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The river of Localism...

By Melina Tomson

Real Estate Agent with Tomson Burnham, llc Licensed in the State of Oregon

July 31, 2008 02:20 PM

River

Flow...I like flow.

Living in Oregon we have large rivers that branch off into smaller rivers which branch into creeks. These branches are an important part of the flow of the water into the Columbia River and the Pacific Ocean. Flow is important. Without it, well...things flood and we have a disaster.

On the internet, I like easy to figure out, easy to search, easy to find. If a website is not well organized I go elsewhere. My time is limited and I don't have 20 minutes to find what I need. Get me the next site that understands that.

As I listen to the banter about the sponsorships, I will be the first to admit that I felt used, but I got over that. I got over it because I like the concept of Localism. Some people are worried about sponsorships, some worry about color schemes, some worry about formatting...I worry about flow.

Right now the flow for my area is

State

County

City

Community

Oregon

Marion

Salem

Golf Club Estates at Creekside

West Meadows Estates

Bush Park

on and on...

With the plan to allow any Localism member to create a "community" the possibilities are endless. So in addition to these communities someone could enter Creekside Golf Club, or Creekside Pool. All of which are within the Golf Club Estates. Is it just me, or don't you all see the inherent problem with this?

People can just enter in 18th Pl or 12th St as a community. You could have thousands of communities under each city, some as hyperlocal as "Joe's House." Are people really going to scroll down and wade through it all? I know I wouldn't.

Currently there are 23 items listed under community for Salem, a city of 150,000. It is already cumbersome. I'm already starting to see the floodwaters rise. Forget sponsorships of communities, get some sand bags. Localism has to be useful. It has to flow. It has to be easy. If it's not easy, consumers won't use it. If consumers don't use it, what's the point of blogging or advertising there?

Me...maybe I'm crazy (I've been called worse), or maybe there isn't something I understand, but I don't think there are enough branches on the river of Localism. Isn't anyone else worried about a flood?

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Jon Zolsky, Daytona Beach, FL

Daytona Condo Realty, 386-405-4408 - Daytona Beach, FL

Buy Daytona condos for heavenly good prices

Melina,

When I get to the website and do not find what I want right away, I am off to the next one. I might spend the same time finding the site which is clear and easy, that I would have to spend on the first site to figure out where the info is, but it is still how many of us do it.

As for the river of Localism, are we getting the first Hurricane of the season?

Jul 31, 2008 03:44 PM

Melina Tomson

Tomson Burnham, llc Licensed in the State of Oregon - Salem, OR

Principal Broker/Owner, M.S.

Jon,

I'm thankful Oregon isn't first. I'm a floppy fish on this one.

Jul 31, 2008 03:47 PM

Rich Jacobson

Fathom Realty West Sound - Poulsbo, WA

Your Kitsap County WA Real Estate Broker

Melina: Yes, flow is important - flow in the sense that consumers can easily navigate and find their way to you. Once they've arrived at their destination, what will they find there? Will they encounter something that intrigues and captivates their interests? That engages and provokes them to venture in further? To feel at home and want to come back? We'll do everything possible to make the River Localism flow smoothly, and easy to navigate. Just make sure there's a pot of coffee on and something good to eat!

Jul 31, 2008 03:57 PM

Marchel Peterson

Results Realty - Spring, TX

Spring TX Real Estate E-Pro

Melina, it will be interesting to see where the river of localism goes. I know that I will keep writing post about my neighborhood but I'm just not sure where that stream is flowing. I guess time will tell.

Jul 31, 2008 04:26 PM

Kelly Sibilsky

Licensed Through Referral Connection, LTD. - Lake Zurich, IL

AR works because of the content we provide. No amount of paid spots will make up for good quality information, IMO.

Aug 01, 2008 01:50 AM

Melina Tomson

Tomson Burnham, llc Licensed in the State of Oregon - Salem, OR

Principal Broker/Owner, M.S.

Rich,

I don't doubt the concept. I think it's a great one. Right now there aren't enough branches to direct people where to go. I saw the new layout which is a significant improvement, but under the blogs tag, it could get nasty. That is where I see the flow problem. Since you are allowing the community to randomly enter in communities, if the site is popular, it could be nightmarish.

I think the communities section right now is cumbersome. If I was a non-local the communities would not be easy to navigate.

To me, getting that under control is a much bigger deal than all of the sponsorship issues.

Aug 01, 2008 03:22 AM

Leslie Prest

Leslie Prest, Prest Realty, Sales and Rentals in Payson, AZ - Payson, AZ

Owner, Assoc. Broker, Prest Realty, Payson,

Personally I don't much like the concept. The communities aren't, however, a problem in my small town as we are WAY under the 40,000 pop. so the town will be all together. I'm NOT planning on paying for it.

Aug 01, 2008 06:42 AM

Gary Bolen

McCall Realty - South Lake Tahoe, CA

CRS - Lake Tahoe Real Estate Information

flow is a cool metaphor for what we do and offer. like that.

cheers

Aug 01, 2008 10:42 AM

Melina Tomson

Tomson Burnham, llc Licensed in the State of Oregon - Salem, OR

Principal Broker/Owner, M.S.

