The Wild Wonderful Web We Weave. How tightly wound it will be.

by Brad Coy

Realtor, Urban Jedi

Author website

Yesterday was Teri Lussier’s Birthday in case you missed it.  If you did, then by all means go and give her your well wishes already.

Aside from working on your birthday, Teri and I have a few things in common.  Beyond real estate, our shared interest might have a lot to do with why I’m writing on Bloodhound.   A little over a year ago, after reading this blog for probably a year-plus prior, she pulled me out of lurking and into commenting on this post about twitter. It was not the utility of twitter that was as much of interest, but rather the evolving way that we communicate with one another on the WWW.   Twitter, as we all knew was offering a new line of communication at the time in the micro-blogging arena, and Teri was sharing her thoughts on the concept by using a shared favorite film as a metaphor.

It was her use of something that was of great interest to me that attracted me to her post.   Timing, curiosity, and a shared interest can start relationships in a heartbeat. Since then, Teri and I have become friends on and offline.  Meeting last year at Bloodhound Unchained in Phoenix and again at REBlogWorld in Vegas.

I value her viewpoint and honesty as I do everyone I have come across that contribute to Bloodhound.   Being so, we occasionally message each other with ideas or join in what has been dubbed a scenius.

None of this is ground breaking except for the idea that it is becoming easier to connect.  Since I spend so much time in the machine, I rarely take a step back in reflection as I did yesterday morning.

What Teri said via email is what got me started:

” I’m quite partial to grainy B&W foreign movies… a joke… sorta…. Brad will laugh.

I went on YouTube to search for a trailer for Wings of Desire” to send to Teri in a message and what I came across was fascinating to me.   There is a whole sub-culture of people on YouTube that have edited different music over the top of parts of the movie as well as the trailer.  Everything from the soundtracks originals songs, to modern Radiohead favs, to some self-produced covers.  It looks like some have also gone as far as to upload the entire movie in 10 minute chunks as well.  Fans build communities and relate on the platform where they meet in their shared interest.

Here’s something else.

From what I know at least 3 bloggers on this site have found their significant others on the web.   My wife and I have an ongoing inside joke about how our mutual friend ‘Craig’ introduced us.  Again, not much new, really.  People have been finding ways of connecting despite every seemingly arcane tool of tech that’s put in front of them.  What is new, is the refinement of how relationships are formed . The detail in frequency is becoming more and more clear in the social ways of the web.  Facebook aggregates interactions with their your friends, family, and interests in a real-time life stream and now features chat – two more ways to reach out.  It is one of the most popular, growing by over 600,00 users a day.  Google it would seem, understand this as well, and It would look like they are continuing to strengthen the social functionality of their profiles.

What does the future hold for the average citizen of the WWW?

My aim, if I have one here is to point out that the “Long Tail” is not so long when it’s where you are connecting with what it is you are looking for.  In terms of Real Estate and social media,  I get leads all the time.  Many are a bad fit for me and the prospective client as well.  I’m certain as my brand continues to grow with more transparency and clarity of who I am and what I have to offer as a professional, I will attract more ‘like minded’ people looking for assistance with condo and loft purchase in San Francisco.  Beyond that, It will be helpful to know that we are going to get along OK.  Hard to know until meet.  But for all the talk of the RE.net’s joy of #IRL, you get a sense online of whether of not you want to work with someone for 30 days, let alone 6 months through a stressful transaction.

Sales gets called “a numbers game” all the time, but as with all relationships that eventuate, I would rather be find myself in the company of what will likely happen anyway –  connecting with like minded individuals that like and respect my point of view and what I have to offer, as opposed to being at a mixer with blinders on with thousands of others looking to host my attention.  It’s doubtful to me that this is something that will be shuffled along by something like review or recommendations, but rather the sum amount of how you represent yourself online in public conversation – your digital self if you will.

“Top producers” will always find 50+ reasons to list why you should work with them.  It’s one of the biggest memes in Realtor history.  I wonder how many pros would be up to digging up the 50+ different reasons why one should not work with them, or even ask that question of themselves.  The observations found could be very helpful in how we represent ourselves.

The world will continue to grow as technology and the social web continue to make it smaller.  A smaller space for us to share, a smaller space between the lines of you and me.  With everything shared in the social space of blogging etc, a tighter web we weave of connectivity.

This one’s for Teri and some other friends of mine whom were joined a few years back after meeting on a Radiohead message board.

Now that I’ve given you a bit more about me.  How about you?   I’m always curious about the readers that don’t give voice to their thoughts as they read here.   Come on out and say hi and let’s talk about this.   Let me in on how you are representing yourself online and what your aim is when it comes to attracting a like-minded sphere via your WWW efforts.   Have you ever established a relationship with a client online that had the small talk work of ‘you get it’ facilitated right on through to meeting face to face?

(Veteran voices welcomed too) 🙂