Online Real Estate Technology

Real Time search on Google

Ok, if you been putting off starting a blog or using social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter, it’s time now to think again and very seriously. With the launch yesterday of Google real time search, it opens up a world of opportunity for bloggers and social media users to get their efforts at the top of the search rankings, Google now pulls information as it happens from sources such as friendfeed, Twitter and Facebook as well as blog posts and news feeds.

This is essentially Googles answer to Twitters and Facebooks search engines which provide up to the minute updates on trending topics, and it was a natural extension for it to be applied to search engines, after all they are trying to give you the best response to your search query.

Real time search will enable information to be delivered as it happens, by clicking on “Latest results” or selecting “Latest” from the search options menu to view a full page of live tweets, blogs, news and other web content scrolling right on Google.

You can also filter your results to see only “Updates” from micro-blogs like Twitter, FriendFeed, Jaiku and others.

Latest results and the new search options are also designed for iPhone and Android devices when you need them on the go, be it a quick glance at changing information like ski conditions or opening night chatter about a new movie — right when you’re in line to buy tickets.

So there you have it, create your blog and start writing, and by creating good quality content on your blog or social media network, you might just end up in the number one spot on Google.

It’s the freshness factor that is also important when it comes to getting your information ranked high on Google and now with real time search, you can get fresh up to date information on trending or newsworthy stories as they happen.

If you’d  like to start a blog and don’t know where to start, visit Blogging for Business Packages and get started today.

Optus brand reputation management non existent

I recently invested in the new iPhone and have really enjoyed exploring the technology, however just recently I’ve noticed a recurring problem and that is my iPhone will drop out during both received and dialed phone calls.  So you can imagine my frustration when on a call and the call drops out, this happens at least 2 out of every 10 calls. So like most people today, I decided to search for the problem or I should say solution on Google, and what did i find? loads of information on the problems the iPhone network, in particular the Optus 3G network is having, and why there are drop outs. This information ironically, being provided by forum sites and other disgruntled consumers experiencing the same problem, nothing from the network that I’m with, which is Optus.

The number one result on my search query on Google is a forum site and contained within this site are numerous complaints about the drop outs, all citing the Optus 3G network not being up to spec as the cause of the problem, there are also complaints about Optus customer service and the lack of responce by Optus to customer complaints, some taking up to 2 weeks just to get a return phone call. But the interesting thing to me is the total lack of input from Optus on this site, now surely you’d think that a service company would be either monitoring this site or at least have a strategy to deal with all this negativity about their product and service, and don’t think that Telstra is any better at dealing with complaints, because they are not.

This brings me to the impact that social media has on brand building, consumers now have the ability to complain publicly about issues they are having with any company, and a simple search on Google will usually brings these forum and blog sites up at the top of the search, making them easily accessible to anyone wanting information or to complain about the service or lack of it from any company.

Business today needs to be very aware of the impact these sites can have on generating business from the web, and an effective web based brand monitoring strategy needs to be implemented and service related industries including real estate offices and agents really need to make sure they have both a monitoring and response strategy in place… Now I don’t know if Optus monitors or is even aware that these sites are on the web, but they should, the comments, complaints and opinions of current customers should be a prime concern, because if I’d read this forum before getting my iPhone, i would never have used Optus, and to allow the comments found on the forum site to continue without company moderation or input is just plain stupid.

So beware, take your on line reputation very seriously, you don’t want your brand or reputation destroyed on the web, imagine if you did a Google search on a prospective employee and found complaints and comments about them, complaints about their lack of service and response or their rudeness in dealing with clients, would you then hire that person? No I didn’t think so, well it works both ways.

You can no longer take your reputation for granted, you need to set up your strategy and a good place to start is by using this 3 phase process:

• Monitor

• Manage

• Repair

Start by monitoring what is being said about you or your brand on line, and you can do this by simply creating a Google alert for your brand name or keyword, if your brand is mentioned on the web then Google will notify you via email once a day of who,what and where you were mentioned.

This is the easiest and cheapest way to keep track of your reputation.

When I was at the Inman technology conference in August, the subject of Augmented Reality was being bandied around during the technology sessions and I thought it time to have a look at how it will impact not only the working real estate agent but also the consumer.

Firstly, what is Augmented Reality?  The concept has been around since the early 90’s, but it’s really only been in the last 12 months that the technical world has gone ga ga over it and if not for the onslaught of Twitter, you’d probably have heard a lot more about it by now.  So here is the technical explanation for what it is:

Augmented reality (AR) is a term for a live direct or indirect view of a physical real-world environment whose elements are merged with (or augmented by) virtual computer-generated imagery – creating a mixed reality. The augmentation is conventionally in real-time and in semantic context with environmental elements, like for example sports scores on TV during a match. With the help of advanced AR technology (e.g. adding computer vision and object recognition) the information about the surrounding real world of the user becomes interactive and digitally usable. Artificial information about the environment and the objects in it can be stored and retrieved as an information layer on top of the real world view.