Leslie,

I participate on a local community forum and get a lot of business from it. Consumers are craving it. After I got over feeling betrayed (okay some feelings are still lingering), and was able to look at it from a consumer point of view, it has a lot of potential.

Will I sponsor a community. I'm up for August 7th, and I will probably decide that day.

Aug 01, 2008 11:04 AM

Melina Tomson

Tomson Burnham, llc Licensed in the State of Oregon - Salem, OR

Principal Broker/Owner, M.S.

Okay Rich, I added downtown Salem, Historic Salem, and will add Dog Lovers and a few other communities to Salem. Show me the flow...

Aug 01, 2008 05:02 PM

Jesse Clifton

Jesse Clifton & Associates - Fairbanks, AK

I'm beginning to feel like a very old dog... you know, the one they can't teach new tricks to. haha. I would like to think the AR folks have thought this out but I can see where it could get squirley in a hurry. So, communities can be.... anything? Joe's Hot Dog Stand could be a community?

Aug 02, 2008 09:35 PM

Adam Waldman

Westcott Group Real Estate Company - Hauppauge, NY

Realtor - Long Island

MELINA - Very well put. I am one of those that has raised the issue of formatting, but my issue now is that AR is thinking about narrowing the Active Rain posting area rather than widening Localism and the outside blog.

By the way, I think that "hyperlocal" is fine in concept, but in reality, it doesn't make any sense. I think that they have skipped some steps in this hyperlocal quest. How about metros? I live on Long Island. People that live here call themselves Long Islanders not New Yorkers, but it is not a category. I also think the fact that Localism posts can only be put into one county is a huge mistake. How many of us cover more than one county with our Localism posts?

Aug 02, 2008 10:46 PM

Anonymous

Not Yet Licensed

If consumers don't use it, what's the point of blogging or advertising there?

Good morning Melina,

You ask a crucial question. What's the bottom line? My impression is that Localism is a work in progress. I'm curioius about how it will work in real life. I'm wondering about the SEO effectiveness of Localism. I found Active Rain because I kept noticing listings posted on AR were coming up highly ranked on the search engines. I wanted to learn how that was done. I'm not finding Localism posts when I do searches, but maybe Localism is too new. Or maybe I'm doing the wrong searches. I think the idea is brilliant. Time will tell how effective it is.

Respectfully,

Bruce

Aug 03, 2008 02:39 AM

#13

Melina Tomson

Tomson Burnham, llc Licensed in the State of Oregon - Salem, OR

Principal Broker/Owner, M.S.

Yes Jesse communities can be ANYTHING. Joe's Hot Dog Stand could be a community...hence the problem with flow. You could have thousands of communities. Who the heck is going to scroll through all of that?

Adam-I agree that in the attempt to go hyperlocal they are forgetting the larger groups. Locals talk about themselves in terms of geographics here. "I live in south salem, or west salem." Those are categories that should be above the communities and then the communities should flow from there. I think without the larger metro designations to help the hyperlocal areas flow it will be a big mess. On many forums people tell relocaters "You should live down south." Well if that relocater went to Localism, they would not be able to find South Salem. All of the neighborhoods are jumbled together with no distinction for geographies. THAT is a serious problem in my opinion. To me that problem will keep people away since the site won't match how we talk about our community out here. If it keeps people away, and I don't get business from it, I stop posting blogs there...

Bruce-Localism is a great concept and one that communities are craving. It is just cumbersome right now and does not flow well. Amazon.com dominates because it flows well. If Localism wants to dominate it has to flow well.

Aug 03, 2008 03:34 AM

Jesse Clifton

Jesse Clifton & Associates - Fairbanks, AK

I don't know that people will drill that far down... Where do we draw the line though? Counties (boroughs), zip codes, subdivisions? Having a Joe's Hot Dog Stand as a community seems like it's taking it a bit far.

There has to be a larger plan we're not seeing... like turning Localism into a community portal for not only us, but the community to get elbow deep in. Are we on the precipice of seeing Localism move away from being a repository of blog posts to becoming a full blown virtual community?

Aug 03, 2008 04:47 PM

Melina Tomson

Tomson Burnham, llc Licensed in the State of Oregon - Salem, OR

Principal Broker/Owner, M.S.

Jesse,

I think that is exactly what Localism is supposed to be. A virtual community. Localism has nothing to do with real estate agents as a group, only as members of a community.

I agree that the concept of community can be crazy, but since they are going to allow ANYONE to enter in a community it can be exactly that. THAT is my problem. I can see it spiraling out of control really fast.

Aug 04, 2008 06:18 AM

Anonymous

Not Yet Licensed

I can see it spiraling out of control really fast.

Hi again Melina,

I've been pondering your comments for several days. Clearly, Localism will grow and change over time. Change can mean chaos. Nobody knows exactly what the end result will look like. However, I think it's reasonable to conclude that several things are likely to happen. I believe the top Localism bloggers will generally reap most of the business created by Localism, following the pattern set by Active Rain. Next, I think most real estate agents will work hard to select communities that make good business sense for them. It seems like this process should create a natural flow for most metro areas. As always, there are exceptions to every rule. Plus, and this is only my guess, I also think AR management will weed out some of the excess "communities" that really are not viable.

Best regards,

Bruce

Aug 07, 2008 10:17 AM

#17

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