Comments on: Not the best way to interact on Facebook

By: Tweets that mention Apps Realtors should not use on Facebook to communicate -- Topsy.com

Sat, 06 Feb 2010 03:41:27 +0000

[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Ftwitt : Real Estate, The Social REALTOR. The Social REALTOR said: Not the best way to interact on Facebook http://ow.ly/16tuXp [...]

By: winstonsalemagent

winstonsalemagent — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 04:53:13 +0000

Since Farmville has been mentioned here, I couldn't help but post this. It was the most popular digg.com item in the last 24 hours. It's absolutely hillarious! But be warned, there are several F-bombs dropped, so if you are easily offended, don't go there. http://digg.com/d31Hlzk

By: Tony Green, Clemmons Realtor

Tony Green, Clemmons Realtor — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 03:54:37 +0000

I personally don't play any of the facebook games like mafia wars or farmville (maybe an occasional game of poker), and I generally ignore all application invites (except when my daughters send me hugs!). But Rafael makes a valid point. There are a lot of Mafia Wars users, and many times your clients are people with common interests. So, it does make sense to play the game and interact with other users. At some point you should be able to translate that activity into a closed transaction.
I read some Social Media "experts" claim you shouldn't promote your business on facebook except for business pages, but I think that's insane. Facebook is the perfect place to promote your business EVEN on your personal profile. I believe you do it in moderation though.
Speaking of dogs and agents…there is a real estate company in our area called "My Dog Tess" (I'm not joking! Google it). How ridiculous is that for a real estate firm?!? Apparently some CPA thought Realtors made too much money and wanted to start his own "discount commission" shop. No offense, but seems like he should stick to being a CPA to me.

By: Peter Toner

Peter Toner — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 23:26:02 +0000

Doggies are cute, but Realtor’s holding their pet pooch – I don’t think so ….

By: bill

bill — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 22:15:51 +0000

but then again it seems to be the same on a lot of realtor's websites. So cute dogs must do something.

By: Peter Toner

Peter Toner — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 20:33:35 +0000

WOW Rafael, that's quite the post and more power to you if game playing on Facebook leads to business! If others are thinking this might be a good strategy I think this sentence of yours sums it up nicely: " To me, the key is reaching out beyond the game and reaching into their real world and if that step is missed… then you really are just playing a game wasting time. "

By: Rafael Perez

Rafael Perez — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 20:02:28 +0000

I may have a completely different point of view than most of the previous posts, but I believe that the answer to whether or not a Real Estate professional should use specific apps to communicate via facebook is "it depends."
I say "it depends" because it really depends on your strategy, your activities and your intended perception. Now while I completely agree that anybody who is not participating in certain online communities and "games" probably does not care about the angel, cupcake, mafia job, or farm gift on their wall there are millions of people who do (Mafia Wars has 4 million daily users.).

I think the key is being aware of what you publish, where you publish it and what time of the day it is published. I think the issue is that many people are publishing EVERYTHING TO EVERYONE ALL THE TIME. Here is where the "it depends" comes into play.
I am guilty of playing Mafia Wars. For about 5-10 minutes of my day I update my account, make some moves, complete some jobs, deposit some money and forget about it for the day unless certain things get done with an easy click.
Here's where I am ok with playing "Mafia Wars" (which has 25 million registered users), I try to use discretion and rarely post to everyone's wall (or at least have recently tried to be conscious that I don't.) Within the game, I interact with Realtors, Insurance agents, Financial Planners, friends from college, people I have networked with and some of their friends I would have never met otherwise. As a lender, the fact that Mafia Wars gives us common ground to stand on has resulted in REAL business opportunities when we meet in the real world.
I have literally held a conversation with a financial professional about how asset management in the facebook game vs. making poor financial decisions in the game can have a parallel in the personal financial decisions people really make. This makes me feel ok with the 15-20 minutes I spend a week interacting with them in a "pretend" world. I am ok with being known as a "Top Player" within my "Mafia" because it is another opportunity to interact with real people and exchange in conversation. To me, the key is reaching out beyond the game and reaching into their real world and if that step is missed… then you really are just playing a game wasting time.
I believe if there is a method to the madness, it can't be such a bad thing (once again used with discretion, awareness to what is being published on your wall and keeping it within the circle of other "game players" so as to not litter other's walls with non relevant information.)
This may not be the ideal way to reach out and connect with someone…but nonetheless if you are reaching out and connecting it must be better than not reaching out at all?

By: Peter Toner

Peter Toner — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 18:37:36 +0000

Right on the money Darryl. The brilliant author Seth Godin posted on his bog recently:

“Who you are and what you do. The neat thing about the online world is that you are judged almost entirely by your actions, usually based on just your fingers ….”

By: Peter Toner

Peter Toner — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 17:34:42 +0000

Thanks for the tip Kathy, looks like most of us will be headed over to that link as fast as we can!

By: Cathy B

Cathy B — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 17:30:34 +0000

You CAN turn these notifications off. Its very simple. Under Settings, Privacy Settings, and Ignore Application Invites. You don't have to ignore 50 times a day. If you're going to use Social Media, you need to learn the ins and outs so it doesn't annoy you and you don't "dread" it.