What fixes or features would you implement on Twitter if you were one of the principles? If I could fix something simple it would be to give each user control over the “blogroll” aka people you follow list that shows on the right side bar. This “following” widget shows the last 36 people or companies you have followed. What if you could choose the 36 people or companies who are displayed in this widget? This widget then becomes a true blogroll and it’s functionality becomes very important. This is what I could accomplish with this new feature:

8 Reasons to Make “Following” Widget a Functional Blogroll

• Showcase: I could provide exposure for my most influential people-companies I follow
• Best of Class: my following widget could be populated with the best providers of information
• Perception: the perception of me or my company suffers in the eyes of my followers if less than appropriate or different people are showing up in my following widget aka blogroll
• Change: provide each user the ability to change their “blogroll” daily, weekly, or monthly. This would allow me to run blogroll themes. Examples would include best of social media; social media companies, best hyper local resources, best regional information, niche information
• Hashtags: I could feature the most prominent Twitterers from hashtags
• RT: I could feature the most prominent RTers of my information as a recognition and thank you
• DM Abusers: I could feature companies or people who use the DM as a spam messaging channel; This would be a warning system for users
• Unfollowing: this could be a list of people or companies I am about to unfollow

Courtesy Little Engine That Could Wiki

In my last post, I outlined 10 Reasons why Realtors should blog. The post was well received and anointed featured status. As a follow up, I will outline 6 of the most prevalent reasons or push backs, I have heard, on why Realtors do not adopt blogging.

6 Reasons Why Realtors Do Not Adopt Blogging

• Misconception articles must be long:
  
  • A: Blog articles according to usability expert Jakob Nielsen are best very short, succinct, and written in a "short writing" style. My average post run 200-350 words. Further evidence according to Nielsen is the results of his study on reading habits. According to Nielsen, online readers “users have time to read at most 28% of the words during an average visit; 20% is more likely”
• Misconception you must write everyday:
  A: Wrong! Everyday is great but even if you write 1x per week you are ahead of most competitors. If you publish a monthly newsletter, that document alone usually will hold 2-3 articles
• Fear to write publicly:
  A: That happened to me the first few articles. But once I began to formulate a plan (you should do this first) I felt far more comfortable.
  
• Resistant to take on new technology:
  A: This is often the biggest reason people do not blog. In reality like any other learned skill, if you practice you become more familiar with the blog software. This familiarity breeds confidence which in turns makes your more efficient. 
• What do I have to say that has not already been said before?
  A: Most likely nothing. BUT if you can prove you are willing to give people valuable content, many have not read what has already been written. Many people want to understand how you will react in a certain situation. Saying what has already been said is fine--you will develop your own voice
• Who will see my blog?:
  A: Possibly nobody if you do not know how to promote your blog, make it more visible, and be patient. The most important benefit of a blog is the fact it is a delivery system for your ideas and content. By delivering url-hyperlinks you can send people your information through other social networks, via email, or any number of sites like Active Rain

Jorn Barger Blog Pioneer

Courtesy Jorn Barger Wiki

As Business Director for Inner Architect, my first priority is solidifying relationships with prospective clients in our industries of choice. Before we focused on Direct Marketing driven social media marketing strategies for corporations, our first niche of focus was the employment niche.

As early as June of 2008, we began writing about how important blogging would be to job seekers in finding a new position. Throughout 2008 and through Q1 of 2009 we continued to postulate and support blogging as the near perfect method for job seekers to differentiate themselves in landing a job. Unfortunately our messages mostly fell on deaf ears–leaving us no choice but to look for other niches more willing to leverage blogging in their businesses.

Although many Realtors have adopted blogging, the vast majority (like job seekers) have ignored the benefits and failed to adopt blogging for their businesses. If you plan on staying in real estate for 5+ years, the following list of "Reasons" should make the payoff worth the effort.

