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Private voicemail you leave could soon be all over the web

By
Education & Training with Creator, Good Selling Formula™ TX #441051

VoicemailonwebRemember when Alec Bladwin's unfortunate voice mail to his daughter made it to prime time?  What a mess right?  Can you imagine waking up one morning knowing your private voice mail message is all over the internet?  My friend and fellow trainer Gary leaves me crazy messages all the time and I leave him crazy ones back.  Nothing shameful, just goofy, yet probably embarrassing if they got out into the open.  In fact, I've joked one day that I was saving them all in case I ever needed to blackmail him.

Getting a message off of a voice mail system has been just cumbersome enough that unless it's an A-Lister that someone could make money off of, no one has really ever bothered going to the trouble.  But I predict that's all about to change thanks to Google.  Google turned on my GoogleVoice account the other week and I've been playing with it a little.  So far I haven't switched over to it fully and am just experimenting, but see that "Tip" at the top of this post - it was on my Voice dashboard today.  So if someone calls and leaves me a voice mail and I'm using the Google system, I can now post that very easily wherever I wanted (just like I did below)!

Have you ever heard an agent in your office get a little emotional and leave a heated message?  It usually happens when a person gets really frustrated with a co-op agent on a transaction.  Uh oh.  We've all hopefully learned that the web has a very long memory and that whatever is in an email or text message will eventually get out, apparently now the same could be true for your voice message.  Who will be the first Realtor embarrassed by this?  Time will tell I guess but it hopefully won't be any of my readers!

Georgie Hunter R(S) 58089
Hawai'i Life Real Estate Brokers - Haiku, HI
Maui Real Estate sales and lifestyle info

wow - thanks for the heads up on this, although I have not heard of Google Voice until now.

Aug 15, 2009 06:45 AM
Gene Riemenschneider
Home Point Real Estate - Brentwood, CA
Turning Houses into Homes

A politician once said, if it can be inferred, don't say it; and if it can be said, don't write it.  Tact is the new rule.  No drunken parties in college; the photos will follow you for years. 

And if you get naked there will be a camera and it will end up on the Internet.

Aug 15, 2009 08:04 AM
Margaret Mitchell
Coldwell Banker Yorke Realty - York, ME
Seacoast Maine & NH Real Estate

WOW.  Thanks for the eye opener.  Discretion is the better part of valor...

Aug 15, 2009 08:32 AM
Carla Muss-Jacobs, RETIRED
RETIRED / State License is Inactive - Portland, OR

Ring, ring, ring . . .

HELLO!  Who's calling please?

1984

Aug 15, 2009 08:43 AM
Pat Whitehouse
RE/MAX 1st Olympic Lynchburg Va - Lynchburg, VA
Broker/Owner

HI Jason This is a scary thought. It makes you stop and think before you engage your mouth. :-)

Aug 15, 2009 10:15 AM
Damon Gettier
Damon Gettier & Associates, REALTORS- Roanoke Va Short Sale Expert - Roanoke, VA
Broker/Owner ABRM, GRI, CDPE

I keep saying that I am going to get the googlevoice but I keep putting it off....tonight might be the night to do it.

Aug 15, 2009 12:53 PM
Jo-Ann Cervin Serving your Real Estate Needs!
Easy Street Realty - Las Vegas, NV

Wow! Absolutely amazaing what kind of a Pandora's Box this could stir up.  Just another reminder that we need to be professional at all times. Keep your voicemails short - "call me back", and that's it!

Aug 15, 2009 01:09 PM
Roland Woodworth
Blue Cord Realty - Clarksville, TN
Blue Cord Realty

TLW...We hope all will play by the rules.. Hopefully nobody hacks your vm account.

Aug 15, 2009 04:08 PM
Bob & Carolin Benjamin
Benjamin Realty LLC - Gold Canyon, AZ
East Phoenix Arizona Homes

In this day of Internet and Twitter and Facebook and everything else , there is little that is private anymore.

Aug 15, 2009 06:06 PM
Derik Tutt
Cranston, RI

Privacy is a thing of the past. Just wait, someone will get put on blast in the future.

