Recently, I shared some thoughts on Facebook here. And subsequently raised questions regarding Twitter here.
I view Facebook with some measure of reserve. It's catching on big in real estate and, while it holds great promise, the stampede to its banks may cause many to overlook the crocs that lie in waiting.
While I believe it's a place to establish an online persona — and a far better one than the "About You" section of your website — there is also something undeniably bizarre and counterfeit about it that fuels my wariness.
Facebook began as a college directory, and, in that guise, the friend network made sense. As it moved beyond the collegiate environment, I toyed with the idea of Facebook as a new White/Yellow Pages that not only offered contact information, but a personal look at those listed and what they're about.
And I thought that was pretty cool.
But over the last year, as Facebook has finally caught on in real estate, I am getting more and more creeped out by the "Friend" thing.
Many of us are guilty of willingly accepting strangers as "friends" on Facebook. And Facebook does not offer a way to distinguish between a true lifelong friend, a casual friend, a client, a reader, a prospect, a stalker, etc. You might think, big deal. But next time you go check someone's Facebook profile and notice they have 3,000 friends, I wonder how honest of a representation you'll find that to be.
Through this mish-mash of associations, those who are really your true friends — those whose own brands and reputations stand as testimony to yours by virtue of a true connection — become diluted.
For the casual Facebook user, this might not mean a darn thing. But for a real estate person who intends to derive professional value from it, one who is seeking ways to offer a more transparent look inside their business and themselves, I not only question the value of surrounding oneself with hundreds of strangers called friends, I worry about the potential adverse affect this might have on the very reputation you are trying to build.
I'm not the only one dwelling on this. Meezoog, a startup out of Israel with a core focus on dating, has built a social proximity meter into its platform dealing precisely with this issue. Unlike LinkedIn or Facebook or most social networks that allow us to play in the six degrees of separation game, Meezoog believes that placing a value on our connections is not only important, but serves to enhance the trust which, in their world, the one of dating, could lead to compatibility.
In our real estate world that very same trust leads to building a better brand.
This is an interesting and consequential development in light of the user generated love-in that has characterized the Web 2.0 phenomenon.
I won't deny the success many in real estate have had scraping Facebook's surface for business and or marketing opportunities, much like I won't deny the success some have had scraping bus benches, shopping carts, bus tours and magnets combing for opportunity.
But I worry about the mark all these things place on the balance sheet of our brand P&L. After all, you are the friends you keep.
What if we could evaluate our Facebook friends and categorize them according to who they really are in our world? That would be great. As it turns out, Meezoog plans to offer their proximity meter to other social platforms such as Facebook, which would allow users to do something close to what I am suggesting.
Wow.
As we continue to show and tell ourselves on the grand online stage, we should be be careful about who joins us.
- Davison
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Great post Marc. Over the past weekend, I "trimmed the fat" off of my Facebook friends and deleted about 25 "friends" who weren't really friends. As a Realtor, I've been using FB to stay in touch with former clients moreso than anything else. I do use FB as a "fly on the wall" application to see what my "friends" are postings, their pictures, and their stati.
Hi Marc, I finally gave up and just started accepting friends on FB, if they had other friends I was friends with. Make sense?
I don't accept my kids friends too many…well you know parties.
Most of the folks I friend are from Re/MAX, AR or KW that want to be friends.
Recently someone started a group of people I knew in college. That has been fun to connect with people I have not been in touch with for years.
On my Birthday, which was a few days ago, I had so many Birthday wishes I just could not keep up thanking folks.
A guy in my office just wrote and offer site unseen on a home here in Ann Arbor, some of his past clients had moved out of country, found him, saw noticed how low the prices had dropped, and had him write up a contract.
So far this is my experience with it. I did get calls on some of the condo's or homes I was listing from younger people, but no one in higher price ranges and haven't put my listings on it a long time.
I tried to sign up for Meezoog, but you have to have an invite.
Hi Missy,
Meezoog will allow you to sign up eventhough you don't have an invite.
It will allow you to find members whom you know – and to connect with them; or it will allow you to invite your friends and start your own community.
Enjoy!
I come from the days when facebook was available to college only. It was nice, not to many friend requests coming in. My friend list is about 300, all people I know from high school, college and now some past clients along some biz professionals that I have befriended over the internets of course.
I do not accept friends for the 'just because' reason, I have no idea who they are. Friends are friends.
Business has come from facebook, but it has come in the way of reconnecting with friends. I keep in touch with them and still let them know that I am here. Occasionally I will plug my listings in the classifieds but no apps, people just don't use the real estate related ones.
Follow the elite Twitterers in your City vs. people in your industry. You will learn a lot about what people outside of the industry really care about day in and day out. Implement that knowledge into your marketing.
How you use social networks is evolving into a completely different mode. It's a tool, not a lead pool. Use it to learn something instead of to get something.
Marc, interesting post, particularly for me since I (finally) set up a facebook page two weeks ago. Then, a week ago, I set up a second facebook page, this time to segregate out all my numbskull college friends from revealing too much about various youthful indiscretions to my work colleagues. It was like having a party and seeing your frat brother (nickname: "Barfo") chatting it up with your boss across the room.
So now I have two facebook pages, which I recommend to anyone trying to maintain that duality, unless of course such a thing is some sort of TOS violation with Facebook, at which point I want to make clear that I am, of course, just joking about that whole "two Facebook page" thing.
But the point you make is a good one — Facebook should allow for some sort of differentiation among friends, something that was probably not necessary when the Facebook universe was all college students.
That said, I'm not really using it well yet, but I can already see agents (on my Friends list) doing smart things with it.
jr
Good move Joseph. I think having separate pages makes sense. It provides two places to co-mingle your career with both sets of friends and keep the entire thing real.
As far as the Facebook police go, I made a donation to the FAL (Facebook Athletic League) in your name. The plaque is on the way and your clear to create!