“So Cameron says you’re like totally into real estate?”
My geeky son had brought an even geekier friend home from school. Somehow he ended up in my office. “Is that a question?”
“Dood! It’s like an observation! But, like, I’ve been playing with some of those real estate web sites? And I think I could, like, build my own?”
He talked like that, every sentence a question or an exclamation. He orbited without periods. I said: “How interesting.” I think that sounds sufficiently like “go away” that a kid could take a hint. Didn’t happen.
“So like picture a site called pussywillow.us?” He held up his fingers in Dr. Evil scare quotes. “The fun and friendly way to find out how much your house is worth!”
I said nothing. That didn’t work, either.
“So you like type in your address? And then the software gives you a totally random value? And then, like, the web-cam is watching you? And if you scowl or frown or something, the value goes up? But then if you’re like smiling and happy it goes down? And it’s all totally random, it’s just like messing with your head! And then? When you get disgusted and quit? Then it takes the webcam video and posts it on youtube.com! Totally! Freakin’! Awesome!”
“Wouldn’t you need a model release?” I could have kicked myself for encouraging him.
“Dood! What are you talking about?”
“Wouldn’t you need permission to show the video?”
“Oh, man! You don’t know nuthin’ about Web Two! Dot! Oh!”
Okayfine. “You’re right. Go find Cameron.”
“No! No! Wait! I got another one, right? So, like, imagine a game? It’s built with like mapping software? And the game generates geocodes at random and takes you to those places? And your job is to destroy every house you see? But, like, what’s really going on is, for every house you destroy, the game is sending like a purchase offer for a random amount of money to that house! It’s like reply.com, but even stoooopider!”
Just then Cameron showed up, bless his heart. He said, “Leave my dad alone.”
“Dood! He was like totally buyin’ it!”
Like totally.
Technorati Tags: disintermediation, real estate, marketing” rel=”tag”>real estate marketing
Josue says:
Hilarious! … so “dood”, what did you think about his creative ideas? I’m sure you had a real laugh after he left your office, but you have to give it to him that for a kid like him, he’s got something up his sleeve.
PS > great blog.
August 24, 2006 — 8:12 pm
Rodney Rumford says:
Greg,
OK. I am laughing really hard. The kid has what many may consider “far out ideas”; that is how his generation thinks and how change and innovation happens. Taking non traditional thinking that is not defined by existing rule sets and imagining new ways to draw interactions and intersections of data is what web 2.0 is all about.
It is the “old school” realtors that need to pay very close attention to these types of conversations. The models of business are changing and the models and expectations of consumers are also changing rapidly. Realtors need to pay close attention or they might not know what hit them.
Rodney Rumford
Founder: http://www.realestatebuzzbox.com
August 25, 2006 — 12:05 am
Greg Swann says:
Doods! Like, reality? Two words: Beyond! Parody!
Sorry. I thought I had been obvious enough.
August 25, 2006 — 4:44 pm