Aug 15, 2009 07:36 PM
Lyn Sims
Schaumburg, IL
Real Estate Broker Retired

Google is not the first one to do it.  I was getting wierd calls on my cell and joined Call Trap which is free BTW.  It can record all the wierdo phone messages for you.  It's not a bad system just a little doubling up of effort if someone every needs that service FYI.  I'm actually glad this is available so that crackpots & pervs and get finally caught.  Not to mention that it can save you time by texting all your VM to your phone so you can decide on the calls urgency.

Aug 16, 2009 03:10 AM
Brian Madigan
RE/MAX West Realty Inc., Brokerage (Toronto) - Toronto, ON
LL.B., Broker

Jason,

Very interesting.  I didn't know that Google offered this. But, it's aways best to be careful.

Brian 

Aug 16, 2009 06:12 AM
Rick Schwartz
William Raveis Real Estate - Danbury, CT

I don't know if the law has changed or not - but back the early 90s I worked for a very large telemarketing agency and I used to keep up on regulations about this stuff. 

One of the things that used to surprise people about the legality of recording phone calls is this.  It was only illegal to tape a phone call when you were not one of the parties on the call.   Recording a call that you were a part of was not illegal. 

A friend of mine also found this to be true, sadly, during a divorce.  His ex recorded calls between the two of them. Since she was actually on the call, the tapes were not considered illegal.

I don't know if this is still the case or how this would apply to voice mails.  Is a voice mail considered to be two parties?  Obviously the caller knows, and thereby consents to being recorded. 

Interesting topic.

 

 

 

 

Aug 16, 2009 11:44 AM
Brittany Stewart
Luxe Realty Group - Plano, TX
Making Dallas Home

Uh oh..lol Those were my first thoughts :) (Not on my behalf though)..

 

Aug 16, 2009 06:36 PM
Andrea "Andy" Tolbert
HD Realty - Sanford, FL
Broker, Safety Expert, Instructor

I've also been "playing" with googlevoice, but have some concerns about making it my "primary".

what if everyone gets their "free" number and lets all their other numbers go and then all of a sudden google starts to charge?

Microsoft has a thing where they'll set up a small business website for you, but if you read the fine print, THEY own the website and the domain...

just being cautious, since our businesses can live and die by our phone!

 

Aug 17, 2009 07:18 AM
Nelya Calev
John L Scott - Bellevue, WA

I would be curious to know the legal implications of this.  Presumably there are limitations to publishing a message where the person who left the message was not warned beforehand of the possibility.  That is why when you call automated systems they warn you that the call may be recorded.

Aug 17, 2009 04:42 PM
Jenny Durling
L.A. Property Solutions - Los Angeles, CA
For Los Angeles real estate help 213-215-4758

This does seem scary. I think I'll stick with my cell phone and leave innocuous messages.

Jason, I have a technical question about this post- how is it that I have to scroll left and right to read the whole thing, even most of the comments?

Aug 23, 2009 03:32 AM
Jasen Edwards
Creator, Good Selling Formula™ - Santa Barbara, CA

Love you back Doris!!!

Jenny from Silver Lake:  I think your tech question has to do with your browser.  Was the window open all the way when you were reading?  No scrolling needed here.  :-)

And to those of you who may have been spooked by my post - go ahead and use your GoogleVoice invitation.  There is no reason you shouldn't benefit from their service if you like it.  My main point was that you never really know if they person you are calling is using it.  Seems everyone agrees that this is just a good reminder to be mindful of what we say on voicemail.  This type of technology has been around for a while as some of you pointed out - now Google seems determined to thrust it into the mainstream and make it even easier!

Aug 25, 2009 05:39 AM
Ann Hayden 636-399-7544
Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Select Properties-St. Louis Missouri - Des Peres, MO
SelectAnn.com

Jason,

This is pretty interesting.  I am not sure I want any of my voice mails sent out for anyone to hear.  I mean sometimes they are pretty silly....

Thanks for the heads up,

Ann

Sep 13, 2009 02:27 PM
tadd red
Naval Anacost Annex, DC

It's a problem (((

Dec 21, 2009 10:58 PM