Showing posts with label social networking. Show all posts
Showing posts with label social networking. Show all posts

Tuesday, 23 February 2010

Google buzz for Estate Agents - what are the pros and cons?


There is a lot of buzz around Google Buzz. Will it rival the most popular social networks? Or will it simply fade into the background?

Well Google Buzz hasn't got off to a bad start. According to Google themselves, within 3 days Google Buzz users posted more than 9 million posts. This is a staggering amount and works out around 2,667 messages per minute. Ignoring the fact that Google Buzz automatically feeds from other social networking websites, this is an incredible statistic.

So what are the advantages and disadvantages of using Google Buzz? Firstly, since Buzz is integrated into Gmail, it automatically picks out your contacts and adds them. This is perfect for Estate Agents who already use Gmail as their main account, but not ideal for Agents who do not.

Secondly after inputting you login information, Google Buzz will feed you information from Twitter, Flickr, Picasa, Google Reader, Blogger and Google Chat Status. As you can see, most of these are Google owned so Buzz in theory will act as a central hub for all your Google activity with your Google Profile as the front cover.

A third advantage is that Google also recommends feeds that you might be interested in, even from people who you don't know. Users can then decide if it interests them and also toggle how often they want to see these recommendations. In practice Google will then learn what you like and suggest it more often!

The two disadvantages thrown up over the internet are on its privacy and its lack of simplicity. Reports have stated that The Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada is concerned over the way Google Buzz automatically finds users. This office is the same one that caused Facebook to make privacy and policy changes so don't be surprised if they make changes to Google Buzz.

Overall Google Buzz seems to be aiming at being a central hub of online activity. Other social networks may be added in the future, so watch this space. In a final thought, Estate Agents and social networking users see Facebook as a pub and Twitter as the town hall, how will they see Google Buzz?

Tuesday, 19 January 2010

Smart phones for Estate Agents - which is the best?


Smart phones are a must have for Estate Agents, allowing them to constantly be connected via email, social networking and various applications. It has become such a versatile gadget that many forget its main function - the mobile phone.

[Click to read more]

Monday, 18 January 2010

Estate Agent social networking - 8 top tips


Estate agents know that social networking has become an important part of communicating with buyers and sellers online, but many do not realise that having a presence isn't enough. Many Estate Agents ask 'What can I do to stand out from the crowd?' Therefore Resource Techniques has constructed 8 top tips of social networking development to help Estate Agents turn Facebook 'Friends' into Facebook 'Fanatics'.
  • Set up your profile - Make it clear and concise so that property searchers instantly recognise the brand.
  • Get to know your surroundings - Do your research! See what other people around your area are talking about.
  • Respond to all communication - Ideally with positive feedback, quickly responding to messages shows dedication and reliability.
  • Connect with people - Social networking is all about making connections. Find out what interests people and find common ground.
  • Quantify your social networking - Quantifying your social networking shows what progress you have made. One example is bit.ly that not only changes long links into smaller ones but it also counts the number of people that click on that link.
  • Join in the conversation - Do you know a piece of information that would help someone else? Help them.
  • Humanise the brand - let buyers and sellers see the face behind the brand. It is a nice face, let them see it!
  • Do your best to build a community - Sharing information, links and local news will attract others to join. The more the merrier!

Only after actively seeking interaction and integration into the social networking world, can Estate Agents truly use social networking to help people find their dream property. Simply setting up a social networking profile and waiting for customers to come to you is no longer good enough.

Troy Stanley, CTO of Resource Techniques comments, 'Action negates failure in the realm of social networking. Only through action, and more importantly interaction, can Estate Agents guarantee the success of their social networking activities.'

Monday, 30 November 2009

Heavy hitter Twitter

Back in November, Resource Techniques released an article covering the word 'unfriend' becoming Oxford American Dictionary's word of the year, showing that social networking has taken one of the final steps towards becoming omnipresent within our society and mainstream media. Many estate agents have very different views on their social networking policy and now Twitter fans can rejoice with two pieces of good news.

The first piece of news is by the Global Language Monitor who has announced that Twitter is the most popular word for 2009! This may not come as a surprise for those estate agents that use Twitter, not only is it main stream media but it is a fantastic way to interact and direct traffic to their website online.

