Real You: The Power of Twitter Babble

A new study by Pear Analytics said 40.5% of tweets are “pointless babble”. Hrumph. Yes, some of it is: “I just had the greatest new ice cream flavor.” But some of this said babble is for a point. When businesses and entrepreneurs share information important to them and their industry, insights into how they’ve achieved what they have and the like, it’s far from pointless. It’s illuminating. As Twitter has grown from small personal networks (how most people start on Twitter) to a blend of personal and professional networks of people—followers—the great potential here is to connect. These tweets humanize each of us. They connect us with like-minded people, folks who are interested in similar topics, and these simple tweets actually can lead to life-long friendships, new clients and referrals. Some of the most-followed people on Twitter provide both “useful” book-type knowledge on a regular basis AND personal insights that humanize them and build connection. And I’m talking about regular folks here; not just celebs.

So whatever it is that you’re tweeting, keep on keepin’ on! I’ve said this before, but I can’t drive home enough the many friends I’ve made, followers who have found my book through Twitter, and interviews I’ve been asked to participate in—all because of my “pointless babble”. Many someones out there think it’s a little more useful than that.

Follow me: @kairarouda.

It's never too late to tell you about trends, is it?

Ok, here's a funny story. My friend Stefan Swanepoel is THE real estate trends guy. He publishes a well-researched, well-read Trends Report each year and the industry folks who are smart, read it. I realize it's April, and first quarter is over, BUT I am finally reading the report! In my defense, for some unknown reason, it took two months to arrive from California to my mailbox in Ohio. (Yes, even reports don't want to visit Ohio if they're from Laguna Nigel.) But enough excuses. I learned a lot, and here are the trends that resonated with me:

1. Real estate is in the "transformation years", and those years will continue until 2012 (yikes!)

2. Social media is a real estate agent and company's friend! (yay!)

I'm not going to dwell on the negatives surrounding point 1 above, as I'm sure if you live in a home or know someone who does you've heard just about enough even if you aren't a real estate agent. But point 2 is exciting! As Stefan writes, "some 530 million individuals are now participating in some sort of social networking . . .and each person on average belongs to two or three social networks."

That's huge, in my industry and yours. If you aren't out there blogging and tweeting about your expertise in a meaningful and helpful manner—as a real estate agent it is your local market knowledge and your niche knowledge-you're missing out on customers. As Stefan writes: "Real estate professionals have an excellent opportunity to take advantage of this emerging trend by influencing others through creating meaningful content and releasing it through blogs, online communities, wikis and social networks....only 18 percent of online Americans actually create content or publish an article or blog at least once a month."

So get out there and get writing. You are an expert in your field, and you have something your tribe wants to read about. Write it, and they will follow!