, 29 Jul 2011 14:59:45 +0000

Real estate agents generally have two main ways of obtaining new clients: client referral/word-of-mouth or through marketing (this includes cold calling). I’m sure we all can agree that a word-of-mouth referral from a past client is a much higher quality lead than a traditional cold call.

Trulia has taken steps to help agents use this to their advantage. When a new user signs up to look for properties, they have the option to connect their Facebook account. Trulia then scans their friends list to find other users at Trulia. If any of your friends has recommended an agent at Trulia, then this will reflect when searching for one yourself. Pretty nifty, eh?

I think this feature is definitely a step in the right direction. This is basically like picking up the phone and asking a friend, “Do you know of a good real estate agent?”. Social sites like Facebook and Twitter are really adding a new dynamic towards lead generation that all real estate agents should consider when evaluating their marketing strategy.

Read more about this along with a possible IPO for Trulia over at Techcrunch.com.

Trulia Adds Social Recommendation Tool was originally posted at TechForAgents.com - News, tools, and tips for techie real estate agents.

Facebook Users Getting Older

Steve Castaneda — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 19:07:49 +0000

One of the ways a real estate agent can step foot into the online lead generation business is to begin experimenting with social networking. Just like a traditional real estate business, often times your first leads comes from those you know. Networking online with your friends and family is another way to tap into those leads you’ve been neglecting.

Facebook is one, if not the most popular online social networking site today. You’ll find friends and family, co-workers and bosses, neighbors and future clients all sharing their thoughts and comments on updates listed publicly for everyone to see.

Initially, most real estate agents thought Facebook was a place for kids to fool around with. Similar to MySpace, Facebook was a site that could be a pothole of wasted time with no real results; there’s only a bunch of kids there anyway, right?

Not so fast. A recent study by iStrategyLabs shows that Facebook’s users are on average older, and this trend is progressing at a rapid pace. Thanks to Mashable who pointed this out today, and also had this to say:

As you can see in the chart below, the overall number of users between 18 and 24 years of age has grown only 4.8% between the fourth of January and the fourth of July of 2009. In comparison, the number of users aged 25 – 34 has grown 60.8%; the number of users aged 35 to 54 has grown 190.2%, while the number of users older than 55 years has grown a tremendous 513.7%. – Mashable

Click on the link to Mashable in the quote to see the actual chart.

What this tells me is that there are more potential, high-quality leads at Facebook. In my eyes, a higher quality lead is one that may have purchased before, knows the process, and is more stable and ready to make decisions. You’ll see this among older individuals – which is exactly where the user base of Facebook is improving.

Now is a great time to create your account at Facebook and begin networking with those you already know online. You’ll be surprised how many people who are close to you are already sharing information with each other which keeps them closer connected. Get in the mix; stay in the loop!

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Facebook Users Getting Older was originally posted at TechForAgents.com - News, tools, and tips for techie real estate agents.