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Active Rain Groups

By
Real Estate Agent with Tangletown Realty

a group of young men with their hands in the centerGroups come in all shapes and sizes.  Inanimate objects sometimes are grouped.  Animals sometimes are grouped.  People sometimes are grouped. Grouping is the basis for many sciences including math, biology, medicine, physics, and others.  Actually, grouping is so common, we often don't realize we are doing it. 

Grouping is the basis for comraderie, but also for prejudice.  Grouping can bring people together around a common good, but also separate them as a result of stereotype.  Grouping can strengthen and sometimes weaken.

Active Rain Groups hopefully fall in the category of building comraderie, creating a common good, and strengthening.  Have you checked the Active Rain groups?  I did today for the first time in months.  At this posting there are 1,907 different groups on Active Rain.  Seventy-seven pages of groups.  There are a few that appear to be duplicates in their focus, but almost 2000 groups is amazing.  

If you haven't scrolled through the pages of groups to see if you identify with a group's focus, you might want to take a few hours to do so.  Some of the names that caught my eye were the following: 

  • REALTORS®   - Is it a surprise that this is the group with the most subscribers:  4,253 at this writing!
  • Active Rain Newbies - Everyone has to start somewhere.  You might even find members of the 100,000 points club in this group.  Afterall, 100,000 points starts with just 25 for a comment or 200 for a post!
  • Stage It Forward - There are tons of staging groups but this one caught my eye only because Craig Schiller is sooooo beautiful! 
  • Listings by Address - Another marketing tool, maybe?
  • Meme's - How I dread meme's, however, they're a great tool for getting to know one another.
  • Millionaire Real Estate Agent Book Club - Oh, my.  I still haven't drank the kool-aid or finished the book.  What I have read is helpful, but I never dreamed of a whole club on the topic!  Besides I can't even spell millionaire without thinking hard!
  • Point 2 Agent Sites - I've got two but didn't realize Active Rain had a group for them!
  • Carnival of Content - I've never entered a carnival of my own free will.  Only when Teresa made me!
The list is groups that struck me in just the first few pages when sorted by number of subscribers.  Imagine what awaits deeper inside.  There were groups with brokerage names, focus on marketing, investing, house flipping, thinking out of the box, spiritual groups, encouragement, comedy, sexual orientation, bad things agents experience, etc.  It's a whole new world out there.   Plus, if you choose, you can sign up for the RSS feed for the group of your choice and  not have to sort through all the other posts to find the ones of interest.
Sharon Simms
Coastal Properties Group International - Christie's International - Saint Petersburg, FL
St. Petersburg FL - CRS CIPS CLHMS RSPS
Bonnie - I thought I was up to date, but I didn't know that you could sign up for RSS feeds from the groups.
Aug 29, 2007 03:34 PM
Bonnie Erickson
Tangletown Realty - Saint Paul, MN
Sharon,  There are two ways that I see for signing up for RSS feed on the groups.  The first is to go to the home page of any group.  On the right side there is a small rectangular blue and gold box that says RSS 2.0.  If you click on that box and follow the directions, I believe that initiates the feed.  The second method is to go to the "Groups" tab at the top of any AR page, click on the tab which opens the Groups home page.  On the left of that page it has a section to "Browse Groups".  There is a drop down selection box.  When I chose "All Groups" and clicked on "List Groups" a new page with the list of groups appeared.  Each one of the groups has an RSS hyperlink in the bottom of their section.  Click on that link and follow the directions to get that group's feed.  I guess I should make a post out of this!
Aug 29, 2007 03:43 PM
Karen Hurst
RICOASTALLIVING.COM - Warwick, RI
Rhode Island Waterfront!

Bonnie,

Plus if someone writes a post, like this one, that further explains Groups in Active Rain, they could choose to place it in a Group, like Active Rain Newbies. That way the people in the group will see it and it will get more exposure.

Also, on the RSS Feeds, for those who have Google Reader, they can just copy and paste the feed into their Reader box.

Aug 30, 2007 07:49 AM
Bonnie Erickson
Tangletown Realty - Saint Paul, MN
Okay Karen.  It's posted in the Newbies group!
Aug 30, 2007 12:45 PM
Karen Hurst
RICOASTALLIVING.COM - Warwick, RI
Rhode Island Waterfront!
Thankyou.
Aug 30, 2007 09:01 PM
Marie Kletke
iNet Realty - Long Beach, CA
Broker - Long Beach Real Estate

Bonnie,

Thanks for the info.  I guess I missed a group or two.  LOL

Aug 30, 2007 09:11 PM
Bonnie Erickson
Tangletown Realty - Saint Paul, MN

Marie, AR can be overwhelming at best and intimidating when it comes to searching out all the details.  I've been here a long time and just now discovered how many groups there were!

Karen, You're welcome. 

Sep 17, 2007 03:04 PM