Twitter REsources

For those of you just venturing into the Twitterverse or if you are already here, but not sure what to do ... I wanted to give you a few resources.

1. CBHearthside on Twitter - we are all over Twitter > use us!

> @CBHearthside
> @JamieMancuso
> @ChrisBeadling
> @sahahn (Stefanie Hahn)


2. CBH's School District Listing Tweets - help your consumers follow & find a home!

> http://www.cbhearthside.com/twitter.html


3. A few names you know ...

> @coldwellbnkr
> @InmanNews
> @RISMediaUpdates
> @realtors (NAR)
> @realtormag (Realtor Magazine)
> @askNAR (NAR answers your questions here)
> @RealtorAction (Realtor Action Center - Washington, DC)
> @PAR_JustListed (PAR news)

Want more ... check out Roost's "RE People You Should Follow on Twitter for December 2009!"

See also ... NAR's field guide to Twitter - http://www.realtor.org/library/library/fg234

The Twitter EVERYTHING Guide from Mashable - http://mashable.com/guidebook/twitter/

And I am just scratching the surface here ...

Little Miss Sunshine Strikes Again

Happy Monday! I know that I often come across on this blog as a Little Miss Sunshine - because, as many of you already know, I am a pretty positive gal who loves her job. Well, brace yourself ... I am all about the love today.

A little side note ... last week, while at the PAR Business Meetings in Harrisburg, I ended up in a hallway conversation with two friends discussing "social media responsibility" and what can be done if someone posts something negative about you online. I take the position that when you put yourself out there online, you give up some control - like it or not. Of course, you must be aware of your online presence and absolutely respond to any comments - this is just good social media marketing. Through this hallway conversation I became more aware of a new change to our REALTOR® Code of Ethics (as of January 2010).

Standard of Practice 15-3
The obligation to refrain from making false or misleading
statements about competitors, competitors’ businesses,
and competitors’ business practices includes the duty to
publish a clarification about or to remove statements
made by others on electronic media the REALTOR®
controls once the REALTOR® knows the statement is
false or misleading. (Adopted 1/10)

Now just a refresher on Article 15 ...
REALTORS® shall not knowingly or recklessly make false
or misleading statements about competitors, their
businesses, or their business practices

So, what does that mean? Well, if you make a statement that you find out later is false or misleading you are required to publish a clarification to your original statement OR remove your original statement altogether.

My advice - don't post negatively about your competitors - focus on what you are doing right and it will be painfully obvious that your competition is lacking. If something really gets stuck in your crawl ... post, but respond with the grace and brilliance that I know you have inside.

Many agents are afraid of being attacked online, either by a consumer or another agent. When I teach agents about marketing online, I try to squash these fears. I believe that people are inherently good and that no one will attack you online if you are trying to do the right thing.

After this weekend, I'm reminded that not everyone got the memo. Sometimes, a person will attack you online - not with a constructive comment - but an outright personal attack.

Now, that said, putting yourself out there online gives you a new level of responsibility as well. As a blogger, tweeter, etc. you must be aware of the information that you are putting out there via your posts, tweets and otherwise. Expect and accept that people will disagree with you and may comment or tweet you to that end. Accept it and embrace it - a new perspective should challenge and may even enlighten.

So, what should you do if you are personally attacked? Please please please - take the high road. The only one who looks bad in this scenario is your attacker.

Friends - Followers - Connections

I've been thinking about my social contract a lot lately. I've always had certain unwritten rules that I've stuck to with my social media sites. Recently though, I'm finding those rules bending a bit ...

Facebook Friends

My old rule: If we're not friends in real life, then I'm not accepting your friend request.

Exceptions: If we've met and you wrote me a little note in the friend request explaining why we should link up on Facebook, I usually accepted. Or, if you were especially persistent. However, I probably broke up with you later that week.

My new rule: See my old rule, plus ... if we share a common interest and are likely to meet in the real world through that common interest or are friends in another social media space.

I have my Facebook account pretty locked down, so I am comfortable with my new rule. Plus, I am very comfortable breaking up with Facebook friends as needed.



