“…Great Risks Associated with that Kind of Future”

As an example, I recently interviewed Matthew Shadbolt of The Corcoran Group. He said some things that brought this issue back to the forefront for me, when he talked about “future proofing” your digital content. Here is the key quote from the post I wrote about that interview (emphasis added):

“So, for example, in terms of real estate video, if you’re continuing to film your property tours with a flip cam hand-held camera in poor lighting and with terrible audio, the idea that that content is going to exist inside of a highly socialized YouTube on an Apple plasma TV, and YouTube moves from being something on the computer to something that’s more centered around the home, your content has great risks associated with that kind of future.”

For the record, I agree with Matthew. I can feel my personal taste becoming more sophisticated and less tolerant of what I’ll call the “DIY Flip Syndrome.”

And, in the interest of full disclosure, I’ve published plenty of video that — in retrospect — I wish I had created originally with this “future proofing” idea in mind.

But I am admittedly no expert on this, so my opinion, truly, is of limited value.

That being the case, I thought it might be valuable to solicit the opinions of some people who I believe ARE experts on the topic of production value, to see if what they think lines up with what Matthew is suggesting.

And so, I reached out and obtained the perspectives of two people whose judgments on production value are critical to their respective livelihoods: world famous rock and roll photographer Jay Blakesberg and WellcomeMat co-founder Christian Sterner.

“Low-Quality Content is Pretty Much Noise”

Blakesberg is an amazing talent who has photographed every major star in rock, from Bruce to Bob to Keith to Kurt to ZZ and everyone in between. Here is what he had to say (emphasis added):

“At this point, user-generated content or low-quality content is pretty much just “NOISE.” As marketers, the goal is to have your signal, or the signal of the brand, break through the “noise.” Low-quality content does NOT break through … it dies very quickly and quietly. The combination of YouTube and Facebook have greatly contributed to the amount of noise out there, but they have also created the platform to extend the reach of your brand with engaging and relevant content. Facebook “share” is a very powerful tool! But the content needs to be good. High-quality content has the ability to spread across the network in ways unimaginable a few years ago. I don’t think it matters whether it’s a major brand or the local real estate agent, but bad content is a waste of time … of course there are always exceptions when some low-fi wacky video catches a wave, but, in general, there is too much information out there for people to choose, and people just keep losing interest as the clutter keeps growing. It’s simple … engaging and relevant content that people will WANT to share because it is good!”

“… Like Making Your Own Clothes to Wear to a Job Interview”

And here is what Sterner contributed (emphasis added):

“Most people choose to exclusively hire production teams or to create their own videos, but the reality is that both levels of production have value … What we know is that video tours of properties make up 62 percent of all video views for real estate-related content. As an agent, using examples of property videos you’ve created yourself to win new listings is like making your own clothes to wear to a most important job interview. However, sometimes the informational value of videos is higher than the need for quality production: video tours for buy-side clients, interviews with local characters, sharing what’s happening at an event and showing the progress of a construction project are good examples of this. These are right-here, right-now opportunities for agents, brokers and brands to demonstrate themselves as an information source, and production teams cannot always be on hand. As a rule, the safest route is work with video production teams whenever possible, especially when trying to demonstrate your marketing prowess to win listings.”

Clearly, this issue is highly subjective, and we all have our own opinions on production value.

Future Risk Assessment?

Hopefully, this post will make you think about what you’re doing with your digital content, and how changes in technology and the always-evolving tastes of the consuming masses might be putting your digital content at risk.

The REAL Dynamic Duo? It's not Batman & Robin. It's @evernote & #basecamp. Everything we do involves one or both of these amazing tools.

March 6, 2012 4:54 am via TweetDeckReplyRetweetFavorite

@VerifiedAgent

VerifiedAgent.com

Today, I’m going to shift gears and focus on Basecamp. Actually, not Basecamp itself, but the big takeaways from a book written by one of the co-founders of Basecamp, Jason Fried, called “Rework.”

There are many lessons in this excellent book that I think are applicable to real estate. The purpose of this post is to identify a few of the more relevant of those lessons and share them with you, hoping that you might be able to apply them into your business right now to either make more money or do things more efficiently.

So, without further ado, here we go:

1 | Long-Term Planning Not That Important

Here’s how Fried says it:

“Why don’t we just call plans what they really are:  guesses. Start referring to your business plans as business guesses, your financial plans as financial guesses, and your strategic plans as strategic guesses,” and “Give up on the guesswork. You decide what you’re going to do this week, not this year. Figure out the next most important thing and do that. (Make) decisions right before you do something, not far in advance.”

And let me be clear: Personally, I am a hyper-planner on many levels. But if I am honest, Fried is absolutely correct when he goes on to write this:

“Unless you’re a fortune-teller, long-term business planning is a fantasy. There are just too many factors that are out of your hands: Market conditions, competitors, customers, the economy, etc. Writing the plan makes you feel in control of things you can’t actually control.”

2 | It’s Not the Idea … It’s the EXECUTION 

Fried writes:

“What you do is what matters, not what you think or say or plan,” and “Ideas are cheap and plentiful. The original pitch idea is such a small part of the business that is almost negligible. The real question is how well you execute the. …”

This is so true. So many of us fall in love with the development (me) and the infinite perfection of the idea (me again), whatever it may be, rather than the simple execution of the idea. Seth Godin refers to this as “shipping.” Here’s a funny little video I found that conveys the idea:

3 | Priority Trumps Time

We all make excuses, don’t we? And one of the most popular excuses throughout the course of human history is this one: “I just don’t have enough time to do that.” Here’s how Fried says it:

“When you want something bad enough, you make the time — regardless of your other obligations. The truth is most people just don’t want it bad enough. Then they protect the ego with the excuse of time.”

What are you not doing that you know you should be doing, hiding behind the pretense of not having enough time? Learning new technologies that you know deep down you need to learn to stay competitive? Reassessing old strategies that no longer work that you keep doing simply because “that’s the way we’ve always done it”?

We’re all guilty of this one, aren’t we? Recognize it and react accordingly.

