…to my sidepanel a few weeks ago and it seems to really have picked up steam lately… Lots of new photos showing up every day! It’s actually a lot of fun to see the stream of new photos on a regular basis! If you have photos of the people, places and events of online real estate, then definitely join the RE.net group and submit your photos as well!
…community using ning for the backend.
The real hurdle for a project like this is getting enough people in order to make it a viable community. The 44 members so far is a great start, although it appears to be heavily skewed toward real estate professionals and not too many consumers (at least not yet). Nonetheless, it is worth checking out if for no other reason that it would be trivial to replicate elsewhere if it works.
I like that they pre-filled in a bunch of condos (and neighborhood) groups, but it does beg the question… Why not just use an existing social network like Facebook where there is already a community of people and tools that can help you encourage them to participate (like news feeds)?
…I’m on Facebook grouping you into the RE.net.
funny… after I grouped everyone on Fb into the RE.net, I read this 
…my facebook addiction runs pretty deep (thanks mostly to so many of my family members joining up) and while I could easily set up another site similar to 4realz, I wouldn’t (easily) give up the freedom of having a personal blog. On LinkedIn the community is pretty weakly connected and really only good for finding another job.
(in response to this question from Todd, more responses under the interview category)
Toronto lofts 4:53 am on March 3, 2008 Permalink |
Why not just use an existing social network like Facebook
We can turn the question – why not try build new one, better one? Innovations are fueling all businesses, so why not to try some innovation? We are aimed at neighbourhoods in Toronto so it’s not so big as San Francisco, anyway, social network is developing and changing continuously and existing networks are not always able to keep pace.
P.S. that’s not very appropriate ilustrating picture with that SS group on the side
Dustin 11:34 am on March 3, 2008 Permalink |
Toronto:
I have nothing against building a new social network and my only argument against it is that it can be extremely tough to attract consumers…. That doesn’t mean it can’t work, but I think most people building niche social networks underestimate the work it will take to encourage participation.