The most popular words of 2009 are:

1. Twitter
2. Obama
3. H1N1
4. Stimulus
5. Vampire
6. 2.0
7. Deficit
8. Hadron
9. Healthcare
10. Transparency
11. Outrage
12. Bonus
13. Unemployed
14. Foreclosure
15. Cartel

Many estates may notice that this list may have an American bias but remember that America has roughly 5 times the population of the UK. Unfortunately 'foreclosure' is also on the list, fingers crossed that 'contract exchange' is on next year's list!

The second good news for twitter fans is that Bing has announced their top 10 search terms for 2009 and Twitter is number 2! Unsurprisingly Michael Jackson was at the top of the list after his demise in June. The rest of the list includes 3 other celebrities who have died, a celebrity divorce, Jaycee Dugard (who was kidnapped in 1991), car scrappage scheme, stock market and swine flu.

Retrospectively this is good news for Twitter and Twitter fans, but the other popular words and search terms could be seen as slightly depressing. Just one question remains, will we look back and see 2009 as being a good year this Christmas?

Estate agents, let us know by contacting us via our Facebook or Twitter account.

Tuesday, 24 November 2009

Social network 'Foursquare' now in the UK!


Created in March of this year, Foursquare describe themselves as, '50% friend-finder, 30% social city guide, 20% nightlife game'. It is a social network that allows users to share experiences, hints and places to go whilst having a game that allows users to 'check in' using the GPS on their mobile phone.

Back in August, Resource Techniques talked about a new social network that lets you explore your city and now they have expanded the website onto the UK shores. The cities that they cover are:

* Birmingham
* Bristol
* Brighton
* Edinburgh
* Manchester
* London

Although it is still a relatively new social network, Foursquare is tipped to be the next big social network using social networking, GPS and local knowledge.

Troy Stanley, CTO of Resource Techniques comments, 'Foursquare is a fantastic idea! The social network will be kick started by people that love to eat out or go to bars and clubs. Estate agents, watch this space.'

Many social networks have come and gone, will Foursquare stand the test of time? Let us know via Twitter or Facebook.

Tuesday, 17 November 2009

Social networking seizes word of the year - Unfriend

Social networking is everywhere. It has been talked about in movies (and is now a movie starring Jesse Eisenberg and Justin Timberlake!), it has been quoted in soaps, it is always in the news, and now the Oxford American Dictionary has placed it as word of the year:

Unfriend

"To remove someone as a 'friend' on a social networking site such as Facebook."

Many veterans of Facebook will be fluent in 'unfriending' whereas people who are new to Facebook will find it an alien concept. For those estate agents who are unsure, this phenomenon tends to occur on Facebook when a person has lost contact or no longer speaks to another person. Again this usually happens to people who have a major situational change such as moving to a different area, changing jobs or splitting from a partner.

Troy Stanley, CTO of Resource Techniques comments, 'In 1998 the Oxford English dictionary included the term 'LOL' which means Laugh Out Loud. This was a sign of language evolving directly from the internet.'

'Eleven years later, the word 'unfriend' has been added to the dictionary, showing exactly how big social networking has become. This should be another sign that estate agents must start embracing social networking and integrating it as part of their online marketing strategy.' - Troy Stanley.

There have been a few other terms added to this year's dictionary. They are:

* Hashtag - a hash (#) sign added to a word or phrase that enables Twitter users to search for tweets that also contain the same hashtag.
* Intexticated - distracted because texting on a mobile while driving a vehicle.
* Netbook - a small, very portable laptop computer with limited memory.
* Paywall - a way of blocking access to a part of a website which is only available to paying subscribers.
* Sexting - the sending of sexually explicit texts and pictures by mobile.

Are there words here that shouldn't be in the dictionary or have they missed out any? Let us know on our Facebook fan page or our Twitter Profile.

Tuesday, 3 November 2009

Dying to be remembered



A morbid subject but everyone has at one time or another pondered what happens to you once you die. Whether you go on to an afterlife, are reborn or just fade away into oblivion, one thing is certain. Your Facebook profile will still be there.

The good news out of this gloomy subject is that Facebook have decided to allow your memory to live on within their social network. They have announced that a profile can be turned into a memorial of its decreased owner. Facebook will remove contact information, status updates, change privacy settings and Facebook will no longer suggest the deceased member to other Facebook members - They will of course require confirmation of the deceased which must include verification from an obituary or a news article!

Sources indicate that the move has been prompted because some Facebook members being suggested to add as a friend, 'reconnect', or be reminded by a status updates automatically by Facebook's news feed of a deceased friend - something that can cause a lot of emotional pain.