In today’s world, Corporations, small businesses, and entrepreneurs have adopted blogging in a steady stream since the advent of Web 2.0. The actual number of established blogs is in debate, yet the rough estimate is that their are over 150,000,000 blogs in existence today.

The vast majority of Realtors are not  adopting blogging as a method and tool in their job search. Although this group has the need, and blogs are the nearly perfect application, the move to adoption is almost non existent. The following are 10 reasons why Realtors should blog.

10 Reasons Realtors Should Adopt Blogging

1. Publishing Platform: a blog is the writing platform to begin creating content about you
2. Control: blogging allows job seekers the opportunity to control their own information about their expertise and experience
3. Delivery: blogs are delivery systems for a job seeker’s content. The url for articles can be delivered to potential employers that currently blog
4. Networking: a blog allows Realtors to meet other bloggers; hopefully those new connections work for their targeted companies
5. New Skills: by adopting blogging, Realtors begin to learn about Web 2.0, social networks, blog software, delivering links, and how the new paradigm shift of information is being formulated everyday
6. Perception: Realtors that blog are perceived as being more savvy, as younger due to the perception that social media-blogging is a young person’s activity, and more relevant to employers because of these new skills
7. Visibility: blogging allows Realtors more visibility as a blog is “open” 24 hours a day, 7 days per week. It is a organic, living resume
8. Reputation Management: blogging provides a tool for Realtors to deliver messages that can correct or challenge erroneous information about them online
9. Due Diligence: when people perform due diligence on a Realtor, the first place they begin is with a Google search. Prospective clients are looking for information in Google (and online) that will give them a clue as to that Realtor's understanding of the internet. Equally important is the fact that prospects are also searching for any bad behavior or personal information that might signal the Realtor is unfit to become a service provider
10. Research: blogging requires research. Research requires skills in searching and finding information online which is a new skill for many job seekers. Research into specific subject matters that pertain to a job opening will increase a job seekers knowledge base on that subject

The following article first appeared on my blog deansguide. It documents the benefits of utilizing Hubspot's free measurement tools in determining your blog's effectiveness and overall condition. Hubspot also features a free online marketing report at the end of your Website Grader report. You receive two free tools at no cost. 

Handshake Wiki

One of the most intriguing networking strategies for Realtors has yet to be truly leveraged here in Northern California. The idea is simple: Realtors should seek partnerships with employment agencies and individual headhunters as their next referral niche. At the same time, employment agencies and their individual headhunters should be targeting successful relocation agents for referral opportunities

Benefits of Networking with Employment Agencies

• Lead Generation: employment agencies deal with job loss which often results in a necessary quick sale of primary property, investment property, or vacation home sales
• Partnership: Realtors who partner with employment agencies could have an added value over their competition if they are privy to jobs, the hidden job market, and can guide people to those positions
• Value Add: relocation agents could market their services with the special value add of  employment information via their employment agency partnerships. They become the go-to source of employment information for their region or niche. Ex: Silicon Valley would be a prime place for an aggressive agent to become a go-to source of employment information
• Employment Agency Associations: by networking with employment agencies the possibility of involvement into employment agency associations could accelerate the referral process
• Speaking Engagements: joining or being invited to speak at Employment Agency Associations would provide more opportunities to broadcast your business to a new audience

The following experiment was documented on deansguide. The #1 Twitter resource I use is http://Twitter.com/Twitter_Tips . Although the following idea is not new, as pointed out to me by Twitter_Tips, it is important to think outside the box. I believe if you follow the instructions, you will be able to leverage your relationships on Twitter even more than in the past.

In what was purely a chocolate meets peanut butter accident, ReTweeting took on a new possibility for me. I am not sure if this is a new Twitter strategy or simply a “renaming” of something old. With that spirit in mind, I decided to combine a RT with a with a blog article I produced. For lack of a better phrase, let’s call this new experiment: ReTweet Combos or RTC for short.

What is a RTC?

