Yes, I Broke Up With You on Facebook.

Hi, my name is Stefanie and I break up with "friends" on Facebook all the time. Let me explain.

Is there anyone who isn't on Facebook? Currently, Facebook is posting that they have more than 400 million active users with the average user having more than 130 friends and whoa - more than 35 million users update their status each day (get more fun Facebook stats here).

My ideas about Facebook and my social contract with other users has morphed quite a bit over the years. A few things have not changed:

1. I don't connect with people I don't know
2. If we "sort of" know each other, you've got to give me something in the initial friend request - why we should connect, or I typically ignore the request
3. I might break-up with you on a whim

I have always been a private person. I lock down most of my Facebook photo albums and I keep my updates fairly vanilla. And every so often ... I go on a break-up spree.

Don't be offended. It's not you, it's me.

As my "people I lock out of everything" group slowly grows, I get anxious. Why did I accept this person as a Facebook friend if I am not letting them see any of my stuff? And that's when you get broken-up with ... hopefully I just disappear from your feed and your thoughts.

Every so often, someone will ask, "did you break-up with me on Facebook"??? Well okay, break-up is my word for it, but you get the gist. Yes, I did break-up with you on Facebook.

Why? Because I'm keeping my Facebook profile personal, most of my work goes on my fan pages now. Like many of you, every member of my family is on ... plus my best friends, my college roommates, my sorority sisters and yes an ex or two and Facebook is how I communicate and keep up with them. I share photos, updates and news with them that *most* people that don't really know me would not be interested in seeing. I'm not saying that my 250 Facebook friends are all my best pals, but I do friend and unfriend with purpose. So really, it's not you, it's me.

I read a great post from Louis Gray the other day that explains this much better than I just did ... read it here.

Hey Did You Hear ... ??? We Have a New Agreement of Sale in PA!

It's finally here ... the new Pennsylvania Agreement of Sale has landed!!! The new forms are already available online and ready for use. If you haven't done so already - make sure you check out the new forms and the all new Guidelines for Preparation and Use that PAR put together to assist you with completing this new agreement of sale. The new forms are already in RealFast2Go and the changes are significant, so take a peek before you need to write an agreement. You can access the Guidelines for Preparation and Use on our intranet here.

So what has really changed? Well, in a nutshell:
1. data layout - first page
2. mortgage contingency
3. inspections
4. escrow & return of deposits
5. mediation
6. signature page

So not that much right? Wrong. Take a class! We all need our 14 hours of Continuing Education before our license renewal at the end of May 2010 - so why not take 7 hours of CE on the new AOS?!

Other online resources ...
PARealtor website - the PA Association of Realtors main site
Just Listed website - real estate news from PAR
PAR Facebook Fan Page
PAR Just Listed on Twitter

Have a fantastic week :)

Keepin it Fresh

Facebook Fan Pages are all the rage now that everyone knows about their Google juice. Getting started is easy - too easy. It's the keeping up with it that is hard. Why? Well, for the very reason that Google loves Facebook Fan Pages in the first place - fresh content.

A few ideas ... beyond posting your listings (well durrr, everyone is doing that):

1. Post photos - not just of your listings, but of the community you work in, your favorite spots around town, or even your happy customers at the settlement table

2. Post links - to helpful information (tax credit, state/county/township news, community events, your favorite places to go, eat, hang out and shop

3. Post notes - you can use the Notes section as a blog of sorts ... when you create a new note, it will post to your fan page wall

4. Post videos - take a quick video ... you can talk about the latest market stats in your area, talk about different areas in your community and why they are so cool/interesting/fun, even a little video about you

5. Post events - create a new event when you are having an Open House or Brokers Open and invite your fans to attend

Remember you WANT people to comment on what you are posting and when they do - you should be commenting back. Even if it's just a "hey thanks for commenting". Let your fans know that you appreciate their fandom and recognize their comments.

Don't forget to share your page with the world. Similar to a website, you have to tell people about your Facebook Fan Page everywhere if you want them to actually check it out. Once you reach 30 fans, you can get your own Fan Page username (www.facebook.com/yoursupercoolpage) by going to www.facebook.com/username and setting up a name for your page. Once you have your Fan Page username, share it everywhere - your website, your email signature, your online profiles, even your print materials.

Have a great weekend!

Some Incredible Stats To Start Your Week

In this Mashable article - Remarkable Stats on the State of the Internet - well, short article and then a video from Jesse Thomas, get a snapshot of some astounding numbers associated with the Internet today.

JESS3 / The State of The Internet from Jesse Thomas on Vimeo.

Have a rockin week!

My Latest Crush - PowerPoint 2010

I take a ton of screenshots. A ton. For every class I teach, I have a PowerPoint presentation to go along with it ... usually anywhere from 25 to 75 slides. Most of those slides will have one or more screenshots. Screenshots are great for capturing what is on your screen at this very moment.















For agents, it can be a cool tool to use in your listing presentations to a consumer. A screenshot of what their listing looks like on a particular website, a screenshot of your Facebook Fan Page (with their listing posted as your latest update), or anything - anything you want to capture.

Taking a screenshot is easy ... take a moment to look down at your keyboard. Go ahead. Look for a key that says something along the lines of Prnt Scrn or Prt Scn. I'll wait ...

Typically, your "print screen" is an F-key ... look top-right~ish.

Find it? Okay good, now, use it. Is it a "function key"? Meaning I have to press my Fn (usually lower left) to make it work? If the wording on the key is in a different color and that color (usually blue) matches your Fn key ... then you need to use both for a screenshot.

Ok ... so we take our screenshot ............... then what? Here is when you say to me, but Stef, nothing happened???!!!

When you take a screenshot you are "copying" your screen. Now, in order to see it - you have to paste it somewhere. Open Word or PowerPoint and paste. Your screenshot is now a .jpg within your Word or PowerPoint document. You can treat it just as you would any other photo.

So to the point of this blog post ... I LOVE PowerPoint 2010. Why? One reason. The insert screenshot and the screen clipping option. When I need to capture something on my screen, as long as I have that screen open. I simply go to Menu > Insert > Screenshot ... all of my open windows will show up in a little drop-down as thumbnails. I select the thumbnail I want to insert and whammo! It's in!!! Or... even better ... I can select "screen clipping" just underneath all of the thumbnails and PowerPoint 2010 takes me out to my active window ... from here, I have clipping tool. I can select what I want of that active window and poof! Easy peasy - it's in :)

How great is that?!

By the way, if you don't have this latest version of Microsoft Office - get it here.