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It's Time to Start Paying Serious Attention to Facebook

By
Real Estate Agent with Better Homes & Gardens Mason McDuffie Real Estate

Outside of Facebook F8The world of tech is buzzing from today's big news that Facebook, the sixth most trafficked site on the internet is opening it's API and transforming itself from merely a social network into a technology platform on which anyone can build applications for social computing.

Facebook is growing rapidly right now.  They already have 24 million members and growing at about 150,000 per day and the fastest growing demographic is the 25 and up age group.  Active users have doubled since Facebook expanded registration in Sept 2006.  

Supposedly, anyone will have access to Facebook's so-called "markup language," which is intended to be usable even by those with basic programming skills.  Not only am I excited to see what companies like Trulia, Zillow & Move end up developing for this platform, I'm also itching to see what I'll be able to build myself.
 
So, what does this mean for real estate professionals?  I see it as just another social media tool for us to add to our online arsenal.  Not only do we have our own websites and blogs (or a combination of both), we also have ActiveRain, Trulia voices, Zillow, del.icio.us, Twitter (see my earlier post) and now the new Facebook platform.  
 
Social networking is becoming a full time job onto itself; I say this because it pretty much is for me.  I spend a majority of my work day using these tools in order to build our network and identify the nodes within that network that our team can provide value to in order to get paid.
 
I realize that others may not have the amount of time to dedicate to these tools as I do, but here's a few things that you can do.
 
  1. Sign up on Facebook and build a profile.
  2. Join our ActiveRain group on Facebook.
  3. Start building your network.
  4. Share your experiences as you go. 
 
In the meantime, here are some helpful resources & additional reading:
 
 
 
 
 

Comments (19)

Cyndee Haydon
Charles Rutenberg Realty - Clearwater, FL
727-710-8035 Clearwater, Beach Short Sales Luxury Condos &Homes
Hey Andy I joined yesterday but don't know what to do now? Any advice?
May 24, 2007 07:55 PM
Andy Kaufman
Better Homes & Gardens Mason McDuffie Real Estate - Berkeley, CA
East Bay Sales & Investments

Hi Cyndee- I sent you a friend request.  Add me. 

Go to the f8 page and click on edit next to the applications on the left hand sidebar and start adding a few.

When you get a chance, upload a photo and add to your profile.

Tinker around, explore, and leave a comment here if you have an a-ha moment to share. 

 

May 24, 2007 08:04 PM
Kaushik Sirkar
Call Realty, Inc. - Chandler, AZ
Myspace is already pretty big for real estate.  Not a surprise to me that facebook would be next!!
May 24, 2007 08:16 PM
Ed Rybczynski
Integrity Real Estate - Havre de Grace, MD
Your Source for Local Real Estate

Andy

I'm glad you shared this info.  I've been meaning to look over Facebook and now have a solid reminder.  Thanks. 

May 24, 2007 10:05 PM
Andy Kaufman
Better Homes & Gardens Mason McDuffie Real Estate - Berkeley, CA
East Bay Sales & Investments
Ed- My pleasure.  Trust me, geeks were up late into last night playing around with the new toys.  This will be a fun one to watch and participate in as it unfolds.
May 25, 2007 02:50 AM
Paul Macapagal
Town Residential - Manhattan, NY
NYC Sales Expert
Has anybody had any experiences with wannanetwork.com?  effective??
May 25, 2007 06:38 AM
Andy Kaufman
Better Homes & Gardens Mason McDuffie Real Estate - Berkeley, CA
East Bay Sales & Investments

Kaushik- I have a lot of friends on facebook that wouldn't be caught dead on Myspace.  There's an aura of legitimacy that facebook carries that myspace just doesn't have.

Paul- Wannanetwork?  I've never heard of it.  I might check it out, but honestly it's probably between 17-18th on my list.  I've got enough on my plate networking around here.

May 25, 2007 06:51 AM
MaryAnn Morrar ~ La Jolla
Coldwell Banker - La Jolla, CA

Hi Andy

thanks for starting a group

May 28, 2007 07:30 AM
Andy Kaufman
Better Homes & Gardens Mason McDuffie Real Estate - Berkeley, CA
East Bay Sales & Investments

MaryAnn- No problem.  Glad to have you on board.

 

May 28, 2007 09:38 AM
Rich Schiffer
Swarthmore, PA
Referral Agent, e-PRO
Andy, thanks for the mention.  Facebook has now sourced two investor clients for me.  Definately worthwhile to do some prospecting there.
Jun 17, 2007 02:31 PM
this profile is
Invalid - Frederica, DE
Man has facebook ever picked up steam! I generally try to avoid social networking siter....er....heh
Jun 19, 2007 05:37 AM
marti garaughty
garaughty.com - Montreal, QC
a highly caffeinated creative type...

Hi Andy, great idea to have the AR group on Facebook, definitely a good place to be these days. See you there...

the art of marketing you

Jun 20, 2007 04:29 AM
Andy Kaufman
Better Homes & Gardens Mason McDuffie Real Estate - Berkeley, CA
East Bay Sales & Investments

Rich- No problem.  Thanks for the great articles.

Christian- haha.  good one.

Marti- Thanks.  Glad to have you aboard.

Jun 20, 2007 09:46 AM
Mesa, Arizona Real Estate Mesa Arizona Realtor
Homes Arizona Real Estate LLC - Mesa, AZ
AzLadyInRed

Andy: Wow! More and more information. Saw a mention of FaceBook on Jeff Turner's blog the other day. Guess I'd better check into that too. Are there ever enough hours in the day? Thanks so much for the post. Bookmarked and rated 5!

Glitter Graphics

Jun 24, 2007 10:53 AM
Cindy Lin
Staged4more School of Home Staging - South San Francisco, CA
Host, The Home Staging Show podcast
i wonder what ever happened to friendster? it was all the rage 5 years ago!
Jul 03, 2007 04:27 PM
Brad Carroll
Dakno Marketing - Knightdale, NC
Real Estate Web Designer
Yeah, I bit the bullet and joined Facebook. There are really too many of them to keep up with. There needs to be a cool Web 2.0 website that allows you to manage all your social network sites from one location. Man that would be nice!
Jul 03, 2007 06:32 PM
Linda Reynolds
Bradenton Real Estate - Linda Reynolds - Bradenton, FL
Bradenton Real Estate
These are some great links to posts that provide great ideas on how to tie all of this together.  There are so many of these social networks I am beginning to wonder how I can keep up with all of it.
Jul 04, 2007 02:51 AM
Steve Volkers
SVG Real Estate Firm - Grand Rapids, MI
Grand Rapids Real Estate
Hey Andy. I have been getting tons of hits from my face book work. I hope you have been seeing the same.
Oct 11, 2007 02:41 PM
Eileen Hsu
Douglas Elliman Real Estate - Manhattan, NY
LICENSED REAL ESTATE SALESPERSON

I think its funny looking at this article in terms of how popular facebook is now and the relevance it has in culture now. 

Nov 25, 2008 10:57 PM