I recently wrote an email to a Business Columnist at the News and Observer newspaper in Raleigh, NC to share a few thoughts where I beleive the online social network is headed. Below is an edited version of that email. After you finish reading this post, tell me what is in the future for online social networks and what role will you play in them.
"As you probably already know, more and more real estate agents are creating social network profiles at MySpace, FaceBook, and Eons.com. It's a marriage made in heaven for these social networks and the real estate industry. The purpose for agents joining these social networks and creating profiles are two-fold. It provides opportunities for real estate agents to be viewed as local information authorities and disseminate valuable area information about their neighborhoods, communities, and towns they service. Plus, it provides great search engine optimization "linking juice" for their online presence.
In these social networks, the goal is less "hard sell" and more about acting as an area information expert. These portals allow site visitors to gain a different perspective on a desired community or area. Because this forum is so much more relaxed and dynamic than a traditional website, blogs permit and encourage dialog. It's a terrific value-add for the site visitor too. You can easily see why this is a "win-win" scenario for both the Real Estate Professional and the social network visitor.
Due to the explosive growth of these social sites, we recently began blogging on a relatively new social network geared for the real estate community called Active Rain. What started last summer as a small group of real estate agents, broker-owners, mortgage brokers, and other real estate service providers has blossomed into a 44,000+-member community with many Raleigh area's agents participating.
I can see more and more niche type social networks on the horizon. Each one will provide a portal through which Real Estate specialist will provide valuable information. Here at Dakno, we always "point" our clients toward social networking opportunities. Those who are "SRES" (Senior Real Estate Specialist) will be advised to run not walk to the Eons.com site to share information about finding suitable senior-focused housing information as well as lifestyle tips."
I'm still waiting for a response from the News and Observer writer. As soon as I hear from her, I'll pass along her response.
Where do you foresee the online social network headed, and what role will our industry play? I look forward to your comments.
Enjoy!
Bobby Carroll
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P.S.S. I recently wrote a related post on the benefits to creating a profile on social networking sites. Take a look.
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My greatest success with social networks has come from the ones that I've belonged to NOT positioning myself as a real estate agent trolling for clients but as a regular participant in the network because I share interests with the other people on it. Just like regular offline social networks. People get to know and trust me as a person, and know that I'll work in their best interests as an agent. I suspect - and hope - that that will continue to be the case with how social networks work. People know the difference between when they're being looked at as friends and when they're being looked at as a resource - at least, the ones that I've run into on the various social networks that I frequent do.