Ok, there it is, simple really, but what does it do and how can you use it in your real estate business. The easiest way to explain how the technology will work is this, Imagine a consumer being able to stop in front of a house for sale and simply point their smart phone at the house and within seconds being able to view as well as save all the information about the listing. From there the consumer can look at the pictures, watch a video, email the information and even contact the agent direct.

To watch the technology in action here’s a video from Layer, an Android-based application that uses your handset’s GPS location, digital compass and accelerometer to call up geotagged information and superimpose it on the world around you.

The iPhone application for this technology is now available for download from the Itunes store, so  you can imagine the potential this has for the future, and it’s not just real estate that will benefit.

Any business can and will benefit from this technology, lets imagine you’re walking down a street looking for a good place to eat, you hold up your mobile phone so the screen shows what’s in front of you. What you see are things you couldn’t see before, brightly coloured makers that show restaurants and bars, turn the corner and you’ll see the new view on your screen, click on any of the markers and you’ll see customer reviews, menu and price information.

This is just a small part of what this technology can do, so I hope I’ve opened the door just a little for you.

There’s one lesson in this for the real estate industry, don’t get left behind, make sure you keep up with developments and new technology such as this as it emerges. Your very future may well depend on it.

I’d suggest also reading the post on using QR codes for real estate

Back in December of last year I wrote a post on the future of the Internet in 2020, and in that post one of the predictions was that mobile devices would be the primary connection tool to the Internet and social media for most people. Well I thought I’d revisit the progress of that statement and look at if the mobile device is in fact having any impact on searching trends.

Some new research from a company in the US SRG, has found the mobile phone is displacing the PC among US women in terms of usage – especially in the 12-24 age group, the survey has found that young women spend twice as much time with their cell phones as women over age 40.

The survey also revealed that more than 80% of US women now use a wireless device and 17% use a smartphone, such as an iPhone, BlackBerry or models from HTC, Samsung, LG or similar. Among those in the 12-24 and 25-39 age groups,  smartphone ownership is now 23%. In contrast 11% of women ages 40+ own a smartphone.

When asked about the top benefits of owning a smartphone, the top answers among women were convenience, the ability to send texts and email, and access to social media online.

When asked what technology had the most impact on their life in the past two years, women overall picked the internet, followed by the PC/computer, and cell/wireless in a distant third spot. This changed amongst young women, where a wireless device took the #1 spot:

Technology with the most impact on my life

So how does that impact on how they use social media?

The study found that more mobile usage and smartphone ownership is enabling women to bypass the traditional PC to upload their pictures to social media sites:

• Nearly 74% of 12-24 year-olds say they have taken a photo with their cell phone in the past month.
• Young women are twice as likely have used the internet browser on their cell phone in the past month.
• 22% of 12-24 year-olds used their mobile device to access Facebook, MySpace or Twitter in the past month, making them four times as likely as older women to have accessed social media such as a Facebook profile or MySpace page on their mobile phone.

From that research and the upward trend of smart phone usage, particularly amongst women, who are the bigger users of social media, you don’t need to be Einstein to work out that the smart phone will be the primary connection tool for the Internet and social media online well before 2020.

I would love to hear your thoughts on this, so please leave me a comment on this post.

Ever wondered when visiting a new city how safe you were, or when you’re looking for your dream home and find one in what looks like a great suburb, but you don’t know how safe that suburb really is? If this is you, then here’s an Iphone application that is just made for you.

Lethal is a new Iphone & Ipod touch application available through Itunes. The application draws on information in various data bases which has been compiled from government and academic sources. The app uses a lethal index system which tells the user how dangerous that area is. There’s a “Wildlife” index, a “Crime” index as well as “Disease” and “Disaster” indexs.

This application is ideal if you want to know what strange animals, or “beasties” might be lurking near you when you go out walking or if you want to check out how safe you are in your current suburb, this little beauty will give you the score. If you are travelling or sightseeing and start wondering how safe you are, this unit uses GPS to find you and then let you know how safe you are in your current location.

Unfortunately, this application will only work in the US at the moment, but if you are planning a trip to the states, this would be an absolute must have before you leave.

Just imagine the impact this would have if launched in Australia on property searches or suburb choice.

The application is available at a small cost from Itunes and I’ve included a screen shot for you below:

New Iphone & Ipod Touch Application

For all those Iphone users, I’m sure you have begun to rely on this little tool for just about everything in your business, but ever got to the point where trying to find all the applications and search functionality whilst stopped in traffic or working in a rush and madly trying to type away at the keyboard gets a little frustrating? well a new application will help solve this for you and it’s available via the Itunes store. It’s called vLingo, the application will allow you to speak to your Iphone and have it understand the spoken command.

