Respect the Real Estate Industry – Remember Transparency
As part of the 2017 Blog JUMPSTART Challenge, Lynn Friedman offers a number of opportunities to share our opinions, beliefs and knowledge in 1 of 3 JumpStart formats – Mini, Midi and Maxi. You have until the end of the month to write your posts and garner lots of bonus points as a benefit of learning and sharing.
One requirement, no matter which tract you take, is to talk about some aspect of the ActiveRain Community Guidelines. It’s a great opportunity to re-familiarize yourself, or in some cases familiarize, with these guidelines and a creative avenue to provide your own interpretation and thoughts.
“Respect the real estate industry” is the first in the list.
While it may be unfortunate that we even have to be reminded about respect, given what ActiveRain is all about it’s wise to have a written reminder about why we are here, and the industry binding us as a community.
The issue related to respect that really stood out for me is transparency.
Transparency is a hallmark of not only AR but the Internet is general – a place where what we say and do becomes visible to anyone who chooses to look. While it’s probably top of mind when you are first getting started online by sharing opinions, beliefs, information, photos, links to other articles, and comments – indeed, you want to be in the public eye, don’t you? – over time the impact of being transparent might get forgotten.
ActiveRain is a highly visible window through which anyone can gaze upon the real estate industry, whereby members, non-member real estate professionals and affiliates, and most importantly consumers, can see and hear about the workings of this business.
It’s not always a pretty picture in the real world, but also online given the way that some portray it, what they share and how, and the manner in which they treat other real estate professionals and affiliates in our online community.
Therein lies the risks of transparency!
Consumers, and other members, can only see, hear and interpret what is presented without the benefit of the real life experience that may portray a different angle or render another perception.
Because of this window to our world it’s imperative to show respect for our industry, and those within it, by behaving professionally, sharing information truthfully and accurately, treating others appropriately, and keeping our emotions in check (as we would hopefully do in any transaction, and with clients and vendors).
Respect for our industry is even more critical given the lack of body language and visible emotions in our online world, since viewers - other members, other non-member agents and affiliates, and consumers - have only written words to judge, which can easily be misinterpreted or distorted, resulting in a bad impression of a person, a situation, or our industry as a whole.
The very visible nature of our activities in our community - the transparency with which we discuss the good, the bad and the ugly; the way we treat each other; our conduct and opinions; how we talk about clients and transactions - conveys a powerful message to the public about the real estate industry and its practitioners. Each of us has the opportunity, and responsibility, as real estate professionals to contribute to a positive view of our industry and to provide useful education.
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