Home : Blogs : Maureen McCabe Central OH Homes : Columbus Ohio real estate

RealTown and RISMedia announce engagement...

RealTown Blogs screen shot Breaking news but what does it mean to RealTown or RISMedia? What does it mean to people on RealTalk? What does it mean to people with RealTown Blogs?

InternetCrusade, RISMedia Reach Agreement to Merge Web Tech & Media Savvy at RealTown.com Portal says:

"InternetCrusade® and RISMedia have announced a new partnership in RealTown, a trademarked Nevada corporation that owns and operates the RealTown.com real estate web portal. The alliance between the companies fuses the resources of two real estate-industry powerhouses to develop a social network for real estate professionals and consumers that is rich with content and tools."

Congratulations to Internet Crusade / RealTown, Saul Klein, John Reilly, Mike Barnett, Rich Hudson, Frances Flynn Thorsen. A lot of members on ActiveRain are or were members of RealTalk or ePROTalk and some of us have RealTown Blogs or had them...my RealTown blog is Discover Columbus

RealTown

RISMedia

I have been following a dialogue between Dustin Luther and Frances Flynn Thorsen, two people who influenced me when I started blogging.

Saul Klein as CEO of Point2... Really?

Rule #1 in Blogging - Check Your Facts Or Lose Valuable Credibility Among Your Peers!

Clearly I got to Frances with...

My synopsis:

Their dialogue started out about Saul Klein of Internet Crusade / RealTown being named CEO of Point2 in December. Dustin's opinion is IC Internet Crusade / RealTown is NOT cutting edge technology, Francis disagreed with Dustin's opinions. Defensive of RealTown, the Realtown Blogs? Of course Frances as a big cheese at RealTown. I can't remember Frances' title... but Dustin got it wrong and then corrected it... in his response to Frances response to Dustin's opinions...

What do you think RISMedia being involved with the RealTown.com real estate portal will do for it? Or for RISMedia? I have compared ActiveRain to RealTown a time or two (I think it drives Frances crazy..) she is a member of ActiveRain. She's said they are not the same thing. They aren't... but I can still compare them...

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Connect with me

Subscribe to Discover Columbus OH - Columbus Ohio real estate

Subscribe to Worthington Old and News - Worthington real estate

ActiveRain members: Please note if this content is for the general public and not for the real estate industry, if you are an ActiveRain member comment at your own risk. I will delete most comments from AR members. Previously I was turning off comments on local content.

Posted by Maureen McCabe Central OH Homes on 01/06/2008 08:46 AM

Comments (27)

Social Media in the Online Marketing Channel

realtown blogs

Post is included in group: My other blog is

27 Comments on RealTown and RISMedia announce engagement...

JAN

2008

MM,

One thing is very clear about P2.

There is a ton of turmoil over there right now with little or no guidance.

Look for a merger down the road here.

I have no clue,what it will mean.. but it must be a win-win for both of them. I still read the e-pro listserve, and comment back if I have something to say. But, I don't like to wait for days to dialog. Like here it is instant. Rismedia, is very powerful, but of course it costs a fortune to advertise there. I'm sure realtown will grow as the 2 platforms merge. So I guess now we'll have one more log on, on the page. IC hosts my email and the support is great.

A merger between Point2 and RT or Point2 and RISMedia or ? IC / Point2 have had a connection of some sort for a long time. I know much of the management at P2 quit recently.

I stopped doing ePROTalk and RealTalk Missy, but still get BlogTalk posts which is very, very uninstant.

Thanks for the comments.

Hi Maureen - this is a new turn of events to me. I hadn't picked up on that news. What it means, I guess we'll have to wait and see. You're right about there having been connections between each of these for a number of years at this point. I know they've been recommended by IC for awhile now.

I do still skim RT, and get the ePROTalk Digest, and I also get that BlogTalk, which I'm not impressed with. My old RT blog is still there, but have done nothing with it in quite some time.

I use IC for webh hosting, email hosting, and several other services - their support is absolutely fabulous in my book.

