The secret is out…
I’ve been using picplz for some time now and it’s one of those tools that I love so much that I want to keep for myself, it’s that good! Also, back in the day, I was one of the first five users of Twitpic when it was just Noah in Oklahoma with a big idea… now look where it is!
Picplz is a simple smartphone app that allows you to take quick shots, share your location, pick an effect and syndicate to your picplz profile, Twitter and Facebook all within seconds. No more taking a picture, telling it where to be shared to out of a list of options, and waiting for your network to catch up.
What I especially like about the service is not only its speed but because it offers you options for your location to post rather than making you type it in and that you can preview the photo effect after you take the picture whereas its competitors mostly make you pick the effect first and then shoot (but how do you know which effect will look good?). And did I mention that your picplz photo page is BEAUTIFUL!? It could even be used as a photo blog all on its own if done well…
It has become a de facto social network with people looking at their friends’ photos and commenting- it even gives you some basic stats like how many views each image has had. If you have existing pictures you want to share, you can also download directly from the picplz site and add effects. Fantastic!
Real estate uses
Taking photos of the neighborhood you specialize in or houses you’re touring and homes you have listed make for great blog fodder. Post them via picplz and they go to your Twitter and Facebook with a status update that you type out. Later, you can pull the pictures from your picplz profile and use them in your blog.
I think the best use for them in real estate is to tell the story of your area of expertise- before and after pictures of rehabs or foreclosures, pictures of your listings, a day tour of specific types of architecture or a sneak peek into your office life all provide an interesting narrative. How will you tell YOUR story in a way that consumers will feel engaged rather than simply posting listings or blogging about stupid non-real estate stuff like how to grow green vegetables?
Sample shots using picplz
I am not a Realtor, so I tell a story of my life rather than of my business. I show people what life is like around me as a means of a conversation starter and to give my networks something to relate to.
Here are some shots that I have taken so you can see some of the effects, and others can be found on my picplz profile page. Forgive the gratuitous cat photos and also my abuse of the black & white effect, it is admittedly my favorite. Click on any of the pictures below to see what they look like next to their picplz status update and map.
Doesn’t life look exciting through the picplz lense?!
Click here to download picplz on your Android
or click here to download picplz on your iPhone.
Andrew McKay
April 6, 2011 at 7:18 am
Looks good. I need some daily material now that the 365 things project has nearly ended and this will be an easy way of posting. However now I’ve signed up my network page is full of cat pictures 🙂