Fresh on the heals of the Active Rain vs. Move.com dispute comes news of at least 2 — that’s right, count ‘em — TWO!! — more real estate-focussed social networking sites.
The boys of Sellsius, refreshed after a cross country RV trip and then a fishing vacation, just put out a press release about an upcoming site called BeatYouThere. Well, I beat it over there, and this is what I saw:
Fortunately, I then came across a site named Listolia being not-so-subtly promoted in the comments of Michael Arrington’s not-so-inerring post about Realtors suing Realtors. I scurried over and this is what I found:
Let’s see…We’ve got Zillow. We’ve got Trulia Voices. We’ve got Active Rain. Move.com is/was trying to get into the fray.
Hey, I’ve got an idea: Let’s start a real estate social networking site where we can talk about real estate social networking sites! We’ll call it … hmm … RealEstateSocialNetworking.com. Nah. Taken. (I’m serious!) How about SocialNetworkingAboutSocialNetworking.com ? Any takers?
Seriously, folks, this train has left the station. I don’t know how many social networking sites the real estate industry actually needs. The established ones (listed above) have some serious critical mass already, and it’s not clear that yet another one would have a chance of catching up, unless it offered a really compelling hook that nobody else did.
Tags: Active Rain, Industry, Move.com
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20 responses so far ↓
1 Joseph Ferrara.sellsius // Sep 29, 2007 at 9:12 pm
Make it 3.
Realtorclix.com
http://tinyurl.com/ytgtrr
Do I hear 4?
2 Joseph Ferrara.sellsius // Sep 29, 2007 at 9:13 pm
#3 Realtorclix.xom
http://tinyurl.com/ytgtrr
do I hear 4?
3 Teresa Boardman // Sep 30, 2007 at 2:03 am
We need social networking sites for our industry? I look at the consumer side.
4 Jonathan Dalton // Sep 30, 2007 at 7:54 am
Wait, Teresa? There are consumers? And they’re not dazzled by the wit on AR?
These things are multiplying almost as fast as the splogs.
I’ve had it with social networking. I’m going back to being anti-social.
5 Mark L // Sep 30, 2007 at 8:54 am
The difference with BeatYouThere.com and some of the other “social networking” sites is that we are going to attract everyday users to create profiles, not just real estate professionals. We plan to create a buzz around everyone involved in real estate …..from the power broker in manhattan to the housewife in greenwich who wants to get to know a bird dog to help her find her next investment. We also differentiate ourselves from other social networking sites in that we also offer the worlds widest search engine. So you don’t have to go to another site to send properties to your “friends” or chat with others about a great investment property you just found.
6 richard bolen // Sep 30, 2007 at 10:33 am
Think we’ve got quite enough social RE sites, thanks. Move did not distinguish itself with AR. If someone does come up with a more consumer oriented site, as Mark suggests above, then that’s different.
7 Maureen Francis // Sep 30, 2007 at 3:21 pm
I am so tired of social networking targeted at Realtors. Duh!
8 Kristal Kraft // Sep 30, 2007 at 7:24 pm
Actually I was thinking we should start another online MLS system.
not.
kk
9 andrew // Sep 30, 2007 at 10:20 pm
well said. Although, i think i got the “hook” in the works. Hope to show you all something way different.
10 cindy*staged4more // Sep 30, 2007 at 10:32 pm
I think I have had enough social networking, thank you very much! It’s just too many different platforms to keep track of. Even college kids have their saturation point, just look at how quickly Friendster became yesterday’s news.
Let’s now get back to the real business side– face-to-face networking!!! No matter how much social networking there are on the web, eventually we still like that good old face-to-face interaction.
Cheers,
Cindy
11 CJ in L A // Oct 1, 2007 at 2:37 am
And don’t forget this new one: http://www.myagentbook.com
On the one hand, the real estate market is cooling in most areas …. on the other hand all these start-ups are still trying to jump on the bandwagon.
12 Mark L // Oct 1, 2007 at 6:50 am
The social networking part of http://www.BeatYouThere.com is about 2% of what our site is all about and that is listings, listings and more listings. We will be the go to site for real estate search. (residential, commercial, land, rentals, foreclosures, fsbo, you name it.) We just wanted to also provide a networking platform for users, but that IS NOT the integral part of our site, listings is what we are focused on.
13 Frank- FranklyBlog // Oct 3, 2007 at 8:04 pm
Isn’t that what everyone initially said about Facebook? Why create another social network if we have myspace?
There will always be new sites with new hooks. I say “bring it on.com”
Frank Broker
Blog.FranklyRealty.com
14 Frank- FranklyBlog // Oct 3, 2007 at 8:07 pm
Thanks for linking to my new site:
socialnetworkingaboutsocialnetworking.com
15 Carson // Oct 5, 2007 at 10:25 am
RealTyger said something about how it is going to be a social network. And then there is MyAgentBook.com, WannaNetwork.com.
And with the popularization of turnkey-style platforms (ning, onesite) rest assured that somebody will create the social network that is all about real estate social networking.
16 David // Mar 24, 2008 at 6:18 am
Add one more, Propertyqube.com, a Consumer focused real estate social networking site focused on letting professionals interact with consumers.
50/50 pro to consumer user base.
Real people have real questions, and the fastest way to build your brand is to help someone first, then you win a customer.
Blogs, Q&A, Photo Albums, Groups, Glossary, featured listings, recommendations, networking… It’s the best on the market for pure social networking, and not just self pimping.
17 David // Mar 24, 2008 at 6:19 am
Carson, check out Propertyqube.com…
18 Josh // May 15, 2008 at 8:15 am
Here’s another one focused on investment property, http://www.rehabahouse.com.
19 Real Estate Social Networking // Jun 2, 2008 at 9:38 pm
Hot Home Network is aimed at the investor, FSBO and real estate professionals. It is an open environment for anyone to list properties, promote themselves using a myspace style profile, etc. There are forums, a video board, etc. Compelling.
20 tek // Jun 12, 2008 at 10:27 am
The reality is that social networking works and it is almost a required feature of real estate and other sites, just as property search is.
So, the real question is, “How many real estate listings sites does this industry need?”
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