A ReTweet combo is the combination of a tweet you feel is valuable enough to recognize, by ReTweeting, and one of your own articles or that of another resource.  Here is an example of my first ReTweet Combo:

In the example, I am ReTweeting @mashable’s tweet about UCLA’s Study that describes how searching on the internet activates your brain. The second bit.ly link is to my deansguide article “Twiter Strategies: How Smart Do You Want To Be?” which describes how research on Twitter will make you smarter and more relevant.

Benefits of ReTweet Combos

• Recognize Your Resources: your RT recognizes your resources of people and companies
• Building: by adding your own article or an outside source you are building upon the original RT idea
• Authority by Association: by adding a link to your work you could be tied to that person-company’s concept
• Networking: this could open up the lines of communication for networking

Possible Negatives of ReTweet Combos

• Authority by Association: the original source of the tweet may not want to have a “partner” in a RT
• Disagreement: the original source may not agree with your link regardless of whether it is your work or that of a 3rd party
• Recognition: the original source’s information could be overshadowed by your information if it is stronger or more relevant

Before Twitter became my biggest resource for research, I was an old schooler stuck with a library card. From that library card, came the advent of the internet and portals–places information flowed from with little structure. And from that evolution came the dawning of the Web 2.0 social media paradigm shift we have today. Although Twitter.com is not the biggest or the baddest social network on the block–they do hold one major distinction–real time instantaneous access to valuable information.

Why Twitter Is The Resource for Information

• Real Time: instantaneous information links
• Multitude: information from every niche, subject matter, topic, and genre can be found on Twitter
• Freemium: the information is free, it is not charged for except in the case of the “old school” news agencies unwilling to understand that information is becoming an “open source” commodity
• Authority: forgetting the welebrities for a moment, some of the smartest most brilliant new thought leaders from many niches share their research, expertise, studies, and cases
• Crowdsourcing: information can be examined, commented upon, and scrutinized via the masses with new information formulated based on these “group” efforts
  Courtesy The Big Cartoon Database

Grow Your Brain On Twitter

Twitter is like your diet. If you choose to consume junk and crap you will end up with a bad body. But if you choose to be careful and mindful of what you consume, perform your due diligence, and be open minded–the sky is the limit. Here is how to get started:

• Identify Niche(s): before you can learn you must target the niche(s) you want to learn about in depth
  How: that is up to you so look within for this answer
• Create Lists: once you have your niche(s) you need to create rough lists of people-companies to follow that fit your research needs. These lists will change as you become aware of more resources. Note: always be willing to experiment & tweak your list(s)
  How: you can use any number of Twitter applications to create lists. Some of the favorites are Tweetdeck, Hootesuite, and soon to be “Lists” function on Twitter
• Search For Sources: roll up your sleeves and begin looking. Start with wefollow.com, try Twazzup.com, utilize Twitter’s internal search engine, & look on Google
  How: list your keywords & keyword phrases relevant to finding your sources; input these keywords with relevant factors like region, geography, or demographics if they apply
• Due Diligence: once you have your list of resources, begin to follow their tweets. Perform some due diligence by going through their tweets to make sure they are the right source for you
• Mine The Blogroll: after finding each important resource (person-company) mine their blogroll of people-companies they follow. Note: this is often an accelerated way to gain new resources to follow
• Save Your Links: once you begin to utilize Twitter you will find massive amounts of important links containing great information. The fastest way to bookmark, bank, these links is by using the “Favorites” button. By favoriting a tweet you automatically save it in your “Resource Bank” for later consumption

Courtesy Bouncer Wiki

Have you ever been stalked? I have. Have you ever had your home robbed? My parent’s home was robbed. Have you ever been confronted by an unknown person? I have. Security in today’s world is often a consideration we fail to understand. Either we feel safe, we reason we are not celebrities and thus immune, or we do not worry about the subject altogether. Twitter is a wonderful real time communication tool with ramifications if you are not careful. Like real estate, location-location-location, security begins with protecting your plans or location.