This little application takes the recent voice search app from Google to the next level and allows you to perform Google searches as well as local map searches and voice dialing from your contacts list in one application. If you are a social media user you will be able to update your Facebook profile and, if like me, you use Twitter.com to update friends or contacts, you will be able to do this via voice as well. vLingo transcribes the spoken word to text and sends them to your social sites.

If you are a Iphone user, give this a try and let me know how successful it is? Here’s a screen shot of the application.

vLingo Screen Shot

I was quite excited about this story back in June/July, when I first came across the story of Dash, the web enabled GPS unit which allowed users to search for real estate via the web and the GPS unit. In fact I reported back then that Coldwell Banker had signed a deal to distribute their properties exclusively, which I thought a great idea and a real win for them. Well it seems that the company were a little ahead of their time with the concept but not with the hardware. The company had commenced selling their units at $600 each plus the monthly subscription fee, which it seems a lot of consumers thought too expensive. There are now a lot more slicker units on the market which incorporate GPS and don’t charge consumers above their monthly fees for connection.

News this week from gigaom.com, is that due to the sluggish economy, the company is slashing 50 jobs and changing it’s business model from consumer to B2B. So we’ll now have to wait for the big names in GPS units such as Tom Tom or Navman to look at integrating this into GPS units. The big companies are now offering traffic network updates on their units and this has rolled out in NSW,Victoria and Qld, so don’t despair, the Iphone and other new GPS enabled phones are having an impact on the mobile search platform and hopefully with new software applications coming out all the time, such as Utoprias The Future of The Mobile Real Estate Search on Iphone  all may not be lost.

I highlighted in an earlier post a company in the US called Utopria and their mobile search platform for the Iphone, The Future of The Mobile Real Estate Search on Iphone  , well the company has released an update on their software, and given that Google have released Google Earth as a free application for the Iphone, I thought it relevant to revisit the post.

I’ve included a video for you to view and see how the software and application called mediapod works, lets hope they have plans to release this in Australia in the near future, but until then, enjoy the future of mobile searching for real estate properties. This allows the agent to include a video introduction as well as including a host of features for the consumer.

“The world just got a little smaller” that’s how the official media release from Google opens, Google Earth now available for download to your Ipod Touch or Iphone. By downloading and adding this to your Iphone you’ll be able to search for local businesses and using the MyLocation feature you’ll be able to zoom in on your exact location in the world. Here’s the link to the release for further study http://google-latlong.blogspot.com/2008/10/google-earth-now-available-for-iphone.html

So how will this affect real estate searches in the future?  Being able to find information on the local area is very valuable to property searchers, information on schools,employment,suburb data etc is very valauble and now with Google releasing the Google Earth application for the Iphone it all has gone mobile. There’s an interesting post on using Google Earth in a real estate application and if you’re interested in reading more about this, click on the link.

http://blog.unionstreetmedia.com/technology/4-ways-to-use-google-earth-for-the-iphone-for-real-estate-internet-marketing/ 

As always let me know your comments

A little while ago Telstra canned the mobile phone search platform in Australia due to lack of interest from the consumers, which was understandable given the current mobile phone screen sizes, well what a difference an Iphone can make. I wrote a post awhile ago from domain.com.au about their listings being available via Iphone, well really all of the portals can be found via the internet of course, but just recently some very exciting mobile innovations have been released in the US, one, is a product called the Puluwai mobile real estate search, this being available for download to your Iphone or Ipod touch and allows you to search for a property either by location or via the Iphones GPS function, this software is not currently available in Australia yet but is available in NZ, but news today from a Canadian company called Utopria, who have launched a new real estate search tool for the Iphone. They have taken the listing flyer and single property web site and brought them together for the mobile search platform. Here’s how it works, put into the Iphone a property website found on a yard sign, using Safari on your Iphone, and Mediapod,(Utopria’s) software program,(see screen shot), will deliver a specially formatted version of the listing page to your Iphone. The system delivers all the relevant information such as agent brand and phone numbers etc, but where this really starts to deliver is the ability of the agent to embed a video which introduces them and the property. The agents contact information includes email and phone links that dump directly into the phones applications.

Another nice touch is that buyers can also choose to view surrounding schools, restaurants, parks and shopping outlets from a drop down menu and then have those instantly mapped into the Google Maps application on the iPhone. (To which you could then get directions, using iPhone’s location awareness)

If you were wondering about the impact of the Iphone on real estate searching well here is a little glimpse of the future. However a video is worth a thousand words, so I’ve included a link here for you to watch on how the application works. I’m sure when you’ve seen this you’ll be as impressed as I was.