Conversations are markets...

Conversations create community.
Communities consist of people participating in conversations.

That's not a new idea or just an internet thing...
It all started awhile back...

200 BC... fragment from the Dead Sea Scrolls...

Today, more and more of our conversations take place online and if you ask me (as many a realtor does), "If I do all this internet stuff you're talking about, what's my return on investment?" I don't have an answer to that question. But believe me I do contemplate its possibilities everyday.

My question is more like this...  "What are the consequences of not participating online?"

Communities are evolving on the web at a fantastic rate. Literally millions of people are online everyday. A recent study by The New Business Blog from April 30^th shows some very interesting stats about how much time the average consumer spends online. It's a little biased because the survey was done online. They found that 64% of those surveyed said they were online 8 hours a day! Wow...

ReadWriteWeb released a study April 14^th about the internet habits of men and women. Did you know that women spend more time on the net than men? But men spend more time per session on a particular site. Today's consumer, according to ImpactLAB (February 2008), spend twice as much time online than they do watching TV.

At some point in time it would seem obvious... "If you want someone to buy your services, you just might want to have a presence online, participate in community, and have conversation with consumers where they reside."

Where are those consumers?

Internet Usage Statistics just released on March 31, 2009 that in North America, there are 251,290,489 internet users. (Wow!)

Facebook.com has more than 200 million users. More than 100 million log on everyday. Over 2/3rds of them are outside of college and the fastest growing demographic is 35 years old or older.

LinkedIn.com has around 35 million users.

MySpace.com has over 100 million users. I forgot the fact that MySpace users are mostly in the United States, so even though Facebook is now larger, MySpace has more users in the U.S.

Windows Live Spaces has about 120 million users.

This link will take you to a great list of social networking sites with member statistics.

I was reading Mashable The Social Media Guide dated April 28^th that quoted a report by Compete.com. Twitter had over 14 million users in March, 2009.

As we bravely go where no community has gone before, we journey far and discover so much more than ever before without ever leaving our desk. Yet, our online presence should be the gateway for the consumer to enter our world.

When we take our conversation online, participate in online communities and share our story, we create opportunities for relatedness and exchange. If we do it right we attract those that may need our services. Ultimately they will choose (or not) to enter our lives in the physical world. If we serve them well, bring value, and they like what they see... they may just sit down at the table and sign the papers. That's how we get paid. Believe me, I know that.

Once upon a time when the world was flat for different reasons there were people that believed they were the only ‘real' conversation taking place. Guess what, they're still around today. But the fact remains, we're at an amazing conjuncture in our history that only happens once in a millennium.

We're so fortunate. We're free to hold on and ride this era out to its inevitable conclusion. And, we're also free to take all the risk and journey into the unknown beginning of this amazing new age. I don't have all the answers. But I promise, I will share what I find.

Myself, I'm thrilled everyday to be a part of, and at the beginning of, this grand new adventure!

We just don't jingle without each other...

Rene'

A single bracelet does not jingle... African proverb.

"Where there's conversation, there's opportunity."

Please Note - The views expressed herein reflect only the individual’s personal views
and are not the views of the author’s employer.

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René Fabre cell: 425-749-9296 rene.fabre@gmail.com

First American Title 24722 104th Ave SE Suite 100 Kent, WA 98030