4 | You Need Less Than You Think

Great businesses can start with modest beginnings. Here’s Fried:

“There’s nothing wrong with being frugal. When we launched our first product, we did it on the cheap. We didn’t get our own office; we shared space with another company. We didn’t advertise; we promoted by sharing our experiences online. And everything worked out just fine. Great companies start in garages all the time. Yours can, too.”

Is there some larger business initiative you’ve been thinking about? Let’s be honest: There has never been a better time to start a business in terms of barrier to entry. With Skype, Google Plus (I now live on Google Plus Hangouts, by the way, Facebook groups, Basecamp, Evernote, the ubiquity of Wi-Fi, etc., you can work from anywhere, anytime, and with anyone you want.

You need less than you think to pursue your dream. Pursue it.

5 | Commit

Fried: “You need a commitment strategy, not an exit strategy.”

I’m not going to taint this one with my words. I’m just going to let it hit you however it hits you.

6 | Less Mass

God, do I love this one. Here’s the key quote:

“Huge organizations can take years to pivot. They talk instead of act. They meet instead of do. But if you keep your mass low, you can quickly change anything: your entire business model, product, feature set, and/or marketing message.”

This is really more applicable to brokers (and brands) than agents — the key point being to keep your overhead as low as possible to stay nimble and maximize profits — but it’s a good lesson for all. As we live through one of the most brutal stretches in the history of the American real estate industry, running our businesses as efficiently as possible on every level is absolutely crucial.

7 | Start at the Epicenter

This one is all about priority, and it is so applicable to all of us in this amazingly distracting “Era of the Shiny Object.” Here’s the key thought from Fried:

“There are forces pulling you in a variety of directions. There’s the stuff you could (do), the stuff you want to do, and the stuff you have to do. The stuff you have to do is where you should begin. Start at the epicenter.”

I struggle with this one every day. I have to consciously stop myself — many times, every day — and ask myself these questions:

• “What am I doing?”;
• “Why am I doing it?”; and
• “Is this the thing I should be doing?”

Very often, I find that I am not doing the things I should be doing.

8 | Decisions are Progress

This is a bit of a continuation of point 2 above (execution). Here’s how Fried says it:

“Whenever you can, swap ‘let’s think about it’ for ‘let’s decide on it.’ Commit to making decisions. Don’t wait for the perfect solution. Decide and move forward.”

Decisions are the engine that drives execution. Make more of them, and make them faster.

9 | Be a Curator

So often, it’s difficult to decide what to do, isn’t it? We’re so frequently overwhelmed with the seemingly infinite array of choices we have for doing just about everything we do these days. Sometimes, the easier approach is to start by eliminating the things you don’t want to do or clearly are the wrong options.

Here’s what Fried writes:

“It’s the stuff you leave out that matters. So constantly look for things to remove, simplify and streamline. Be a curator. Stick to what’s truly essential. Pare things down until you’re left with only the most important stuff. Then do it again.”

This is a genius point. Start developing the discipline of removing the things you know you don’t need or don’t want to do. You may be surprised at how much this helps you to figure out what you should be doing, merely because you’ve removed options and decluttered your thinking a little (or maybe a lot).

10 | Put a Gun to Your Own Head

Not literally, of course. To force decisions, actions and execution, you need to give yourself deadlines. Fried:

“When you impose a deadline, you gain clarity. It’s the best way to get to that gut instinct that tells you, ‘We don’t need this.’ “

Start giving yourself deadlines and then sharing them with people to make yourself accountable. I’ve used social media for this purpose, tweeting out things like, “I’m writing a blog post on X, read it on Friday!” knowing that in doing so I was putting myself in a position where I had to perform. This really works.

11 | Get Alone

I’ve been in real estate for 21 years. In all that time, I don’t think I doubt I’ve spent more than 30 entire days in any real estate office when working as an agent. Why? Because real estate offices are not where most agents go to actually do work. Yes, there are absolutely exceptions to that, but, for the most part, what I’ve experienced is that real estate offices are where agents go when in between work, or to socialize, or to hang out, or to kill time before doing something else.

There is value in that community aspect, for sure, but this is not the place to be if you want to be highly productive. As Fried says:

“Instead, you should get in the alone zone. Long stretches of alone time are where you’re most productive.”

12 | Meetings are Toxic

I agree with Fried that meetings are usually awful. Here’s what he writes:

“The worse interruptions of all: our meetings. Here’s why:

• They’re usually about words and abstract concepts, not real things;
• They usually convey an abysmally small amount of information per minute;
• They drift off subject easier than a Chicago cab in a snowstorm;
• They require thorough preparation that most people don’t have time for;
• They frequently have agendas so vague that nobody is really sure of the goal;
• They often include at least one moron who inevitably gets his turn to waste everyone’s time with nonsense;
• Meetings appropriate. One meeting leads to another meeting …”

Fried goes on to talk about the right way to run meetings. I would buy and read “Rework” just for that information alone.

The point: Use meetings wisely, if at all.

13 |  Decommoditize your product

This is another one that is really applicable to the real estate industry, which has truly turned into one giant commodity in the eyes of the consumer. Here’s what Fried says we should do about it:

“Make you part of your product or service. Inject what’s unique about the way you think and what you sell. Decommoditize your product — make it something no one else can offer.”

I recently read two other books — Simon Sinek’s “Start with Why” and Tony Hsieh’s “Delivering Happiness” — that echo the same sentiments. I cannot possibly convey all I want to say on this point in this small blog post, but I would highly suggest you get and read both of those books and take them dearly to heart.

14 | Build an Audience

This is another point that has much value in real estate. Here’s how Fried phrases it:

“Today’s smartest companies know better (than to blow money on traditional advertising that is scattershot at best). Instead of going out to reach people, you want people to come to you. An audience returns often — on its own — to hear what you have to say. This is the most receptive group of customers and potential customers you’ll ever have. When you build an audience, you don’t have to buy people’s attention — they give it to you. This is a huge advantage. So to build an audience: speak, write, blog, tweet, make videos — whatever. Share information that’s valuable and you’ll slowly but surely build a loyal audience.”

There’s all the motivation you should ever need to start doing more in social media, in my humble opinion.