Twitter Followers

My old rule: I block any porn, SEO experts, people trying to save me and otherwise creepy individuals right away. I will only follow people on Twitter that have a bio. That said, if their bio doesn't appeal to me on some level, I won't follow.

Exceptions: If I already know you and love you, consider yourself in.

My new rule: See my old rule, plus ... I've been branching out. I am following more people with different interests these days and getting more out of my tweet stream as a result. I am also unfollowing people that don't tweet. This includes those of you that I already know and love.



LinkedIn Connections

My old rule: If you were a colleague, classmate or already a friend, I would connect. I did not accept connections from people that I didn't already know.

Exceptions: Sometimes a friend of a friend would sneak in there or a new agent that I had not yet met (but would eventually).

My new rule: See my old rule, plus ... Now I am connecting with other real estate people across the country that I have connected with on Twitter or through the Young Professionals Network. I have also connected with some of my real estate training idols (Doug Devitre, Amy Chorew, etc.) on LinkedIn.

My rules should not be your rules, but I hope that they can at least guide you with setting up your own social contracts. Consider what you will be sharing on these sites before making a friend, follower or connection with someone you don't know.

Happy Saturday :) Yey SNOW!!!

Still Not Catching the Google Wave?

Before it's launch, Google Wave was all the rage in my little geek world. I signed up to be a part of the beta launch and then watched my inbox - eagerly awaiting my invitation. When some of my Twitter pals starting tweeting about receiving their invites, I got nervous. I didn't have to wait long. Before my beta sign-up came through, a friend hooked me up with an invite. Whew. I was in.

I got in right away and played around with my settings. Then, a few friends popped in ... we waved together. Finally Chris Beadling decided he wanted to set up a fake real estate scenario - complete with buyers and sellers agent, title company, etc. He invited me and another real estate social media pal to wave along. We played with that for bit, but got bored and stopped.

Over the holidays, I saw some great wave parodies online - but still, I am struggling to find use and meaning with Google Wave.

Maybe you can help me ...

A little overview of Google Wave:
> Below is a screen shot of my Google Wave account




















> This is a screen shot of an actual wave ...



















In a nut shell, Google Wave can function as a live or offline chat where you can share text, files, photos, videos - you name it - with others that are part of that particular wave. If only some participants are online for the live chat and sharing - others can log in later and follow the conversation, grab the files, comment to the participants or comment privately and leave their mark on the wave.

If you are interested in getting on Google Wave, I do have invites. Email me - first come/first serve.

Have a great weekend!

Blogger Basics

Just today I was asked by one of our managers how to use Google's "Blogger". My first thought? What a GREAT blog topic!!! Actually, that was maybe my 4th or 5th thought ... but still, a post was definitely in order. So let's cover some of the basics.

1. Go to http://www.blogger.com/ to get started, you will need a Google account ...

A short interruption here - signing up for a Google account does not mean that you will have Gmail. You can sign up for a Google account with any email address you chose. Sign-up is FREE.

2. Enter a display name - the name of your blog - for example, "Tech Daze"

3. Read and accept the terms of service ... go ahead. I'll wait.

4. Click Create!

This is your Blogger Dashboard, from here, you can:

- View Profile

- Edit Profile

- Edit Photo

- Edit Notifications

You can also write a new post, edit posts, play around with your settings and layout -- and of course, view your blog.

Your profile will look like this ...

Make sure you have the basics in your Blogger Profile!

Now the FUN begins! What are you going to post about ... ??? The options are endless. You can write an opinion piece, share the latest news, post a photo or video, the list goes on and on.

My best advice to you - find your own blog voice. Be different - be relevant - be you.

>>> Click the NEW POST button to get started!

This will take you to the "Create New Post" page ...

- Type in a title for your post
- Start blogging!

- ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS spell-check

- Type in your labels - what are you blogging about?

- Click Publish Post

So my labels for this post might be - googleblogger, socialmedia, howto ...

My labels are my tags and tell the reader what I wrote about - in a few words.

See? Blogging is easy! And super fun. But, it's a commitment - you have to blog regularly to make any sort of an impact. (Yep, I struggle with this too!!!)