Ann

I have not skimmed RealTalk since joining ActiveRain. Do discussions move along quickly on RealTalk Ann... because of more people participating than on ePROTalk /BlogTalk? I just read BlogTalk when it hits my mailbox.

IMHO, the bottom line is that too many people, so called leaders in our industry couldn't give a crap about us, individually as Realtors even though we are the one driving their engines, i.e. providing traffic, content, etc. for their blog platforms, sites, etc. They only care about what huge company leader they know and can possibly JV with. Is all this about trying to develop the best, most cutting edge technology? That is a laughable matter considering the parties involved.

I find it odd that this was announced on RIS-Media but no mention was made on RealTalk. They are usually pretty quick to make announcements like this.

Brian... not a fan of RISMedia and / or IC I take it... it's dated tomorrow Hank. It was on RISMedia on Friday I think... YOU can break it on RT! or not... I got a Google alert about it yesterday... I thought about trying to see if it had been announced on RealTalk but I have a hard time finding my way around... I had tried to find something on Friday when I saw you had posted here... Thanks for your comments.

What are blog talk posts?

There is a community on RealTown which is called BlogTalk.... if you post something on BlogTalk it would be a BlogTalk post. Or am I using the wrong words? Is something on ePROTalk called something other than a ePROTalk post?

http://blogtalk.realtowncommunities.com/BlogFeatures/

I am rusty...when it comes to the RT communities and the lingo there.

At one point you had to have a RealTown blog to participate on BlogTalk. I don't think that is true anymore but I don't know for sure. BlogTalk posts to me are kind of like a Members Only AR post about how to blog, or about how to do something on a blog. Sometimes people talk about RT kind of stuff on BlogTalk... at some points a chorus of participants would say "stay on topic." I was always confused about whether it was "community created content" on BlogTalk or "community created content" only if you stay on the topic of blogs or RT blogs. I think that is what they called it on RT, when the focus of conversations veered away from real estate and people started trying to censor what others were able to talk about on RealTalk... same occasionally happened on ePROTalk in my memory... wow probably WTMI when all you asked was:

" What are blog talk posts?"

Maureen - I think it's still that way with BlogTalk - if you have a blog on RT you can get BlogTalk. And it didn't even dawn on me that it hasn't been on RT yet until I read Hank's post. I wonder why they aren't making that announcement themselves to their own communities? That strikes me as really odd..... I get RT in the immediate format, which still isn't instaneous, but I'd go nuts if I got that in the digest format. I do get ePROTalk in digest, which causes me to never even look at it. There are still plenty of the old names on RT, but far more newer names, just as here on AR. Unless the subject line on RT appeals to me, or it's one of the older members that I've read forever, I usually skim very quickly and delete. I don't find BlogTalk timely in the least. Ann

Maureen & Ann, BlogTalk is about blogging, but you don't need to blog with them to subscribe. I don't Blog with them but used to get BlogTalk until I unsubscribed. Ann is right, very few old timers posting, and a lot of new. I get immediate format, and like Ann delete most. There still hasn't been any comment about rismedia on RealTalk.

No question in my mind. For me, I tried the RT systems. I was on the RT listserve for over 10 years, but the the "better" it got, the less I liked it.

I was absolutely hungry to get involved in blogging when Maureen Francis sent me an invite to ActiveRain. Geez. It took me about 30 minutes to get started and I don't believe I've stopped since.

I love this place.

I looked into blogtalk and I just don't have the time or the patience with the platform. AR is so simple and seems to work wonders for me. Point2 seems ready for a merger i keep hearing. It keeps my listings current!

Great discussion!

I use the Point2 websites and do not do much with real town...although I am doing more blogging on my own website for SEO purposes. I think it will make an impact over time.

More changes, and maybe more mergers......I just can't keep up with all of them....so reading this is very helpful, thanks Maureen.