The negative side of this is that you have no control over your Facebook profile once you have passed on. Not that Facebook has 'evil' plans for your profile, but estate agents may not want their memory to eternally held by a social networking company.

What isn't clear is what will happen to your profile, when sufficient time has passed and all your Facebook friends have passed on too. Will Facebook delete you or do they have a moral responsibility not to?

The positive side of this is that a Facebook tombstone is accessible from any of your friends and from anywhere on the planet. They can leave tributes on how you touched their lives and use your shared photos as happy memories that will never be forgotten.

Estate agents, would you like your Facebook profile to carry on after your ultimate demise, would you prefer for it to be completely erased, or do you simply not care?

Let us know what you think! Contact us on our Facebook fan page or Twitter profile or call us on 0208 457 4777.

Monday, 2 November 2009

Twitter class now enrolling!

Bemused students studying journalism at Griffith University in Brisbane have just been told that Twitter will now be added as part of their compulsory curriculum. The news received mixed reactions, with some students believing it is a waste of time.

Jacqui Ewart, senior lecturer at the university commented, 'Some student's tweets are not as in depth as you might like. But I don't know if getting them to write an essay is any more beneficial.'

Twitter has been playing an increasingly larger role with online news.

Newspapers in the UK have embraced Twitter; such newspapers include bbcbreaking (BBC Breaking News) with 215,200 followers, bbcworld (BBC world news) with 57,202 followers, guardiannews (The Guardian) with 36,615 followers, and financialtimes with 32,362 followers.

Twitter users covered major events such as Iran election and the 2008 Mumbai attacks. Users were awash with information. In fact during the Mumbai attacks, there was an estimated 80 tweets every 5 seconds.

Troy Stanley, CTO of Resource Techniques comments, 'Twitter is the fastest ever growing social network and estate agents need to get in on the action. Tweeting the latest properties, property news and estate agency news can help estate agents drive traffic to their website whilst estate agents create their own self-made pool of information.'

Could this be the start of a migration of journalists from printed to online? Let us know on our Facebook fan page or our Twitter profile.

Thursday, 29 October 2009

Google social search now live!

Google's latest experiment has been released today. Google Social Search allows users to search via Twitter, FriendFeed, Gmail contacts and Gmail chat list for public content from your friends. The list of results includes:

* Websites
* Blogs
* public profiles
* web content
* status updates
* Tweets
* Reviews
* Articles

Although the Social Search is still in an experimental stage, the search feature produces some very good results. For example, a member of Resource Techniques signed into their Google account and search for the term 'estate agent' knowing that they have quite a few estate agent contacts. The results are as follows:



As you can see, there are a range of results, mostly from Twitter as they do not use FriendFeed. The great thing about social search is that it is bespoke to the user that has signed in. An important note here is that estate agents wanting to use Social Search must have a Google account. That Google account must either have contacts and/or linked to social networks otherwise the search feature will not work.



As you can see above, the same search term was placed into Google Social Search but it did not reveal any results.

Another important note is that this feature does not search in real time. That means that a friend or contact's Tweets on Twitter will not instantly be searchable through Social Search. There is a big chance that will be in the works, watch this space.

Have you tried out Google Social Search? What search terms have you put in? Give us feedback on our Facebook Fan pageTwitter profile!

Did you like this article? Why not try reading, 'Improved Google Maps has been passed onto our customers' and 'Enhanced Google Maps listings - estate agents, get yourself on there!

Friday, 16 October 2009

The horrible C word, the dreaded S word and the unmentionable W word.


You are usually in your teens when you realise what the dreaded C word is all about. It creeps up on all of us, takes us unawares and makes us re-evaluate the world. Deep down we all hate it. Many people are in denial for a long time and try to busy themselves ignoring the mounting evidence. Alas, in the end, you cannot ignore the evidence. 'Change' is the only constant in our known universe.

As Bob Dylan once wrote, "The times they are-a-changin", which is as true in 1964 as it is today. Some may even argue that technology has even sped up the process, with the use of the internet and mobile phones, people are able to communicate at a much faster rate.

So what's the latest change that hasn't been fully utilised by estate agents? This is an easy one, the dreaded S word - 'Social networks'. The dreaded social networks make agents communicate directly with their customers. Oh no, we wouldn't want to directly communicate with new and existing customers... No wait, we were communicating directly with customers before, so how is social networking different?