15 | Out-teach Your Competition

Fried views teaching as one of the most powerful ways to differentiate yourself from your competition. Here’s what he says:

“Instead of trying to outspend, outsell or outsponsor competitors, try to out-teach them. Teaching probably isn’t something your competitors are even thinking about. Most businesses focus on selling or servicing, but teaching never even occurs to them. Teach and you’ll form a bond you just don’t get from traditional marketing tactics.”

When I look around the landscape and take note of the people who gain real notoriety and influence in my world, they all have one thing in common: They teach, they educate and they share. I think there’s a lesson in there somewhere.

Conclusion

“Rework” is a great book. Get it. Read it. Apply it.

@ProfessionalOne I can feel the #icny BUZZ all the way over here..will love to hear/see your "take-away" follow-up :) Crash in peace friend!

January 13, 2012 2:05 pm via Twitter for MacReplyRetweetFavorite

@LauraMonroe

Laura Monroe

My first thought, honestly? Nope, not going to do it. I’m too tired. Other people will write summary posts.

And then something took control of me, and, almost against my will, I found myself writing this post.

Why? Because I can’t not do it. These words are writing themselves, and I cannot deny their right to exist.

Because these events keep getting better. And the value I derive from them just keeps increasing over time.

So, without further adieu and in the interest of getting this out of my system so I can get some sleep, here are my Top 10 takeaways/thoughts/observations about Inman Real Estate Connect New York 2012:

1 | Big Lights Will Inspire You

What can you say about NYC? To quote Alicia Keys in Jay-Z’s “Empire State of Mind:”

Concrete jungle where dreams are made of, there’s nothing you can’t do, now you’re in New York, these streets will make you feel brand new, big lights will inspire you…

I’ve been to New York many times. But every time I visit, I DO feel brand new, I AM inspired, and I always go back home with a renewed sense of purpose, mission and passion. That Connect happens within this “anything is impossible” context just makes it that much more magical and meaningful. I can’t watch the video below without getting chills just a few hours removed from being there.

“Empire State of Mind” Jay-Z | Alicia Keys [OFFICIAL VIDEO]

2 | Geography is Meaningless

New York. California. North Carolina. Washington. Florida. Ohio. Illinois. Kentucky. Texas. Pennsylvania. Utah. British Columbia. Georgia. Hawaii. New Jersey. Colorado. These are the points of origin of the people with whom I spent the most time at Connect. Because these are also the people I spend the most time with in real life, which in recent years has largely been lived digitally. Why? Because things like Google+ makes it possible for me to stay connected to the people that really matter to me, no matter where they are. If this doesn’t prove the irrelevancy of location in a digital world, I don’t know what does.

3 | Serendipity Do Da

Inman put on an event to celebrate their recently released “Top 100 Most Influential” list. At that event, I found myself sitting across a table from Claire Boonstra, the co-fouder of Layar, which is a super-cool cool augmented reality technology. We ended up talking for a very long time, and I cannot do justice to the breadth and depth of the conversation; we talked about everything from the cultural differences between America and her native country (The Netherlands) to the amazing reaction she received while presenting at Connect (huge and positive) to her commentary on her co-founders to raising capital to fuel the business and much, much more. I thoroughly enjoyed Claire and our conversation. She is a very bright woman.

Several hours later, as I was leaving a different bar to head back to my room, I entered an elevator and found myself face to face with IMSD founder/Active Rain guy/KW guy (sorry, he’s hard to summarize) Ben Kinney. We’ve tried to connect in the past, and always seem to miss one another. But chance brought us together on an elevator in Manhattan, and we ended up having a great conversation. We covered a lot of meaningful stuff in a short period of time.

The point: on the same night, in a few short hours of real time and with absolutely zero intention, I met two truly influential people from opposite sides of the world and made real connections with both. That, in a nutshell, sums up the Connect experience for me. Rockstars everywhere you turn. Magic.

4 | Amabassadors Rocked

Inman put together an amazing team of people who functioned as “Ambassadors” at the event. Those chosen, to a man (or woman), did a stellar job of documenting and sharing the look, feel and vibe of Connect via Tweets, Facebook posts, blog posts and videos. The talented people who served so exceptionally were Lisa Archer, Sean Carpenter, Janie Coffey, Laurie Davis, Maura Neill, Chris Nichols, Steve Pacinelli, Debra Trappen, Tucker Wannamaker and Julie Ziemelist (that’s them in the photo below). Take a bow, people! You did a great job!

5 | Refueling Existing Relationships

It’s one thing to have friends in faraway places, and there is no question that Social Media gives us an unprecedented opportunity to develop an almost infinite, geographically boundless network of friends and business contacts. But there is nothing like real life, face to face interaction to remind you of just how important people are to us. On this trip, I was able to reconnect with existing friends like Marc Davison, Chris Smith, Krisstina Wise, Sherry Chris, Steve Pacinelli, Matthew Shadbolt, Maya Paveza, Audie Chamberlain and Jeff Kershner and enjoyed real life conversations with each. And, again, where else can you do that kind of “mass refueling” except at an event like Connect?

6 | Meeting Old Friends for the First Time

At every one of these conferences, I “harvest” a new batch of “old friends for the first time.” These are people I’ve developed relationships with online, but I’ve never met before IRL. At this conference, I was finally able to connect with Jim Marks, Jimmy Mackin, Janie Coffey, Kelly Mitchell, Maura Neill, Nick Ratliff, Cyndee Hayden, Josette Skilling, Kendyl Young, Jeff Lobb, Tiffany Kjelllander, Grier Allen, Rivers Pearce, Chris Speicher and a whole host of other people. I cannot tell you how much I enjoy this process, and every time it happens I feel sorry for those who continue to question the ROI of Social Media.

7 | Shadboltapalooza

The already mentioned Matthew Shadbolt – the Director of Interactive Product and Marketing for NYC’s Corcoran Group – was seemingly everywhere. He moderated a number of panels (including the one I was on, which was amazing and which he led with a deft and professional touch), he gave a great keynote speech and he participated fully on the social side of things (all while making a 45 minute commute each way while the rest of us walked a few feet to our rooms). He even found time to give me and Tucker Wannamaker a little guided tour of Times Square! And if you know Matthew, you know that everything he does is truly world class, top notch stuff. And he really put on a show. A big hat tip to you, sir!

