To Whom Shall I Pledge My Allegiance?

by Thomas Hall

Realtor, Rabble-Rouser

Author website

The Pledge of Allegiance

Alright now – simmer down – relax – this is not a political post.

With the advent of a new school year here, I couldn’t help but be reminded of days gone by – in the classroom – Ms. Sukula, my second grade teacher – with Bewitched hair – stood proudly at the front of the classroom, hand over her left breast – slowly reciting the Pledge of Allegiance.   She told us to stand like soldiers – hand over our chests with pride – you’re an American!

Now if you didn’t recite it along with her – her eyes would focus on you with the deep intent of causing bodily harm – lips firmly and taughtly pulled back to bare her brilliant white teeth – still slowly reciting the words – almost melodically.

It was definitely not a smile –  believe me – her message did not lack clarity.

Ahh – memories …

Now – surprisingly, this draws parallels in my current day-to-day life as a real estate agent deeply embroiled in the pursuit of sorting out of all the new technology solutions in the Real Estate 2.0 cyber space.  You’ll notice from my last post – this is a taking some time.

Greg has shared with us the cool new Trulia app for the iPhone here on Bloodhound.  I recently saw on Twitter that Trulia has already surpassed over 10,000 downloads – this new functionality not only is cool, it clearly has legs.

But why am I not running to Trulia?

I am a member – I participate on TruliaVoices.  I’ve claimed all of my listings and have subscribed to Trulia Pro – but their latest feature has me frustrated – blogging.  While it is a great feature, I can’t help but ask myself, why do I want to put all of my eggs in the Trulia basket?

I have spent the last several idle months re-alphabetizing my CD collection, sorting through my closets and more importantly, really being focused on learning the new Web 2.0 tools and building my online presence.  I’ve invested in my own domain for my blog and have tried to make a concerted effort at creating, what I hope to be, valuable content.

Now – if I want to exploit the blogging features on Trulia – I have to start all over again.  Why?  The same is essentially true of ActiveRain.  While AR does allow me to point my domain to my AR blog, I can’t do the reverse.  HomeGain?  PropertyQube allows me to syndicate my content – and while they may not have the same level of traffic, I believe the key is I am able to control my content.

I get the fact that there are a number of new users and a great deal of agents who are just embarking on a Web 2.0 presence – these sites are providing a great suite of tools.  My problem is this – my future clients are all over the web.  They are looking at every site possible.  They have not established a defacto standard for RE Web 2.0 information – why should I be limited?

From my perspective, I don’t want to put my brand and content in the hands of the technology players – particularly when there will be some rationalization of the solutions at some point.

I want the technology solutions to help me leverage my content – truly be a portal to more than just data, but valuable content – which ultimately I control and source.  Help me best position myself as a valued resource to my potential client.

You know – looking back, I realize that it has been decades since I last recited the Pledge of Allegiance.  I think times have changed, however.  Therefore, I suggest a new version – here’ it is:

I pledge allegiance to the RE 2.0 solutions of the World Wide Web and to the consumers and real estate professionals for which they stand, one community under God, indivisible, with openness and syndication for all.

Ok – so it was alittle political – sorry for the biblical reference – but come on, it’s an election year – I gotta play to the base.

So – you NRA card carrying members – just shoot me.