Technocrats produce a new term every day, it seems. These terms are apparently shared only with the young, stylish and cool. That group in turn seems to delight in using these terms in the presence of their seniors who, without fail, get that blank look on their face.
The current term that is causing this sensation is “blog.” Blogging has been a growing sociological movement during the past two years.
*Blogs are alternatively called web logs or weblogs. However, “blog” has become the popular slang, probably because this reduces confusion with the “web log” which refers to a server’s log files.
A blog is often a mixture of a person’s business, personal and consumer life, announced and maintained on the Web – a kind of hybrid diary/guide site – a stream of written consciousness logged and maintained chronologically on the Internet.
There are as many unique types of blogs as there are Internet users. The information may be presented to: educate, interact, persuade, seek information, make statements, or just get something off one’s chest. There are few, if any, controls. Blogs may well be the ultimate reality programming.
People maintained blogs long before the term was coined. But the trend gained momentum with the introduction of Blogger (blogger.com) and other automated published systems. Thousands of people use services such as Blogger to simplify and accelerate the publishing process.
Probably the biggest boost to blogging came during the 2004 presidential election. Several blogs discussed each candidate’s Vietnam military record. These discussions caught the attention of broadcast media, and ultimately influenced the election.
*A lot of statistics have been collected regarding blogs. According to the Pew Research Survey Center there are more than nine million blogs on the net today. More than 27 percent of Internet users in America read blogs regularly.
Although Weblogs (blogs) are currently created and maintained by a small number of online consumers, they’ve garnered a great deal of corporate attention because their readers and writers are highly influential. Many experts believe that blogging will grow in importance. And they encourage companies to monitor blogs to learn what is being said about their products and services.
From a real estate broker’s perspective the subject of blogs and blogging can be stored under the heading of emerging consumer behaviors. Research clearly shows that today’s real estate consumer is the most sophisticated, informed and empowered in the history of the industry.
What may not be as clear is that an essential element of this “Internet empowered” consumer profile is the desire to both seek and share information about specific service providers with which they deal. The eBay process reflects this need, during the last several years, by concluding the customer’s bidding experience with a chance to comment on the behavior of the vendor.
With a record number of X’er and Millennium consumers in the marketplace, it is just a matter of time before some start sharing their experiences, good or bad, with the general public over the Internet through the blogging process.
*As an industry, REALTORS® have only recently discovered that the Internet is now controlling about 20 percent of its business. Now imagine large numbers of unedited, unsolicited and unaccountable bloggers telling the whole world about their real estate transaction experience, and the behaviors of specific agents. Is this a bit unsettling? This is exactly what is about to happen to businesses in every industry.
Now is the time for brokers to establish “blog smart” programs to cover their vulnerabilities and harvest the opportunities from this coming phase of the Internet experience.
• Have your IT or communications people establish a regular blog monitoring process using search engines such as Technorati and PubSub.
• Get comfortable with two-way relationships with Internet consumers. Then consider creating and maintaining your own public blog.
• Fashion defense strategies. Bloggers are like other influential people. By and large their attitudes can be mitigated and arbitrated.
• Plan on the company customer ombudsman practicing his or her skills on bloggers who are taking exception to the service or experience they received from the brokerage during their recent transaction.
• Adopt a blogging code of ethics
• Create metrics that show the impact of blogs on business goals.
• Make blogging an Internet communications game. Some experts suggest that blogs that reach celebrity status, and many have, will become prime advertising and market- ing sites. Once the rules and tactics are understood they can be turned to the company’s advantage.
Remember it wasn’t so long ago that someone suggested you get into e-mail. Then came the proposal that you have your own firm Web site. Shortly after that you discovered that the Internet could bring you leads that might convert to actual sales. During the next several years, the Internet will provide no end of surprises. Today the magic word is “blog.”