8 | Birthplace of Businesses

I’ll bet at least 10 new businesses were born in the last four days within the confines of the Marriott Marquis Times Square. I have things in process that I hope you’ll hear about at Connect New York 2013 that were initiated at a prior Connect. And that happened again at this Connect. It’s the perfect “incubation station” because you have so many smart, talented, driven people all in one place at the same time. I think it’s a massive lost opportunity to not place yourself squarely in the middle of this “nexus of opportunity,” simply because you just don’t know who you’ll meet, what connection might be made and to what that might ultimately lead.

9 | Bar Being Raised

There was a common thread in just about everything I saw and heard at Connect, which I will summarize as “let’s raise the bar in real estate.” That really warmed my heart, as this is the number-one driving force in most of what I do these days. From Brad Inman’s opening address to the panel that I was on with Debra Trappen and Teri Conrad to a great session I saw on “Ratings, Reviews and Online Reputation” to another session featuring Jeff Lobb and Sue Adler on what customers think of us, it felt almost ubiquitous. And sorry for the shameless plug, but if you want to get involved in the “RTB” conversation, please check out this Facebook group designed to further that conversation. It’s timely, it’s important and we’d love everyone to get involved.

10 | Getting Better All the Time

This was my fourth Connect. And, for me, they just keep getting better. The people at Inman – from Brad to Tim to Tracy to Will to Alice to Chris to Katie to Madelyn to Natalie to all of the others in the Inman family I’ve missed – do a great job. The Inman NEXT dinner was great. The Top 100 event was the social highlight for me.  The content was timely, valuable and delivered by people qualified to opine on the applicable topic. These Connect conferences are the gold standard. They really are.

Final Thoughts

Allow me to conclude with this: at one point late in the day on Thursday, I was standing at the top of the escalator, checking my email on my iPhone and just about to leave the 6th floor of the Marriott where the bulk of the event was held. A woman was standing next to me, doing the same thing. Somehow, we struck up a conversation that ended up lasting at least 15 minutes. The key thing she said was this:

I have the same problem every year at Connect: I leave with so many great tips and ideas that I am overwhelmed.

To which I replied, “I guess I can think of worse problems, right?”

How many days until Connect San Francisco? See you there…

Twitter quietly testing expandable timeline http://t.co/EAWiulSV

October 25, 2011 5:10 pm via TweetDeckReplyRetweetFavorite

@CNETNews

CNET News

It hasn’t been announced publicly yet, but Twitter is testing an “enhanced timeline” functionality that allows users to view various information (media, conversation threads, Retweets, etc.) inside the timeline (vs. off to the side).

Hovering over a Tweet, for example, produces a link which allows user to open the Tweet to see who has Retweeted the message in addition to being able to view the entire thread that includes that Tweet.

Other changes include the relocation of the Favorite, Retweet and Reply buttons to the top right.

These changes are comparable to functionalities already included in some Twitter clients.  Perhaps this move may bring some users back to Twitter.com who long ago abandoned Twitter for HootSuite or TweetDeck, for example. Personally, I am a hardcore user of TweetDeck, but I look forward to testing these new features once I’m given access to the technology.

This enhanced timeline functionality was first reported by Patrick Bisch (@PatBisch) of Pinglio. Here’s the video he made explaining the changes:

Can’t view the video, click here >>

So far, there have been no official announcements from Twitter on these changes, but there’s a fair amount of chatter about this “expandable timeline” happening on Twitter right now.

We’ll be sure to keep you posted on these coming changes to Twitter…

OCTOBER 7, 2011

First came a report – “Failure to Launch: Google+ Growth Spurt Short Lived” – indicating that traffic on the new Social platform dropped fairly dramatically after a surge when the site went into public beta.  Key excerpts:

Although able to boast 25 million unique visitors after only four weeks of operation, Google’s newest attempt at a social network saw its user base dwindle as shown by a recent article from Chitika Insights.

Reportedly, Google+ saw a surge in traffic of over 1200% due to the additional publicity, but the increased user base was only temporary, as was projected in an earlier insights post.

The data shows that, on the day of its public debut, Google+ traffic skyrocketed to peak levels. But, soon after, traffic fell by over 60% as it returned to its normal, underwhelming state. It would appear that although high levels of publicity were able to draw new traffic to Google+, few of them saw reason to stay.

Despite its striking new interface, rapid release of new features, and focus on user interaction, Google+ does not seem to be able to drive unique visits in a sustainable fashion. We believe there are two driving reasons for this lack of interest:

• The supply of users for social media sites is limited. To survive you must stand out and provide a service that others do not.

• Features unique to your site must be just that – unique and difficult to duplicate – if they are not, the competitive advantage quickly disappears.

OCTOBER 10, 2011

Next, Mashable picked up on the story and published a post about Chitika’s findings.

Here are some of the highlights from that post:

But is Google+ a hit or miss? It’s hard to say.

Meanwhile, Chitika’s findings — likely a representation of traffic patterns and not a wholly accurate reflection — seem to suggest Google+ may not be convincing new users (or even Google executives) to stick around.

OCTOBER 11, 2001

The next day, Google+ VP of Product Bradley Horowitz was interviewed by AllThingsD.com regarding the state of G+. Here are a few of the highlights:

Horowitz added, “If I had to say what fraction of Google+ is launched right now, we’ve just got the very basic foundation in place. Profiles, circle editor and stream, that’s sort of the minimum viable set of features that you need to start doing interesting things.”

As for whether Google+ usage is fluctuating or falling, as many watchers have speculated, Horowitz brushed them aside, saying external measurements can’t grasp the “dark matter” of Google+.

Horowitz asked for observers to have a little patience while Google+ is being built, saying the project was never intended for such a large audience or so much scrutiny at this stage.

LATER ON OCTOBER 11, 2011

Next, one of G+’s own accidentally posted (on Google+, ironically) a rant in which he criticized Google from bottom to top on its handling of +, even calling Larry, Sergey and Eric out BY NAME (ouch). Here are some of the highlights of a post summarizing the rant published at BusinessInsider.com:

Last night, Google engineer, blogger, and frequent public speaker Steve Yegge wrote an epic rant about Google’s inept handling of the Google+ platform. His primary message: Google+ is not a platform like Facebook. It’s trying to dictate the direction of Google+ instead of opening up to developers and letting them show Google what makes sense and what doesn’t.

