From REALTOR Magazine, December 2007, page 40: a excerpt from the “25 Trends Driving Today’s Market” article, regarding blogging real estate agents:
“Kids love sharing news with their friends online. So do a small number of practitioners, who’ve entered the blogosphere.”
I feel oddly insulted.
And then, a quote follows saying 96% of blogs are abandoned within the first year. Having not blogged for a full year, I can’t yet comment. But it makes a nice one-two punch: Blogging is childish. Nearly everyone fails.
Lani Anglin
December 4, 2007 at 10:47 pm
Yet they continue to run “how to blog” articles in the mag every month, usually pointing to Blogger as the medium of choice.
They can’t help their ignorance, the magazine is fluff. Plus, itt’s like me trying to describe to you what cucumbers taste like by saying “they’re crispy, tasty and cool” but I’m severely allergic, so to me it actually tastes like burning and tigthening air passages, thus I don’t know what cucumbers actually taste like. Idiots.
Todd Carpenter
December 4, 2007 at 11:29 pm
You might feel insulted, but they’re right. Only a VERY small percentage of RE agents are blogging. Lot’s of them quit as well. I actively search for RE blogs to add to REMBEX. More than half the ones I find are dead.
The thing is, most of the dead ones only last a couple weeks. The longer you blog, the more likely you’ll be one who continues. The first time I went out looking for RE blogs in 2005, I found about 30. Something like twenty of them are still going strong.
Kelley Koehler
December 4, 2007 at 11:37 pm
I get the failure rate, I just don’t get the comparison to kids sharing. Seems like an unnecessary passive-aggressive put-down.
Benn Rosales
December 4, 2007 at 11:47 pm
Kelley, it is. It is by design to discredit the voice of blogging. Don’t be offended, blog louder and stop reading crap.
Jeff Brown
December 5, 2007 at 12:23 am
It reminds me of a Bible verse Grandma always quoted to us when we wouldn’t shut up as teenagers.
The gist was, you can be a fool, but can keep it a secret by shutting the @#$%^ up. 🙂
Jonathan Dalton
December 5, 2007 at 11:17 am
I’d be insulted if not for the source. NAR fears the blogs as a large percentage of us don’t quote the company line verbatim.
Attending my weekly office sales meeting always is a grounding experience when I discover most folks’ thought patterns don’t extend beyond what NAR tells them they should think.
Mariana
December 5, 2007 at 12:07 pm
Ooh! Maybe this article will curb the ego-driven RE agent from entering the Blogosphere …
Well, I sure wont miss them!!
96% fail! Interesting. I have been blogging in the realestateland of the blogoshere for one year, 2 months and 12 days. Maybe there’s hope for me!
Wade Young
December 5, 2007 at 12:11 pm
Whether it’s an industry or an endeavor, the failure rate is always high. If people don’t see results from something right away, they give up. Exceptional people realize that things need time to steep so they stick it out and are the 10% who drive their industry or endeavor. I have made it a policy to never get offended. It has served me well.
Athol Kay
December 5, 2007 at 3:34 pm
Well seeing 92% of agents fail, saying 96% of blogs fail is just misdirection on NAR’s part.
Depends what you count as a blog too. I’ve been RE blogging for 15 months? Blog one is nothing more than a Frankenstein creation that lasted two weeks, the second lasted 6-7 months before closing it and switching platforms. The third was started in March and isn’t a year old.
3 failures? 1 success? No idea.
Jay Thompson
December 5, 2007 at 4:53 pm
“NAR fears the blogs as a large percentage of us don’t quote the company line verbatim.”
Not me. I toe the NAR line. Walk the walk and talk the talk. I am blessed in that I get not one but TWO issues of Realtor magazine delivered to my house. And I read them both cover to cover in case I miss something the first time.
I am a NAR poster boy.
Shailes Ghimire
December 5, 2007 at 8:58 pm
Thank goodness we don’t’ have to deal with the NAR. I don’t subscribe to publications from the MBA (Mortgage Bankers Assoc.) or NAMB (National Association of Mortgage Brokers) so I’m clueless on their position on blogging.
Todd Carpenter
December 5, 2007 at 9:08 pm
NAMB and MBA are completely ignorant of blogs. They don’t even realize they exist.