I'm an old RealTalker too, from about 1999 when there were less than 3000 agents, and only about 100 of us that participated. (I am even a "JIM!"). I lost interest when it got so big and all the same old same old kept coming up over and over. IC still hosts my website, and my email, but I rarely go in and read eProTalk or RealTalk anymore. I have to say, I do feel some loyalty because they are the ones that got me started with online agent networking. I feel pretty confident that if I need to refer a good client anywhere in the country (or parts of Canada) I could find a RealTalker, e-PRO, or A/R member that I would feel very comfortable with.

JAN

2008

Ann I went back and forth with immediate and digests on RT and finally unsubscribed from all but BlogTalk, I would just delete the RT digests with out reading any.

It is odd that RISMedia is talking about it and RT / IC is not YET.

Hank is Pam Bell participating on RT? Mark Jay? Brynn Minsterman?

Lenn I still think ActiveRain is a lot easier than an RT blog for newbies and less chance of someone giving up prematurely (before addicted) because of blogging into a void. The RT blogs have a lot more traffic now but still you are not going to get comments, feedback. RealTalk is for that, or BlogTalk or ePROTalk. Their platform is more segmented. AR you put it out together. FFT would like to convince people that is just WRONG and that no one is reading AR except other agents, members but that is not true. She's the head cheese so obviously biased toward that platform but to me by it being segmented it is disjointed. I don't participate in any of the communities except READING BlogTalk when it ends up in my mailbox.

Paul I still read BlogTalk but with only 3000 participants it is very slow. I have been censored on it too many times to take the time to contribute but I will read it when they mail something out.

Gary I have a Point2 site. I paid for one for a couple of years and went back to the standard one about a year ago. I found Point2 through IC.

Kathy It is hard to keep up with.

Vicki I am a JIM. in 2005? 2006? I stopped participating on RT in August 2006 when Jim Lee invited me to AR.

I think I started doing RT in 2003 or 2004?

The discussion between Frances and Dustin is about loyalty. A lot of the discussion on Dustin's second post is from loyal fans, some who have moved on but are still going to say Thanks IC for getting me started, in blogging, with technology.

Someone who reads RT give us a link tomorrow to what they say about RT / RISMedia please.

Maureen, I don't recall seeing Pam or Brynn on RT lately. Mark Jay post occasionally, but not as often as before.

It's up on RealTown as an article (tabs on the top.)

Frances Twittered it this AM. She says something about RealTown is not a blog.... not sure why...

Maybe some are not familiar with the RealTown platform which is blogs and communities and articles and lots and lots of ads.

I need to email those three people Hank. I heard from Mark Jay late in 2007 and Brynn probabaly late summer? I have not emailed or talked to Pam in forever.

can't get onto the RealTown platform... says their servers are busy. My widget in the side bar here is loading and loading and loading too... ooops there it is....

Dustin has his opinion of the announcement on his blog...yesterday I think... Jonathan Dalton did an analysis on his blog... Jonathan had an RT blog.

Frances gave a hint about this on Twitter last week: FrancesFlynnTho Just returned from San Diego ... 2008 is going to be an explosive year at RealTown ... drum beat starts next week. I am pumped. 1 week ago

JAN

2008

Very interesting stuff Maureen. I have found Real Town to be much better at SEO lately. I wonder if this improvement was in advance of a proposed merger. Hopefully, this merger will create a better end product through combined efforts.

JAN

2008

My blog is being found by the search engines. I am getting more traffic than my WP blog or AR, have been since RT changed the urls in September

MAR

Did you see the latest thing about RIS media and Top 5, with Allen Dalton in charge? I wish AR had a better search feature. I can't find any new posts on that. It looks way overpriced to me, but what do I know. I have fallen for Allan Dalton's sales pitches before (and been left disappointed).

I am listeing to a video about it now... I had not heard anyything about it before.

AUG

Hi,

I just became a member of the ePROTalk. Are there any suggestions to me.

I always found ePROTalk extremely boring. Maybe it's changed.

Leave a response…

Name:

Email:
(optional)

Comment:

What does the graphic say?