He posted the rant on Google+, but forgot to turn off the “Public” sharing option. It was only meant to be shared internally at Google.

That one last thing that Google doesn’t do well is Platforms. We don’t understand platforms. We don’t “get” platform.

Google+ is a prime example of our complete failure to understand platforms from the very highest levels of executive leadership (hi Larry, Sergey, Eric, Vic, howdy howdy) down to the very lowest leaf workers (hey yo). We all don’t get it.

The Google+ platform is a pathetic afterthought. We had no API at all at launch, and last I checked, we had one measly API call.

Google+ is a knee-jerk reaction, a study in short-term thinking, predicated on the incorrect notion that Facebook is successful because they built a great product. But that’s not why they are successful. Facebook is successful because they built an entire constellation of products by allowing other people to do the work.

The problem is that we are trying to predict what people want and deliver it for them… You can’t do that. Not really. Not reliably. There have been precious few people in the world, over the entire history of computing, who have been able to do it reliably. Steve Jobs was one of them. We don’t have a Steve Jobs here. I’m sorry, but we don’t.”

Like I said, NOT a great week.

TGIF?

That being said, where does that leave us re Google+?

Are these simply growing pains, or perhaps the early stages of another epic Google failure…dare I say the second wave of Wave?

I have a few thoughts on the matter, as follows:

On the plus side of +:

• The first part of Google+’s API was released less than a month ago on September 15. So, the impact of that release on the platform has yet to be felt
• Business pages have yet to be released. I think it’s only logical that there will be another spike in activity when that happens
• Neither Rome – nor Facebook – was built in a day. I think they’ve done a lot sort of wrong (not having business pages up yet, suspending accounts, naming requirements, problems with people who have multiple Google profiles, taking so long to get to public beta and to release API, etc.) and yet, without a hard launch, they HAVE enjoyed a lot of success (and, unless it’s posturing, which I don’t think it is, + has been a lot more successful than even Google itself expected)
• Hangouts have become a ritual for me. I truly love them (but, as I write this, I sort of feel like I just said, “I bought the new Mercedes because it had an awesome stereo”)
• So what if they had a big spike at public beta and then things went back to normal. Isn’t that what you’d EXPECT to happen? Many people rush to check out the latest shiny object, then put it down and circle back later to see what it’s really all about

On the negative side of the ledger:

• I think it’s logical that there would be a spike when + entered public beta on September 20. That the surge was so short lived is a little surprising
• Horowitz’s comments quoted above were eerily similar – no, let me be honest, they were IDENTICAL – to the things he said in my presence almost exactly two months ago. I must admit a little surprise at hearing him singing the same tune two months down the road from when I saw him
• While + DOES have some awesome, original features, has it differentiated itself ENOUGH for people to see it as unique wis-à-vis Facebok?
• Like it or not, we live in a “nanosecond attention span world.” Continuing my prior point, it feels like + may not be moving fast enough to differentiate itself and or get past this “aww shucks, we’re new and we’re just getting started, give us more time” mode. Stop and consider all the OTHER amazing stuff Google has created (I won’t bore you with the list; you already know it). To hear them sound somewhat sheepish just doesn’t feel like the Google I thought I knew. Maybe Yegge is on to something after all?

FINAL COMMENT

Having said all that, I will leave you with this, a comment I left on Google+ in response to the posting of the 60% drop in traffic referenced above:

I think I might be a somewhat “typical” G+ case study: I came here, I got the hang of it (at least a little bit), I liked it…and now I am using it less and less. And I am doing so for PRECISELY the reasons I knew I would: because I am spread WAY too thin from an SM perspective. For most people with normal lives and careers, you ultimately have to make a choice with the limited time one can devote to these things: where am I going to invest my time Socially? For me, it was and will always be Twitter, first and foremost. Number two is Facebook, because “that’s where the people are.” And I think it will take a LONG TIME for the masses to migrate to G+, simply because most non-geek/non-tech-savvy types are stuck right where they are simply because Facebook ain’t broke. And if Facebook ain’t broke, why fix it/leave it? That’s my two cents…

And, just to be clear, I have NOT given up on Google+. I tend to be obsessive/compulsive on technology, so I could EASILY see myself getting more into + in a big way at any time (but that alone says something, doesn’t it?).

So, what do YOU think?

I freely admit that I suffer from “S.O.S:” Shiny Object Syndrome.

I – like many in the Social Media space, who shall remain nameless – are often drawn off course with the latest and greatest piece of technology. Like children around the fir tree on Christmas morning, we can’t wait to unwrap whatever is next and play with it. Even if we don’t really need it. Curiosity, truly, is a powerful driver of behavior.

As often as not, after some period of time – just like the kid who stops playing with this year’s version of Tickle Me Elmo after he tires of it – we discover that many of these “tech toys” aren’t all they were cracked up to be.

They either don’t work very well, or they are a solution in need of a problem. Whatever the reason, many of these innovations don’t gain traction and end up on on the tall-and-growing-taller pile of technology castoffs.

My MacBook Pro is littered with apps and programs that I haven’t opened in months. Some, in years.

Beyond the Shiny

And then there are those tech tools that DO survive the test of time and use. And that is the purpose of this post: to share with you the tools, apps and technologies that have survived “beyond the shiny.”

That being said, every item that appears on the list below meets all of the following criteria:

• I use it frequently
• It works very well
• I’d highly recommend it
• I consider it an indispensable part of my life

Also, I’m going to skip the “big and obvious” things (WordPress, Twitter, Facebook, Google+, MacBook Pro and iPad, etc.) that are at this point (IMO) ubiquitous.

Tested, Tried and True

In no particular order, here are the things that I use :

1 | Basecamp

This is the engine that drives the various projects on which I’m working at any given point in time. It does everything you’d want it do, and surprisingly almost nothing beyond that. Its genius is its streamlined robustness (yes, I realize that sounds like a contradiction). I have no idea how I got anything done before I discovered Basecamp. And I’m getting a lot more done now that I have discovered it. Thanks, Jason Fried!