In all honesty, it's not that different. It's as instantaneous as a text, as in-depth as an email and as personal as a phone conversation, and can be as warm as face-to-face. So how does it help my estate agency? I hear you cry... (Please don't cry, we're getting to the point!)

This leads us to our last unmentionable W word - Websites. Social networking not only helps you communicate with new and existing customers, but it allows you to point people in the direction you want them to go. Your website.

Not everyone wants to search for property all the time, but catching that one person at the right time can turn the tide when it comes to property sales. Unless they are a hermit, people will one point in their life look to moving house. This decision won't be immediate and neither will the final move. Within this time frame (spanning months to years), users will log onto their social networks and interact with the digital environment.

The great thing about social networking is that agents do not have to catch that person at the right time. Updating your profile, on a regular basis and with relevant content, will stay there indefinitely - or for as long as you have a profile.

As soon as the individual is ready to start thinking about moving, your estate agency will be sitting behind a mass of branded fresh, updated content on their social network. All this content will be pointing towards your website, which will of course have an unbelievably beautiful design, a prominent 'Property search button' calling them to action, high resolution pictures through the latest viewer technology and enhanced Google mapping with local amenities such as schools and public transport.

Troy Stanley comments, 'Don't take our word for it. Visit the Team Wessex website, type in 'BH21' and tick the box that says 'Display on Google maps'. From there you are able to view 13 different amenities including doctors, dentists and theatres.'

'Users love functionality like this. They can do anything from planning their child's route to school or the nearest bus stop so that they can get to work.'

'Call us on 0208 457 4777 to see how we can help your web design for estate agents, Search Engine optimisation (SEO) or social networking.' - Troy Stanley.

Wednesday, 14 October 2009

Are social networks replacing search engines?

Social media is everywhere. There are even references to Facebook, Twitter, MySpace and Wikipedia on TV and in movies. There will even be a Facebook movie called 'The Social Network' due to be released next year starring Jesse Eisenberg, Justin Timberlake and Andrew Garfield.

A new report has emerged underpinning the concept of estate agents connecting to new and existing customers through social networking. By Nielsen Wire, the report surveyed 1,800 people on the acquisition of content through social media.

The first question started off the survey with 'When looking for new information online, on what type of website do you start your search?' Out of the 1,800 participants, 37% used search engines, 34% used portals such as AOL or yahoo and 18% of respondents used 'social media' which includes Facebook, Twitter, blogs, Wikipedia etc. That is almost one fifth of people using social media for new information.

This information will vary greatly from person to person, depending on their situation, but what is certain is that some of these people will use social media to look for new property. Wikipedia and blogs can be ruled out, leaving social networking as the primary way for people to look for new properties online through social media.

The report concluded that it is very possible that social networks will replace search engines and portals in the future. Respondents found there is too much information on the internet to take in so the next step is to trust peers, relatives and other online 'friends' to ask them for their opinion.

How can estate agents benefit from this? Troy Stanley, CTO of Resource Techniques comments, 'Embrace social networking and implementing it into your marketing strategy. By communicating to online property searchers, estate agents are able to directly influence where property searchers are looking online. '

'Services such as posting the latest property or building a portfolio of users that you contact directly online will all help towards creating a desirable service that will keep property searchers coming back again and again.' - Troy Stanley.

Do you want to find out more about social networking? Read our other articles, 'Estate agents, who are you more likely to communicate with on social networks? Men or Women?' and 'Damn good reasons why estate agents should invest time and effort into social networking.'

Thursday, 1 October 2009

3 Internet milestones; online estate agents must take note.


The internet has hit three big milestones. The first was in the newspapers today; internet market expenditure has outgrown television spend for the first ever time. Whereas television has been leading the marketing spend for over half a century now, the internet took just over 10 years.

Stats were collated by the Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB) shows that internet spend was a record £1.75 billion budget was spent on online advertising whereas only £1.6 billion was spent on TV advertising. This means that the internet now accounts for 23.5% of all advertising spend in the UK, while TV ad accounts for 21.9% of marketing budgets.

Could this be a sign of things to come? Will families gather round a LAN connection to communicate online after Sunday dinner? The suggestion bit extreme but the stats do suggest that the internet is increasingly becoming part of our daily lives. Take this next milestone for example:

In the U.S. alone, over the month of August, there were 25 Billion online videos viewed, which means that the average internet user watched 157 videos each over the month. The data supplied by ComScore, also mentioned that Google had a share of 39.6% of these views (remember estate agents, this will mainly be YouTube).

