Recently I gave a presentation to a group of progressive title representatives and here is the training video recap. This session was one hour and covered Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.

Please let me know if you have any comments in this thread.

Over the past few years Facebook has seen many changes. You may remember Facebook apps seemed to be the hottest thing around.  But it didn’t take long for all of us to try them…and get burned out! Also during this time Twitter burst onto the scene and taught us conversation was far more important.  Facebook quickly realized that and made more adjustments bringing us the newsfeed we know and love.  The evolution has continued and now brings us a new Lite version of the site and @ status tagging.

Facebook Lite was originally touted as an optimized version of the site for countries with low-bandwidth. However last week over at TechCrunch, Facebook was quoted as saying:

“We decided to roll out Facebook Lite in the U.S. to give users a simple, expedient alternative to facebook.com, and hope that it will fill this need. We have also found that people who are new to Facebook tend to be most interested in a simpler experience, focus on establishing their network of friends and communicating with them by writing on their walls, sending messages, and looking at pictures. We have introduced the Lite site with these new users in mind”.

After taking Lite for a spin, I must admit that I’m very impressed with the simplistic interface.  As you can imagine, the newsfeed is the main aspect of the site.  It’s very clean and easy to interface with. Clearly positioned at the top are status and media sharing tools; followed by birthday and event notifications.

@ Tagging

Now when posting a status update you’ll have the option of tagging your friends in the message…that’s right, just like Twitter. Although Facebook’s implementation works differently, there are obviously similarities starting with the @ symbol.  Once you type “@” a drop-down menu will appear with a dynamic list of your friends and other connections even including groups, events, applications and Pages.

When you reference a friend it will send them a notification and post the status update to their wall. Just like traditional tagging in Facebook, your friend can delete the update from their wall. Also worth noting is that the “@” symbol will not be displayed in the published status update.

So what does this mean for you and your business?

Well for starters, you’d be better off spending time communicating and engaging your connections than building fancy applications for a page that users may not even visit.  Remember it’s not just Facebook Lite you need to be thinking about, it’s also Facebook mobile.  (Read here: Mobile now connecting 65 million.) You’ll notice that Lite seems to parallel mobile in terms of its feature set…which may become our new reality. Now I’m not telling you to bail on your business page, it will still be assessable. You will still be able to share business updates and engage with users you just might not need those fancy tabs.

It’s hard to believe, but email is starting to become a thing of the past. Social Networks are continuing to dominate online communication. Why spend time attaching a photo in an email when you could just post it to your Facebook page? Why have an email address when you can have your own personal URL?  Why email one customer about your  businesses promotions when you could tell thousands at once? Why? Why? and more Why’s? The list goes on and when you think hard you may start to wonder…dare I say it…Why even use email?  While that question may be a stretch now, soon enough it might be a question you find yourself asking others. Statistics show that Facebook is by far the most popular service for sharing content online. 24% of all content being shared is through Facebook. That easily towers over email’s 11.1%. Even Twitter, which was only started 3 years ago, is as popular of a sharing service as Email.

My point is, if your not in the loop, jump in! You may ask yourself, am I too far behind? or am I too old to start sharing on social platforms? or will the whole world constantly be tracking me? The answer is No. Social media can be utilized by all age groups and you can personally choose what you want to share and who you want to share it with. Below is a list of the top 10 social media sites that I suggest using and why.

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Yesterday we held a webinar for real estate and mortgage professionals sharing strategies on how to incorporate Twitter into your business.  Today I want to share our presentation resources. To start we have a video recording of the event. You’ll also notice we have included our PowerPoint slides, and a list of links to most of the resources we talked about.  We hope these resources will be helpful! Please leave any questions in the comments below.