2 | Google+ Hangout

I Tweeted this recently: “Google+ Hangouts are my new intro emails.” I frequently send out “introductory” emails trying to get people to work on various projects with me. Since I started using Hangouts, I’ve basically stopped with the emails and switched over to G+. It’s incredibly easy to use, and the best part is THE AUDIO. It’s basically perfect, like you’re having a F2F conversation with someone. Yes, I know Skype has been around forever, and Facebook also has video, but there’s something about the Hangout that I just like better (maybe it’s the word “Hangout?”).

3 | Evernote

Evernote  is the hub of my digital existence, which I covered in my last post; there is no need to duplicate it here.

4 | Camera+ (iPhone app)

Camera+ is basically Photoshop for dummies. It’s now the only photo manipulation tool I use (so, yes, I do ALL my photo editing on my iPhone, period). Everyone I know that uses it raves about it. For samples of quality and effects, here is a random photo gallery I took in Chicago last month . Draw your own conclusions.

5 | JotNot Pro

JotNot Pro is an app that turns your iPhone or Droid into a portable scanner. It’s good enough (once you get the hang of it; hint: have a steady hand and use the ‘stabilization’ feature for max quality) to use for real estate closing documents, to put it in perspective. This is a great tool for saving whiteboards, scanning when you don’t have access to a traditional scanner, and uploading directly to Evernote (that’s one of its native sharing features).

6 | iMovie

Strangely, iMovie is not as robust as Windows Movie Maker, the program that I used before iMovie. However, it is far more stable (I came to think of WMM as the “reboot causation machine”) and easier to use. As long as you don’t aspire to be the next Francis Ford Coppola, iMovie is probably more than you need, and it’s a great bang for the buck. (Full disclosure: after creating around 100 videos, I finally outgrew iMovie and upgraded to FinalCut Pro X. HOWEVER, if you’re new to video, I’d still highly recommend iMovie because of its ease of use and price.)

7  | MacSpeech Dictate (for Mac)

I wrote this post with Dictate. Was it perfect? No. But it was probably 98% accurate, it took just a few minutes to correct and I definitely saved a lot of time. I start every day with an entry into a personal journal that usually totals around 1,000 words. I haven’t typed a word of that (other than to make corrections) in several years. I could never do that without the aid of a solid VR program, and Dictate is the one for me. (Full disclosure: when I upgraded to Lion on my Mac, I lost some of the functionality of Dictate. If you are going to upgrade to Lion, make sure you research all the softwares that matter to you to see if they’re going to be impacted by the upgrade.)

8 | Kodak Zi8

Yes, I know that Kodak has come out with a new camera that’s supposed to be better (the Playtouch), but I haven’t used it, so I cannot comment. All I know is that the Zi8 satisfies all my needs and requirements, and I have used it to shoot a lot of videos. It’s well made, it transfers files to your computer quickly, it has a lot of memory and it’s basically idiot proof. The learning curve can be measured in minutes, literally. Given how important video is to the future of real estate, I’d highly recommend you buy the Zi8 or the Playtouch and start moving in that direction.

9 | iPhone

Nothing polarizes and riles people up like a good old “Blackberry vs Droid vs iPhone” debate, but I do want to say this one thing: I’ve used all three of these platforms for AT LEAST one year each, so I do have SOME basis for an opinion (yes, that doesn’t qualify me as an expert, but many who get down in the mud on this topic haven’t used all three). And I can say that, from an ease of use/genius of design/quality of construction/love of product perspective, there is the iPhone…and then there is everything else. I thought I knew what techfatuation was (see: MacBook Pro and iPad) until I got the iPhone. It’s my favorite Apple device, period.

10 | Skitch (for Mac)

I do an outrageous amount of screen capture (the graphics for this post, for example). And Skitch is the tool I use for that. It’s amazingly robust for what it does, and it’s free. You can annotate photos, save the screen caps in different file formats, and a lot of other cool stuff. To know Skitch is to love Skitch.

So, that’s my list. Like I said, some of these things aren’t that sexy, and some aren’t even the most current versions of whatever they are. However, if you’re looking for performance, value and reliability, I’d recommend you check them all out. They work for me. Really well.

So, what’s your favorite TTT?

I THOUGHT I KNEW WHAT ADDICTION WAS

Here’s what I find interesting: I wrote that post before I was addicted to Evernote.

Mind you, I THOUGHT I was addicted. But, at that time, I had no idea how much more that addiction could and would grow.

So, I find myself writing this second post about this amazing technology, which has become the central hub of my digital existence.

If you want to understand the basics, I would ask you to go back and read that first post. Also, Evernote has a great video library that covers just about everything you can think of. You can check it out here.

The purpose of THIS post is to comment more on the actual, real-life, everyday ways that I use Evernote to make my life a lot easier, more productive and more organized.

So, these are the “top six things I do every day” with Evernote.

1 | NOTE TAKING

Shred your Moleskine. Burn your three ring binder. Donate your pens and pencils to charity.

There has simply never been a better way to take notes than via Evernote.

I recently traveled to a three-day, super-intense conference of business leaders in San Francisco. At one point, I stood at the back of the room and looked at everyone from behind. About 80% of the people had laptops on their laps.  And on about 80% of the screens, I could see Evernote.

Yeah, it’s THAT good.

2 | AGGREGATING

“Aggregate” has become one of my favorite words ever since Chris Smith (@Chris_Smth) wrote this blog post, which I think is one of the 10 most valuable blog posts ever written about Social Media and real estate. Read that post, and do what it says. You’re welcome.

If you take what Chris said to heart, you’ll need a place to collect the content you’re going to curate. Think of it as loading your “content creation machine” with raw material.

Evernote is the PERFECT place to do that. Here are few ideas:

• You can “clip” web pages (either by just clipping the URL or by clipping the entire web page). Think of it as “Bookmarks on Steroids that You Can Access from Any Device.”
• You can copy and past text from various places.
• You can throw in your miscellaneous notes and to-dos.
• You can set up a Note for everything you want to consistently aggregate/curate; examples:
• News about your community.
• Local real estate stats.
• Articles about local places and events of interest.
• Use those Notes as “digital content storage” that you can always go back to find content to share with your tribe.

