Remember when you said to yourself: "I'll never have any of my personal information exposed on the internet?"

Flip back five years to Christmas 2001. You may remember the dot.com bust heralded an "internet is dangerous" media push as the spectres of identity fraud, cyberstalking and debilitating viruses mirrored times made fragile by those horrible terrorist attacks. Individual privacy seemed paramount, and the social networks that started in the late 90's with properties like Six Degrees.com all disappeared.

Then, the revolt. Although blogs had existed before, they emerged into mass media and mass consciousness in 2002 first as vehicles for political voices countering the overwhelming "don't question the War" sentiment of the day. Blogging and its breakout cousin MySpace, which replicates the blog's journal functionality within the context of a social network, ushered in a new social change of personal transparency. The internet is no longer "dangerous" but embraceable - MySpace, blogs and social networks made publishing the facets of personal identity acceptable in society.

Chris Anderson, editor of Wired and author of Long Tail, runs with the concept to promote Radical Transparency in a set of two articles. I'll be discussing the first article today as it relates to the new real estate marketing and the second part as it relates to personal branding tomorrow:

ONLINE REAL ESTATE MARKETING

Chris Anderson considers the differences between web 1.0 of 2001 and today's web 2.0:

THEN: Bookmarks and habit drive traffic to the home page; site architecture and editorial hierarchy determines where readers go next. Portals rule.

NOW: Search and blog links drive readers to individual stories; they leave as quickly as they come. "De-portalization" rules.

LESSON: Although real estate websites try to maintain their status as portals, they will need to add more dynamic content (like blogs and wikis) or risk becoming ineffective. The consumer will be hopping around collecting information before deciding on real estate representation.

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THEN: Media as Lecture: we create content, you read it.

NOW: Media as Conversation: a total blur between traditional journalism, blogging and user comment/contributions.

LESSON: Enough said - - real estate blogs/wikis and forums like Active Rain are at the beginning stages of explosive growth as real estate marketing vehicles.

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THEN: We control the site. Editors are gatekeepers.

NOW: We share control with readers. Editors catalyze and curate conversations that happen as much "out there" as on our own site.

LESSON: Once the consumer has digested all they need to know about content on a site, they outgrow it and it is no longer relevant. That's why no one links to most IDX websites.  Guiding the consumer on how to best utilize all the information and data on the web will be the premium service a real estate professional can provide to capture the lead.

Related posts:

 

5 Comments on Radical Transparency - Part 1

JAN
09
2007
520,578 Points 229 Featured Posts Localism Sponsor Outside Blog Attended Rain Camp Called Shot Master
Patrick, this sounds very similar to a book that Matt Heaton was reading. He shared a chart that pointed out the differences between Web 1.0 and Web 2.0. Did you see that?
2:05am • #1
243,583 Points 14 Featured Posts Outside Blog
Pat, You've got to stop introducing those long words.  I'm still working on your Inman article premise that globalization is not responsible for stalled wages, but that technology is instead.  But speaking of transparency, isn't it nice to have your picture out there for everyone to see?
2:28am • #2
42 Featured Posts
Pat, I'm totally on board with you conceptually.  I still maintain a website as a portal, but feel an obligation to change it constantly.  The amount of traffic that looks to a blog for instant direction is statistically astounding considering the low cost of visibility.   Thanks for the great info.
4:40am • #3
451,081 Points 64 Featured Posts Localism Sponsor Outside Blog Called Shot Master
We have enormous challenges to face in trying to keep up with technology- our children use it differently and more effectively than we do for sure (Gen Y or younger) they have mastered using the internet as a networking devise, but surprisingly have lost basics like keeping a paper address book. So much onfo...so little time to master it all!  Still trying.
6:16am • #4
20 Featured Posts

Thanks for your comments... to me, this sea change in the openness of personal transparency is the most profound because it impacts society psychology. It changes the marketing game because the motivation of the masses has changed. To be transparent gives any business person an edge because a consumer will work together with the person he/she understands better or feels more "intimate" with. It lessens the value of reputational "mystique".

 I just met Matt this week at Real Estate Connect and was very impressed with his kindness and our nice rapport. After all that's how we develop transparent relationships, right? I will do the research on that book Matt was reading after this busy conference...

3:02pm • #5


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