Personal Security Risks: Tweets That Tell Too Much?

Transparency is a staple of Web 2.0 and social networks yet how much information is too much? The following are the type of tweets that could be security risks to you or a loved one:

• Locations: tweets that divulge your exact location
  Why: you have no idea who is following your tweet stream and monitoring your whereabouts-giving exact locations places you in a position to be approached; add a close likeness in your bio picture and you are “findable”
• Times: tweets that provide exact times of your location or a location you will be in the future
  Why: these tweets can provide a possible unwanted someone enough information to locate you
• Future Travel: tweets that outline specific travel activities with time or time frames
  Why: the possibility of a burglary, although remote due to address information and other logistics needed, is not impossible considering the amount of information available about you especially when criminals know you are leaving your home

Business Security Risks: Lose Your Job, Business, or Advantage

Like our personal safety, our businesses should remain secure. The following tweets could be a security risk to your business or your job:

• Partnerships: tweeting your new partnerships before they are solid business arrangements
  Why: competitors looking for partners could be monitoring your efforts with an eye on your business partner
• Sales: tweeting your new accounts, new contracts, new consulting gigs
  Why: competitors can quickly act to attempt to under cut price, provide better product or service, and steal your new clients who are yet to be sticky to you or your company
• Future Niche: tweeting your intention to pursue a new niche
  Why: this alerts your competitors of new or fertile ground to be examined. If you believe you are first to the party–don’t tell anyone or you will have company
• Business Travel: telling everyone you are attending a conference filled with your prospects is a sure fire way of attracting added unwanted competitors
• Personal Opinions: As the Ketchum PR disaster already taught us, if you have an opinion detrimental to your customer you would be best to zip it and not say a word.
  Why: if you have to ask why you truly do not get it
• Realtor Open Houses: this is especially ominous. Be careful to have security measures in place before tweeting your open house information
  Why: Incidents of open house crimes are on the rise nationally with murder, rape, attempted rape, assaults, and burglaries some of the felonies committed

In what became a perfect example of why newspapers are failing business models, the Navy’s Blue Angels were forced to cancel their show, in San Francisco, yesterday due to fog conditions. The simple fact that fog was present forcing the Angels to cancel is not the reason American newspapers are going to go under–it’s the lack of breaking news delivery speed. Even worse? I wake up this morning and buy my local newspaper, the Marin Independent Journal a Gannet property, paying $1.25 for my “news.” Yet the news I wanted to read about, the most dominant story in the Bay Area, was not covered. Not even a mention in my Sunday edition.

Why Newspapers Will Fail

• Mobile News: while a crowd of thousands stood around waiting for the Angels to reappear (after an initial flyover) one of the audience members announced that the show was canceled due to fog–he received the information off of his iPhone
• Real Time vs. Their Time: if the “IJ” had run a story the next day on the show’s cancellation it would have at least been the opportunity for the paper to be more thorough by providing interviews or additional information.
• Google Indexing-Where Are They?: In the most telling reason why newspapers will lose, a Google search “Blue Angels Cancel show” the top 10 results:
  • SF Chronicle #7 with no other newspapers in the top 20 first two pages of results
  • CBS, ABC, and bloggers dominated the news capturing the other 9 spots on page one

#1 Reason Why Newspapers Will Fail

Newspaper braintrusts do not understand that breaking news is not a commodity for monetization any longer. Bloggers and more agile online sources are crushing the newspaper industry at their own game. Even the name newspaper is no longer accurate. There is very little news in the papers that has not already been reported hours or even days before online.

Conclusion

Newspapers should monetize and sell their ability to create valuable commentary. Produce expert opinion, how to, or resource information. In essence, newspapers should follow the model of the most successful bloggers who have built audiences based on their ability to be perceived as a go-to source of information important to the audience