Takeaways from a gathering in Dallas
No: 364
Lots of food for thought here:
Everyone’s talking about the “real-time” web these days, usually in relation to Twitter. It seems hard to relate this to real estate in a time when sporadic FTP dumps of MLS data are still all too common.
But check this: Stweet, which launched this week, is a mashup of twitter and Google Street View. The real-time web meets place. It’s rough around the edges right now, and the tweets have nothing to do with real estate, but I think there’s something here. Think hashtags for listings or streets, or something like this as a collaboration tool between agents and buyers.
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Google Analytics released an API three weeks ago. Seems less than thrilling at first glance, but what if someone leveraged this to create an app that showed brokers what listings, market segments or neighborhoods were getting the most activity? In other words, an app that delivers some predictive grasp on demand.
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Ning, the DIY social network leader, which hosts over 1,000,000 networks (including, in real estate, chasenation.com), announced last week that it has enhanced its platform to include over 90 third-party apps. Network owners can now add document storage and management through box.net, calendaring via Zoho, docs through Google and whiteboard collaboration through Huddle.
All of this is darn near free.
Things may be tough right now for brokers and agents, but if you’re serious about getting with the program online it’s stuff like this that makes this the best of times.
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Coolest iPhone app I’ve seen this week: Okimok. It allows you create a real-time photo stream. Take pictures and friends can follow what you’re looking at, interested in, or, perhaps, thinking of buying.
Again, the real estate use cases are a little fuzzy with this app. It’s the idea that is instructive. Imagine an iPhone app called “BrokerTour” or “HomeStream” that allows agents and consumers to share photos they snap of listings really easily. Too far-fetched?
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Descending into Vegas. Laptops off. That’s it for now!