I'm on a roll with this social networking content discussion, so I'll keep going a while longer. I think, and I could be proved wrong, that the word "social" is taken a bit too literally on Twitter if you are using it for business.

Realtors, ever since they've been around, have been networkers, hand shakers, joiners and socializers to build their business. And, it does work quite well...when you're standing in front of the person. Presenting a good appearance, having an engaging personality, and being friendly definitely builds relationships, which build business.

A problem I see on Twitter is that I can't see you when you're being engaging (cute?). Even if you have a good image on your Twitter page, it can't provide the body language and verbal inflection that helps me to relate to what you're saying. And, when you're saying it in less than 140 characters, it better be good and get the point across. If I've never met you, as will be the case with most of your tweet readers, I have no idea of your personality. You can say something one way, and I'll read it in quite a different way.

If you build a Twitter presence just for socializing, have fun! But, if the reason it's there is to help you to build your real estate business, then a high noise ratio of "what I'm doing right now" tweets are just going to drive away people who might have become customers. Twitter accounts are free, so have a separate one for those who want to know your thoughts on Madonna's latest adoption.

I thought I was finished for now on commenting about ineffective content on Twitter, or any social network. But today a blogger I really read says this in the last sentence of a post:

"So, if you’re one of those that’s determined social media is a big fat waste of time, then I’m suggesting that what you’ve really discovered is that your sparkling personality isn’t enough to make social media pay."

It comes from this post about social media and content at DuctTape Marketing. There's a lot of good information in the post, so go check it out, and subscribe to the blog.

I'll put this a bit too directly, and I'm sure there's a bit of socializing in every visitor to every website and network. However, I think that calling myself "the person who wants to buy or sell real estate in YourTown right now," here's what I really believe is the case most of the time:

• I will probably want to know YOU better at some point, BUT
• Right now I want to search real estate listings
• Right now I want to know what the market's doing in your area
• Right now I want to know what's selling and for how much
• Right now I would like to hear your opinion ON THE MARKET
• Right now, I don't care what you're having for breakfast, or how many properties you're showing today, or why you're upset that Walmart's out of Michael Jackson videos
• Yes, I want to know you better, but not right now

What is your Twitter Noise Ratio? It's figured in different ways, some using tweets compared to followers. For a Twitter account set up to build on a real estate practice, I would be more inclined to measure the noise ratio as non-real estate to real estate related posts. And, I don't mean to say that you can count "I'm showing property today" as a real estate related post. I mean data or information that someone interested in your real estate market would probably find of some value, as in our list above.

I would suggest that, if your noise tweets are triple (or worse) your value tweets, then you'll be wondering why you can't track business back to your Twittering a year from now. Just my opinion, but what's yours? Are you getting leads or business from Twitter yet?

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I recently posted here about Twitter, and I think that it could be a great tool for real estate professionals. That is, unless we clutter it up with useless information and personal games.

I found a blog that was congratulating certain Twitter Real Estate users for their innovation and great Twitter posts. Here's what I found:

• I looked at six Twitter sites, with about 20 tweets/page on the first page.
• Only about 20%, less than two dozen tweets, had any relationship to real estate topics or markets at all.
• Some talked about percocet, vicodin, getting more followers, updating facebook pages, etc.

New things that get popular quickly are adopted by an early group who tend to sing their praises, and not always about the most important facets. In this case, these real estate professionals are putting items on Twitter that have no value to anyone looking to buy or sell real estate. Some of this is good, with the ability to allow people to get to know you...to a point.

However, when there was not one post out of this 120 that gave any mention of or link to real estate statistics or hard data for these markets, it makes me wonder if the micro-blogging trend will die a quick death from lack of interest from people who might actually become real estate clients. To give credit where it's due, one broker had mostly real estate related Tweets, and I liked that page. However, since his was about a dozen of the 20 or so, that doesn't say a lot for the others.

One of the reasons some gurus say that Twitter is a great tool is that it allows this micro-blogging of breaking news. That's great, unless it's news about how many Coronas you've consumed, or burgers, or your nail appointment, or how to add 100 followers/day to not read the uninteresting stuff you're tweeting. How about a tweet every day with a digest of the previous day's market activity, or current market inventory numbers?

I've been waiting for my MLS to help me with some research before posting this. First, let me make it clear that:

• I have no problem with brokerages doing limited service.
• I have no problem with brokerages doing MLS Only listing.
• I have no problem with charging flat fees, even small ones.

BUT, I have a large problem with misleading my site visitors who come to my Taos, New Mexico MLS IDX search page to look for homes in the Taos, New Mexico MLS area, mainly our county. I have a huge problem when they find homes listed in my MLS that are sitting in Idaho, Minnesota, and many other states. It confuses my searchers, and requires my time to set them straight that the "too good to be true" home for $85,000 is really too good to be true. It's 1500 miles away!

It is apparently OK for a brokerage licensed in this state, or working with a licensee in this state, to list a home anywhere in the world in my MLS. The company doing this the most just happens to be a flat fee, MLS Only, listing company. That isn't the problem.

It's the fact that they have no problem in telling their customers that they're providing them with great service by exposing their listings in places where they will get NO attention that will EVER result in a sale. There is no way that someone looking for a vacation home near a stream in an alpine environment will be purchasing a subdivision tract home near downtown in a state a thousand miles away.

So, the fact that they want to mis-inform their customers about this service with no value is bad enough. But, when my site visitors keep sending me emails to ask about the really low price on these homes, it's worse. This is not the MULTIPLE LOCATION SERVICE.