I was introduced to Topix here at AR.  I joined as an editor for the area I live in, Oak Lawn, Illinois.  In fact, one of my Topix posts caused my standalone blog to exceed its bandwidth.  Unfortunately, it wasn't a post about real estate.  But it did get some views!

My main office is located in Orland Park, so I thought it would be fitting to also be an editor for that village.  Being an editor only takes a few minutes a day.

I use my own posts from my multitude of blogs or I'll read through Google Alerts for the towns.  I don't like to put police blotter type links up as I like to post more important news.  Some of the news is negative such as break-ins, shootings and robberies (there was a bank robbed in my town recently not too far from my house)!

I also like to put local good news stories in.  These are stories looked over by many of the big newspapers and they can shed some positive feelings during these negative times.  I'll also try to use graphics and photos but it's not always easy depending on the story. 

When I joined the Orland Park, IL page there were already two editors listed but neither one was active.  When I first joined my photo did not appear as an editor on the main page and I wasn't happy about that.  But once I started submitting stories I now appear first. 

Not only is it kind of fun posting stories but it also educates me on what's happening in the towns I live and work in.  But I also would like to gain some recognition from it in the hopes that when I meet a local buyer or go on a listing appointment a prospect might have seen me on the site.

I'm not sure how many people actually read Topix but some do because there are forums where people can interact.  It does seem like some of the forum regulars live on Topix, though!  There is some flaming but I stay out of it.  I can't control or moderate the forums.

So if you've thought about editing on Topix I recommend you give it a try.  You can get links to your own posts, although I don't spam my posts and I mostly add actual local news stories.  Also, I make sure any of my own posts I link to are relevant to the town I'm posting it in.