Friday Flash: Junk research, self-serve sublets and mesmeric Kubrick

Not a lot of big news this week. Late summer doldrums I suppose.

A few things that caught my eye…

Citi initiated its analyst coverage of Zillow, rating it a “buy.” Sure, you could point out Citi’s involvement in the Zillow IPO, or take issue with the strongly positive opinion. I don’t really have an problem with any of that. Call me jaded.

But one part of the report did bother me: a poorly constructed, recklessly small survey of Realtor sentiment about technology products and providers. Zillow came out good on some questions, Trulia won on others, and “social media” seemed to kick everybody’s butt. Whatever.

Several people emailed me with tidbits from this survey as evidence of something meaningful. I don’t have an problem with that either. But the survey was garbage.

I’d like to see more serious research on real estate technology, media and marketing. NAR does some good work here, but it’s not enough. And it’s NAR.  RealTrends is a respected source, but they seem to be focused on brokerage operations. I’m looking for a Borrell or Kelsey-type effort in real estate.

It’s not our bag. And we’re busy. But I think there’s a nice little business here for someone willing to raise the bar.

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Apparently, the “daily deals” phenomenon no longer has the potential to transform our economy, change the future of commerce, or add existential significance to the act of buying appetizers.

Thank god. I never got how turning economies of scale and the basest consumer impulses against small businesses made any sense.

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Airbnb announced that it has begun offering sublets. Until now, the site was focused on short, hotel-length stays.

Keep watching them.

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Content curation and a more personal real estate search. These are two topics that have been talked about a lot the past few months.

These two things, in combination, popped into my head when I read about the launch of Jig – a social site that “meets unmet needs.”

You see what I mean?

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Jux is a new company that offers an immersive, beautiful way to publish words, photos and videos. It literally frees content to reach its fullest expression on our screens.

I found it a bit confusing at first. But I think this could be used quite effectively to tell a story about a home or a neighborhood.

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Why don’t brokers sell ads in the listing photos they own? Seriously – let’s think big!

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A while ago, I shared some photos that had been messed with to create amazing and haunting animated gifs.

These are even better.

Enjoy the long weekend!