Twitter – as good as bail money?
By: Eric Blackwell,
EricOnSearch.com,
Post Archive,
RSS FeedPosted: Thursday, May 8th, 2008, 10:52 am MST
Category: Real Estate
This is going to be a really short post. I keep on promising Teri Lussier that I am going to get some serious Twittering going on in our brokerage. Truthfully, I have been too busy on all of my projects like the contest and the industry newspaper to get there.
This news item might change my mind though! (grin)
Teri and Brian, I promise I will do a better job of Twittering, just in case!
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17 Comments so far
Mr. Blackwell, great to see your interest in such a powerful tool as Twitter. Maybe I can hasten your use of it…
You can use TwitterLocal to find people in your area already using Twitter and start building your network. Look at all the people in southern Indiana waiting for you to connect with them:
http://www.twitterlocal.net/show/47201/20
Next is Summize where you type in keywords of interest and it will show you the the results from Twitter. This would allow you to “listen” to people asking their friends if they know a good Realtor:
http://summize.com/search?q=%22real+estate%22+agent
Just an FYI
What’s your Twitter handle? I’m tcar
I am twitter.com/ericblackwell– amazingly original, no? I have not updated much at all…I am going to start now…look out world.
Isn’t that an amazing story?
I’ve cut down on my twittering as well. I had to bust my twitter addiction.
@Teri–Just getting into it and NOW you cut back?-GRIN
@Todd without a website link–thanks for that…FTR- Mr. Blackwell would be my dad or a REALLY BAD clothes designer guy –(I am just plain ole Eric)
Thanks again.
eric
beware being on twitter I suppose is like being famous. You gain followers and you are constantly broadcasting what you are doing in short bursts. And people are watching and responding.
Its addictive, but so far I have found it, like facebook just for fun.
There are some success stories with both though.
Louis you’re wrong. But you can have fun while doing business, no?
People will keep taking jabs at the platform (as they did blogging) and not get it. That’s OK. It’s not about popularity or gaining stats by having “friends”. Although , like with any socil utility, that will happen. It’s what it CAN be about and what it has become for so many people who have leveraged it as a channel of communication.
@tcar YOU, my friend get it!
@Teri I’m sorry. I know I said I would leave this alone.
@EricBlackwell follow me back!
Brad
You are right, you can have fun while doing business and you can have fun while having fun. For me so far using twitter is the latter. But I am not using twitter for business.
I wasn’t taking a jab against twitter, you won’t see a Case Against Twitter blog post from me!
I did say above that there are successes with it.
Here is what the link to the html was meant to be:
I wasn’t taking a jab against twitter, you won’t see a Case Against Twitter blog post from me!
Interesting little story. Just goes to show the power of the web.
Hopefully, Eric – you won’t need to use it to get out of jail though.
@ Malok – Hard to do when you have no social life! GRIN
@ Louis – too funny. I try to evaluate every channel of communication for its potential to generate business and create relationships. I totally agree though that there is a time factor to everything and I tend to turn and burn 24/7 already. A channel of communication that works for me cannot over complicate and must be simple to use.
Another interesting point is that during the SEO contest, following some other people on twitter was helpful at times. It is pretty public info, no?
@Brad Coy – Looks like its working..(building relationships).going to follow you now. (grin)
Eric-
I spent Wed and Thurs this week in interactive training at my brokerage. The trainer is in Orlando and teaches live via TV to brokerages all across North America. It just so happens that I was the only one in my brokerage taking the classes this week.
My Twitter archive from Wed will attest to my social needs. It was nearly impossible for me to sit alone all day, with no one to talk to! Thanks to Twitter, I had some meaningful conversations, and cleared the air with one Twitter pal over a disagreement we had had on a blog post.
That’s when I really understood why Twitter is an important social connection for those folks who work in an isolated situation, or who’s work requires connecting to a specific group of people- if they are twittering you have a natural place for those touches and connections.
@TeriLussier- follow if you dare, er uh, care to.
Eric
Twitter is useful but an incredible time suck. After I get through my rss feeds, answer my emails, check facebook, linkedin, take phone calls, take care of my real job (speak with customers, attend meetings etc), twitter for me is only for late at night, and by then I have missed the days twittering.
Any advise on how to use twitter so it does not become a constant interruption?
You nailed it Teri. Twitter is my water cooler.
@Louis – I understand. Thanks for the clarity.
>Any advise on how to use twitter so it does not become a constant interruption?
Use it when you can. The temptation to waste time by being distracted with idle chit-chat is the risk. People are always finding ways to being distracted, right? My approach is to use twitter while I’m blog reading or browsing online.
I have more than a few examples of how twitter works, but trying to explain here (for me) is like explaining how I met somebody in the pub that wants to buy a home in the city. And yes, it can be a huge waste of time. I suppose that’s each persons responsibility to themselves. I guess what I don’t here enough of is how it also accelerates conversation and meeting somebody face to face as well. Just by being on twitter, you already have a “social object” at that point, your next point of conversation is right around the corner.
I kind of said I’m through shilling for twitter at one point cause the conversation on the web has been ad nauseum. It must be my own love/hate relationship with it that keeps bringing me back. Such as my social life – Online.
@pistachio does a good job here: http://is.gd/Aq
@Louis Cammarosano Try TwitterSnooze:
“…Sometimes even the best in our Twitterati can break the unspoken twittettiquette and pollute what was once a beautiful arrangement of tweets with excessive twitterage. Or maybe they are just at a conference about turning door knobs with your teeth and you wish you could just tune them out while they rage on about the best way to mend a chipped tooth on the fly from a failed attempt. Or something like that.
Well TwitterSnooze! let’s you get back in touch with the Twitter you love by giving the people that are harshing your mellow a timeout and putting the zen back into your Twitter.”
http://twittersnooze.com/
Thanks Todd
The benefits of the free market, some one will come up with something to satisfy a consumer need. I’ll give it a try.
Louis