Your online reputation (off line too) counts. As a real estate professional, it is a huge part of your business. It’s been written about before on Agent Genius, (here and here for a couple) but apparently it bears repeating…
Your Online Reputation is Critical
And it can be damaged oh-so-swiftly.
Today Carol Hian with Redfin in San Diego wrote what I called The Most Asinine Real Estate Blog Post Ever. She shamelessly attacked an agent many of us know and respect, Kris Berg. In some twist I have yet to figure out, she drug into the fray the fact that Kris and Steve Berg organized a food drive in their community.
I know, it makes absolutely no sense. You can read the disgraceful post here if you are so inclined.
Glenn Kelman, often real estate blog fodder but really a pretty stand-up guy, commented on Ms. Hian’s post:
This post makes me physically ill. It is not consistent with how those of us at Redfin who have met Kris Berg feel about her or her charitable activity. Kris is a wonderful human being and a credit to our profession.
We have a clear policy that the contractors who contribute local posts about the real estate market should focus only on the real estate market, not on competitors. We are clear with everyone with whom we work that Redfin works as a partner with other real estate brokers, not as an antagonist.
Had we known that Ms. Hian felt this way about Realtors, we would not have commissioned her to write for Redfin at all.
As much as we would like to, we cannot take the post down because it would be sneaky to do so. But we will take steps to ensure something like this never happens again.
I apologize on behalf of Redfin for this post, both to Kris Berg and to the real estate profession.
Regards, Glenn
Thank you Glenn. That couldn’t have been easy to write and speaks volumes.
But sadly, the damage to both Ms. Hian and Redfin is done. Google never forgets. Within 15 minutes after I clicked “publish”, my post on this travesty was showing up in position #4 on Google for the search term Carol Hian. Others are also writing about it. It’s quite likely that soon, virtually every result on Page 1 of Google will be a reference to Ms. Hian’s insertion of foot into mouth. And though it’s not Redfin’s opinion, the Redfin name will be attached to this mess.
Think twice people before you fire off a post that will live in infamy. The real estate Internet space is surprisingly small. Word travels swiftly.
And people do Google names to check the reputation of service providers.
Others Opine:
Daniel Rothamel: Wanna Know How You Can do Irrevocable Damage to Your Brand and Your Reputation?
Joseph Ferrara: Rabid Redfin Bites Barbie… and Self
Eric Bryant (on Geek Estate Blog):
A word of advise to Real Estate Agents who Blog, the power of social networking can be a “double-edged sword”
Jim Duncan: Kudos to Glenn Kelman
Jonathan Dalton: Timely Proof of an Old Axiom
Glenn Kelman: Something I’ve Been Meaning to Say for a Long Time.