A staggering statistic, but what does this mean for estate agents? It means that estate agents can take advantage of this phenomenon by having video content on their estate agent website. Virtual tours of individual properties and marketing videos of the local area can be uploaded onto the estate agent website to promote either the area or the property particulars.

The last internet milestone is a social one involving a three-fold of social networks in London; the London network of Facebook has the largest number of members, Twitter's chief executive said that London is the "top Twitter-using-city" and lastly a Digg Spokesman said that 10% of Digg's (A social network where users share content) traffic comes from London alone.

Don't believe the old adage that 'you can't teach an old dog new tricks', estate agents that haven't need to start embracing the online world and taking advantage of the opportunities on there. When considering a new web site, always demand a specialist. Troy Stanley, CTO of Resource Techniques 'we provide IT services just for estate agents. Services include web design for estate agents, SEO for estate agents, SEO services, web sites for estate agents and software for estate agents, but we also provide domain name registration for estate agents. To see what we can do for your estate agency, visit our portfolio page or contact us.'

Monday, 28 September 2009

Damn good reasons why estate agents should invest time and effort into social networking



For those estate agents that are unsure, Google (the UK's largest search engine with over 90% of the search engine market) scans the internet for web pages that it can use in its SERP (Search Engine Results Page) and good news is that this includes your social networking profiles!

Facebook

A recent statistic said that 5% of all internet usage is on Facebook. Facebook allows users to create personal profiles, Facebook 'pages', groups and applications, all of which is indexed by Google. Another recent fact, for estate agents considering a Facebook page, is that Google has indexed 503 million pages. Estate agents should not take this social network lightly when trying to gain online exposure.

Troy Stanley, CTO of Resource Techniques comments, 'Estate agents now, more than ever, need to be on Facebook. Facebook has over 300 million people worldwide, which is almost the same as the U.S. population and the UK has approximately 20 million users, meaning that 1 in 3 people, in the UK, has a Facebook account.'

Troy Stanley, continues, 'Facebook is a great way for estate agents to support their online presence. Estate agents do not need to spend as much time as users do, but they [estate agents] need to start regularly updating and expanding their profile by spending 5 minutes or-so a week.'

Troy Stanley confirms, 'Spending more time will benefit the estate agent's website and the estate agent's online presence in two ways. Firstly Google will is more likely scan a webpage the more it is updated and estate agents can use certain Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) techniques to improve their ranking. Fill your Facebook page with as much information as possible and use related keywords.'

'Once your page has filled out with all your business information, estate agents must then post content that property searchers will be interested in reading.' Troy Stanley reveals 'Users will be interested to know your latest properties for sale as well as the estate agent's latest events, socially and officially. Colin Bibra, an estate agent in Ealing, has an excellent online activity on both Facebook and Twitter.'

'Don't forget that this is not taking into account the possible communication between you, the estate agent, and members of public looking for property online. Giving them an opportunity to start an online conversation has become more attractive than ever before.' - Troy Stanley

Twitter

Twitter expanding at an enormous rate and is the 27th most visited website in the UK. A large amount of estate agents and users 'do not get' Twitter yet it is still expanding. Some high profile celebrities use Twitter in the UK including; Steven Fry, John Cleese, Jonathan Ross, Philip Schofield, Russell Brand and many more.

Estate agents can use Twitter to their advantage, by 'Tweeting' a link to the latest properties on their website, estate agents can boost traffic to their own estate agent website.

Troy Stanley comments, 'Estate agent should think Twitter as not just a social networking site where they can directly communicate with members of the public, but a type of media that is free. Again, estate agents do not need to devote an enormous amount of time using Twitter, but a few minutes a week 'Tweeting' their latest properties for people to access firsthand. 'Setting up a social network profile only takes 5 minutes. Estate agents can call Resource Techniques on 0208 457 4777 for free advice on setting up and utilising their social networking. - Troy Stanley.

Resource Techniques is a specialist in providing IT services for estate agents. Services include web design for estate agents, SEO for estate agents, SEO services, web sites for estate agents and estate agent software. Visit our portfolio page for our estate agent website designs or contact us page for more information.

Thursday, 10 September 2009

Estate agents, 'me too' positioning won't cut it with social networking

Many businesses in history have taken the 'me too' position. A 'me-too' brand is one that positions itself to offer exactly what the original brand offers. It can work it some industries and with some products or services but not with social networking.