Follow us at @cyberhomes and @nik_nik

If you were to ask me for one of the big buzz words of 2009, I would have to say Twitter.  You can’t turn around without someone mentioning the rapidly growing micro-sharing network.  But what is it about 140 character tweets that has everyone talking? If you’ve been asking those questions, than you should seriously think about attending our free upcoming webinar:

Twitter Webinar
Date: May 7^th, 2009
Time: 10am (PDT) / 1pm (EST)
RSVP: http://rsvp.cyberhomes.com
Instructors: Reggie Nicolay (@cyberhomes) and Nicole Nicolay (@nik_nik)

The truth is Twitter has lots to offer your real estate business.  The simplicity of the tool has empowered extremely creative uses of the technology.  One of the latest Twitter features is another take on a growing web-based quandary of user registration. Keep in mind, each time users are asked to create a new account; they typically create a new username, password, and even upload their avatar.  Both Facebook and Google have stepped up with solutions aimed at porting user’s profiles into newly authenticated sites. Now Twitter has done the same with Twitter Connect. Basically the service allows any website or blog owner to self-host the entire oAuth connection process. (see examples)

As mentioned, this would allow visitors to your site to authenticate using their Twitter account. Which could be handy for leaving new comments, it’s even possible to bring in their avatar alongside.  Of course, Twitter Connect could be used for more than just comments; it could be used for any other registration need that may arise.

If you’re a WordPress user, I’ve already seen a WordPress plug-in popup that will help you through the installation process.  You will however need to follow a process similar to Facebook connect setup, meaning you will need to register your blog and then grab your Consumer Key and Consumer Secret. Those unique numbers are then added to the WordPress Plugin.

Whether it’s a large conference or a local event, making new connections is a critical part of the relationship building process. How have you gone about this in the past? Are you walking away from events with the connections you want? Or are you the fly on the wall? Try implementing these tips for your next event:

1. It all starts with planning ahead! Choose the sessions that you want to attend; research speakers and their backgrounds. This will make small talk easy once you’ve made the introduction!
2. Pick your technology! Are you going to be taking photos or video? Charge those batteries. Think about streaming the event with Qik.
3. Find out if your event has a hash tag, use the hash tag to communicate with others via Twitter, Facebook, and other social platforms.
4. Connect with attendees via social networks (LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Flickr). Remember this can be done from your mobile device!
5. Help colleagues and friends make new connections by via an introduction when appropriate.
6. Take lots of pictures! These make for great sharing opportunities later. Upload to sites like Flickr and Facebook.
7. Approach your favorite speakers and make the connection…in person. Make sure you get their card!
8. When you have a questions…ask them!
9. After the event, search hash tags, friends and event name to see what’s been said about the event. Comment where appropriate.
10. Share your favorite events highlights on your own website or blog.

If you’ve been wondering how Twitter can help augment your real estate marketing initiatives, you’re in luck! Nicole Nicolay (@nik_nik) recently finished writing an eBook entitled “Twitter for Real Estate Twits.”

Now, you may think I’m a little biased since Nicole IS my wife. But I’m not the only one who thinks real estate agents can benefit from using Twitter. Just today, Bernice Roberts wrote “It’s Time To Take Up Tweeting” over at Inman News.

So I sat down with @nik_nik (which wasn’t all that hard since we cohabitate) and asked her a few quick questions about her new ebook and Twitter in general. Here are her responses in 140 characters or less!

1. What can a real estate professional expect to learn from “Twitter for Real Estate Twits”?

@nik_nik:  I think this ebook will help break down the barrier to entry and provide Twits with the know-how to build relationships that lead to biz.

2. What is the best way for a real estate professional to utilize Twitter?

@nik_nik:  Drive traffic to your RE blog by broadcasting posts & target your future clients by becoming their trusted advisor.

3. What do you think are the biggest hurdles an agent faces with using Twitter?

@nik_nik:  Time management and communicating (tweeting) effectively

4. What advice do you have for a Twitter newbie?

@nik_nik: Be yourself, share what you are passionate about and NEVER EVER hard sell or spam Twits with bulk DMS.

To get started tweeting today, download your FREE copy of “Twitter for Real Estate Twits” here.