3 | DEVELOPING IDEAS

I am a person of 1,000 ideas. Rather than throw all that stuff on my MacBook Pro and eat up my hard drive, I put it all in Evernote.

Because of the ease with which you can organize stuff (more below), it’s super easy to find things using Keywords or by just being smart with the way you set up your Notebooks and Notes within Evernote.

So, when I have an idea, the first thing I do is fire up Evernote and just write down whatever I’m thinking. I then come back (using my iPhone at the grocery)… and come back (using my iPad at an airport)… and come back (using my Mac at Starbucks)… until the idea fully develops, at which time I take it to whatever the next logical step is (writing a blog post, making a video, etc.).

4 | WHITEBOARD ARCHIVING

In addition to being an Evernote addict, I am a Whiteboard junkie. As I Tweeted recently, I wish I had an entire OFFICE made of whiteboards. Every space in which I work has at least two…except for my shower, which has only one (not kidding, and sorry, I know…TMI!).

In any event, when I get a whiteboard “done,” I take a photo of it with my iPhone using JotNot Pro (thanks to Reggie Nicolay (@ReggieRPR) for that recommendation) and upload the whiteboard directly into Evernote (“Send to Evernote” is one of the share options within JotNot Pro).

Here’s a slightly different spin on the same idea, courtesy of a Tweet written by Clint Miller (@TheRealClint) as I was Tweeting about writing this post: 

5 | ACCESSING STUFF

Another awesome feature about Evernote is that it allows you to access all your stuff from any device that has an Internet connection, as already alluded at 3 above. Further, you can get the Evernote app for the iPhone (my weapon of choice), Droid and iPad, which of course makes it even easier to access your things from anywhere at any time.

Further, the design of Evernote lends itself to super organization. First, by virtue of way you create Notebooks (think of them as either categories or projects) and the way you can name Notes, and second, by how you can Keyword search everything in your Evernote world.

As their slogan says, “Never Forget Anything.” It’s really true.

6 | SHARING STUFF

Another cool little feature of Evernote is that you can share stuff with people.

I frequently write blog posts that I’m not sure are good enough to publish. I’ll throw an outline together for that post, and then email it to someone and ask them for feedback. Rather than copying and pasting my Evernote Note into Gmail and then sending it, I just click the “Share” button at the top of the Note, and voila, email sent!

This is also great for sharing something you find on the web. Rather than copy and paste the URL into an email, you can simply “Clip to Evernote” (see my original post for menu bar items you can download for every browser) and then send them the entire “clipped” page.

This saves you time on the sending side, and the recipient’s time on the “getting them to see what you want them to see” side. Plus you’ve saved the item you wanted to share. Triple win!

BONUS INFO

I cannot tell a lie: until I wrote this post, I had never used Evernote to ORIGINATE Tweets & Facebook posts.

In fact, I just discovered this functionality. But my mind is RACING with all the things I’m thinking I could do with this. More on that later after I spend some time with it.

GET YOUR TRUNK ON!

As I said in my first Evernote post, there IS a little bit of a learning curve (which, looking back, I can’t recall why, to be honest). But it is SO worth it.

Also, FWIW, I just upgraded to the Premium version of Evernote, as I found that I was maxing out the monthly free usage (which IS fairly generous, BTW), and also because I wanted the enhanced sharing functionality that comes with the Premium membership (others cannot edit your shared Notes in the free version).

I think it’s probably the best $45 spent this year.

You can check Evernote out here.

That is, OTV (outside the vertical).

Here are three illustrations of what I am talking about.

Exhibit A: Scott Stratten

The first example comes in the form of a video from Scott Stratten. Scott is widely viewed as one of the foremost authorities on Social Media.

He’s the author of “Unmarketing,” a bestselling book about Social Media and marketing. Personally, I’ve been following and interacting with Scott on Twitter for a few years, and he’s super entertaining and one of the sharpest minds I know when it comes to the optimization of the various new media channels we have at our disposal.

The other day he posted this video on YouTube, and it went viral almost instantly:

Based on the buzz this video created on Twitter and on Facebook – I saw it posted everywhere I looked, accompanied by comments like “this is a must read for everyone in real estate” and “stop what you are doing and read this NOW” – it is clear that Stratten struck a chord with a LOT of people.

I think all of his observations and commentary were spot on. Great insights, commentary and advice.

From OTV.

Exhibit B: Chris Brogan

Chris Brogan is a Social Media monster and the author of The New York Times‘ Bestseller “Trust Agents.”

He wrote a blog post all the way back in December of 2009 called “If I Were a Realtor.”

The following comments were excerpted verbatim from that post.
If I were a Realtor looking to use social media for my business:

• I’d write a blog about the location where I was selling.
• I’d take tons of pictures and post them on the blog.
• I’d shoot walking tour videos all the time with a Flip camera and post them.
• I’d shoot interview videos with people from my community.
• I’d host meetups and tweetups for local residents, inviting people who are house hunting.
• I’d find various niche communities (developers, stonemasons, parents) and start community platforms for them on Ning.
• I’d empower as many local businesses onto the Net as I could, and help them get successful.
• I’d encourage as many people in my community to join Twitter as possible, and I’d bundle them into a list.
• I’d consider setting up hyperlocal news and events sites, or at least empower/support their construction.

I probably wouldn’t put pictures of me in a tie (or a dress) and write about the rates. I probably wouldn’t pitch you dozens of times in a row. I probably wouldn’t just rehash links to listings.

My company used this post as a literal blueprint (we did EXACTLY what he suggested) to ramp up interaction with our local community, and it has created real ROI for us.

I can also tell you that Brogan’s game plan is very close to the strategies employed by Dale Chumbley (@DaleChumbley) and The Corcoran Group (@Corcoran_Group), respectively, both of which have produced great results and a lot of well deserved fanfare.

In my opinion, this post of Brogan’s remains one of the best and most valuable pieces of content ever written about real estate.

Again, from OTV.

Exhibit C: Jason Fried

The third and final example I’ll share comes from Jason Fried. Fried authored “Rework,” an amazing book that every entrepreneur/business owner should read.

He also created Basecamp, the project management site where I spend most of my time every working day.

Watch him in this video and absorb his perspective on why work does not get done at the office.