Firstly estate agents have to realise that only having a social networking profile is not good enough. Users want to see evidence that estate agents are using social networking to its full potential, not a stale profile where the only evidence of activity is a post that occurred a few months ago. Users want estate agents to share the most up-to-date properties, local news, videos, the latest developments, useful links, advice on avoiding housing disaster, and many more. The great thing about online marketing is that it is only bound to the imagination of the user.

Estate agents that copy another estate agent's social networking activities will find a lack of leads. Estate agents need to try and come up with original ideas that will entice the user to visit their website. The website should then prompt the user to make a property search, view the listings then contact the estate agent regarding a property that they are interested in.

As social networking is used by increasing numbers and by a larger audience, it is only logical that these users will start using social networking as part of their online property search. Estate agents must start experimenting with social networking now before a rival estate agent gets there first. With that, estate agents must keep working hard at creating an experience that will push users onto their website.

For examples of social networking profiles, visit our or our Twitter page.

An estate agent website specialist, Search Engine Optimisation for estate agents and estate agent software specialist, Resource Techniques provides free consultations to all our customers on social networking. We guide estate agents through the sometimes tricky online world to help them generate online leads. To see what Resource Techniques can do for you, visit our portfolio or contact us.

Monday, 17 August 2009

Social networking is growing up.

Social networking now has an older audience. No longer will it be known as a teenage fad that stops them doing their homework, but an adult passion that will be integrated into their everyday lives. So much so, social networking could be replaced by emails. To read more on social networking replacing email, click here.

A recent study by Ofcom found that social networking website Facebook is the most popular in the UK. This shouldn't be shocking but the study also found that social networking demographic showing that 35 to 54 year olds regularly checking their social networking profile has risen to a staggering 46% and the number of British adults who have a social networking profile is 30%.

These are the x and y gen property buyers that estate agents should be targeting online. 30% of adults own a social networking profile. It is a statistic that cannot be ignored especially since it is completely free for estate agents to use and has a global audience. People from all over the world (that has a profile themselves) will be able to access your online profile.

From there you need to entice them. Users will click from your online profile to your estate agent website, but you have to give them a reason to. Estate agents need to be imaginative with social networking. Having a stagnant profile that is gathering digital dust will turn potential customers away. Either use it, or lose it!

Resource Techniques is able to provide a personal service to guide estate agents step-by-step through the process of understanding, creating and maintaining an estate agent social networking profile along with our estate agent website design as well as a specialist SEO service for estate agents. To see what is possible, visit our contact us page.

Wednesday, 5 August 2009

Explore your city with a new social network

There is a new social network that's growing and is very different from the rest. It's called foursquare. Foursquare describes themselves as:

"50% friend-finder, 30% social city guide, 20% nightlife game. We wanted to build something that not only helps you keep up with your friends, but exposes you to new things in and challenges you to explore cities in different ways."

What is it, I hear you say?

Foursquare is orientated towards exploring things to do in and around your own city. Users provided with the usual profile picture (after being asked to provide simple details) and then users are given 12 'squares' in which to share their experiences of venues in their city. These 12 squares are linked to a venue profile and have a maximum number of 180 characters to give people tips on the venue. These are changeable and give your friends and people who view your profile, where you personally like to go in the surrounding area.

Venues automatically have their own profiles, with full addresses and a Google map to help you view the location. On each venue there will be the total number of 'check-ins'. A check-in, is when you tell Foursquare when you are at a particular venue using your mobile phone. The person that has the most check-ins of a particular venue is given 'Mayor' status of the venue. This status is obviously not binding in real life, but does give people an incentive to regularly check-in.

One member commented on a Bar in New York: "Order a 'Stanley Cup' (not on the menu)". Its hints like these that make this social network so special. Instead of just recommended a place to go, users are asked to give specific tips such as what to do, or what to eat. This is much more direct than reading through endless reviews where users don't really say much.

Unfortunately this is only available to 21 cities in the U.S. but it won't be long till this fantastic social network comes to the UK. It will most likely start off in London and then move to other larger cities within the UK.

Did this article interest you? Why not try 'Estate agents are you having social networking burnout?'

For the latest social networking news, keep up-to-date with the Resource Techniques Twitter account for estate agents: http://twitter.com/RTechniques or our Facebook profile http://bit.ly/BWFkT

Troy Stanley