I would consider myself the typical twitter user. Signed up, sent out a couple of status tweets, got bored because I felt it was confusing, gave up. Kept hearing about how great twitter was, tried again, made some friends and finally “got it”. Twitter isn’t about just updating the world with what you are doing or thinking, it’s about interacting and building a community. What that community looks and feels like is up to you.
My community on twitter is made up mostly other real estate agents but it also includes a healthy mixture of of SEO’s, web designers and some people local to my area. Back in November, I had a conversation on twitter with Elle Koleckar who works on content development for a local directory OneGate about the real estate content on their directory. I don’t remember all the details of the conversation but I did point out that the site they were using for open houses was not inclusive of all open houses in the area. I did not have an open house directory on my site but I knew the data was available and could create an inclusive open house search.
I had Real Estate Webmasters create the search and I now have a page dedicated to Davis Open Houses I can create open house pages for other cities as well, just have not spent the time to do it.
The open house guide is now featured on OneGate’s open house page I appreciate the mention and realize none of this would have happened without the interaction on twitter. The open house list is a good page to have on my site as many Davis buyers will visit open houses for a long time before finding the right home. This also comes at a time when the local real estate offices are moving away from print advertising and having this information available online is good.
The link to follow me on twitter is on my sidebar – I may not automatically follow you back because I want to have a connection with the people I’m following. Build that connection and we will build community.
{ 7 comments… read them below or add one }
Props for implementation of the Davis Open House listings on your site Carolyn. Yet another reason to visit
Twitter is about community, and we were glad to connect with you. Thanks for the mention.
twitter really seems to be moving up quickly on the have to do list
It’s like they say… if at first you don’t succeed, try and try again. It sounds like twitter was worth trying again and really lived up to the hype.
Excellent job of finding a niche your site could fill for OneGate and ultimately giving the user a better experience. I would agree Twitter seems to growing in popularity, especially mainstream
This was a fun piece, Carolyn. I’m sorry I missed it until now. And for the record, you deserve any shout out that comes your way on Twitter or any other social medium for that matter. Not just because you’re a giving person but because you were resourceful/thoughtful enough to find those “niches” (well said SCP). Well done as always, and I’ll “see” you on…Twitter of course
Thanks everyone. I really like this story and think this is what social networking should be about. Twitter has definitely built some real friendships, yeah some of you I met in person but we’ve gotten to know each other better online. I haven’t really gotten to know Elle yet but it is still definitely a goal to get to know other people in the area who are interested in websites and web development or SEO and build connections with them as well.