I took what I learned from reading Rework and made changes in my daily routine and at my brokerage that have dramatically increased my productivity and enhanced the efficiency of just about everything I do. Lots of Rework’s theory has direct application to our industry.

Again, from OTV.

Continuing, I could give you literally tens if not hundreds of great tips, pointers, motivational thoughts and action items I’ve picked up from Seth Godin of Purple Cow, Linchpin, etc. fame.

And the list goes on.

Cliche = True

In the past, I think that real estate was a fairly straightforward game in which the correct/proper “methods” and “techniques” and “rules” were sort of generally accepted.

To get X leads you need to make Y calls or send out Z pieces of direct mail. Or lease an office with X desks and recruit Y agents and you’ll earn Z profit.

That is, narrow, specific, “do A and get B” type of thinking.

And that’s not to say that many of those strategies, methods and adages no longer work. I am sure they do.

But the game is changing, shifting and morphing so quickly, with new ways of thinking and doing being created in the vacuum of all these new tools, technologies and economic paradigms that just keep coming at us with even greater frequency.

And there is no question that these changes are impacting many of the industry’s tried and true strategies.

One of the most overused and cliche expressions I know is this one: “The only constant in life is change.”

But it is overused and cliche because it’s TRUE.

Three of four years ago, the typical Realtor would have laughed at – or, at a minimum, been puzzled by – most of the things on that list Brogan created. What’s the point of interviewing people in my community? (We’ve done that and gotten business from it.) Why would I want to help empower local businesses on the web? (We’ve done that and gotten business from it.) And so on.

Now? We see many examples of agents, brokerages and brands embracing and leveraging these cutting edge ideas that almost always originated from OTV.

Out: ITV. In: OTV.

The point: there is risk in not going outside the lines of our industry to see what’s happening in more advanced verticals.

Personally, I follow Stratten (@Unmarketing), Brogan (@ChrisBrogan), Fried (@JasonFried) and Godin (@ThisIsSethsBlog) on Twitter (and everywhere else they dispense wisdom), and I read their stuff habitually.

And I am constantly changing the way I think, the things I do, and the way I do the things I do because of all the stuff I learn from these brilliant thought leaders.

Get OTV.

You’ll be glad you did!

As a result, I get a lot of carry-out. I mean, a LOT.

I love pizza. And Chinese. And Italian.

Like most people, I love takeout because it’s fast, easy and convenient.

But I have a new favorite takeout. Wait, make that a new favorite “Takeout™.”

And it’s also fast, easy and convenient.

Who makes this Takeout™? Google. Yep, Google.

Data Liberation Front

Google Takeout™ is part of Google’s “Data Liberation Front.” What is the Data Liberation Front? Here’s a funny little video from Google that explains the concept:

Google Takeout™ is a feature that is included in Google+, but it’s also available as a standalone service.

According to the Data Liberation blog, “Google Takeout lets you take your data out of multiple Google products in one fell swoop. Moreover, you’ll find that all your data is in portable and open formats‚ so it’s easy to import to other services quickly.”

And here is a little bit more from Google’s VP of Product, Brad Horowitz, taken from our original video session with Brad a few weeks ago (see additional video from Brad and related blog post here).

The bottom line: Google Takeout™ allows you to export data from many Google products and other data (+1s, Buzz, Contacts and Circles, Picasa Web Albums and your Google Profile) in one easy download.

Easy Recipe

The recipe for Google Takeout™ is this simple:

1. Go to https://www.google.com/takeout/
2. Click “Create Archive” (you get output that looks like the screen shot you see below)
3. Click the blue “Download” button in the lower right corner
4. Voila! You have your stuff

That’s really all there is to it.

Contacts are organized consistently with however you set up your Circles and stored as .vcf cards. Picasa Albums mirror how you set them up by Album Name or Post Date. Everything you’ve published to your Google+ stream is archived as HTML pages (including images and comments).

I could have – and maybe should have – stopped this post right here and had as the sole purpose of the post just a whimsical little informative bit about Takeout™.

But I decided not to, because I think there is a far more interesting topic to be discussed that is hidden just below the surface of the original issue.

We’re Not Facebook

Said a little differently, is data portability REALLY the issue here? Or is there a larger, more nuanced motive behind Google’s desire to be seen as the “Liberators of Data?”

I think the larger driver for Google here is simple differentiation from…you guessed it…Facebook.

Here’s how TechCrunch said it:

Data portability is a big battleground between Google and Facebook. And Google is winning right now with Takeout in terms of paying more than lip service to the concept. Facebook also allows you to download a zip file of your photos, friend lists, messages, and wall posts, but it is not in a format third party sites can use. So it’s not really free. Not that 99 percent of people would ever even want to do any of this. But…if you know you can take your data out, you might feel more comfortable about putting it in.

Further, a little over a month ago, Google CEO Larry Page said this:

Google as a company believes in users owning their data and being able to easily more it out of Google. Some of our competitors don’t believe that. We think users will eventually move to services that are in their best interests and that work really well for them.

*SNAP*

That last line says it all: “We think users will eventually move to services that are in their best interests and that work really well for them.” That’s pretty direct, don’t you think?

Not that data portability is not important. I think it IS important, and will likely become even more important in the future as people build up larger and more valuable bodies of content on the Facebooks and Google Pluses and whatever Social sites comes next of the future internet.

But the real issue here is the long-haul fight for dominance in the multi-billion-dollar business of Social Networking.

Game On

Today, Facebook remains firmly entrenched as Godzilla, the voracious beast at the top of the Social Networking food chain. No reasonably knowledgeable person would dispute that at this point.

But Google Plus has exploded out of the gate (as Horowitz said in our original post, “We were not expecting to grow this fast…”), and it is gaining more momentum, respect and credibility with each passing day.

With every little maneuver in which G+ can differentiate and distance itself from Facebookzilla, it creates the opportunity to gain even more momentum, respect and credibility.

There is a long, long way to go in this nascent story. But it’s already more interesting than I thought it we be so early in the telling of that story.

And as a user and lover of both Facebook and G+, I find all of this exciting. I cannot wait to see how this battle plays out over the next few years.

All this blogging and speculating is making me hungry…what sounds good? Takeout!