Social Media Best Practices / 2010 Table of Contents

Introduction — 2 Types of Social Networking Sites — 4 Where to Start — 5 Personal vs. Professional Life on Social Networks — 6 Social Networking Rules of Engagement — 7 Do’s and Don’ts — 8 Basic Social Media Reputation Management — 9 The Social Media Platforms — 10 Facebook — 11 Real Estate Applications, 11 Individual vs. Fan Pages, 11 Privacy Settings, 12 Dealing with Friend Requests, 12 Managing Your News Feeds, 12 Joining Groups and Becoming a Fan of Pages, 12 Vanity URL for Your Profile and Fan Pages, 12 YouTube — 13 Creating a Personal YouTube Account, 13 YouTube Sharing, 13 YouTube User Tips, 13 Twitter — 15 Using Twitter, 15 Twitter Glossary, 15 Who Should You Follow, 15 Additional Twitter Tips, 16 LinkedIn — 17 LinkedIn Tips and Best Practices, 17 Blogs — 18 Blogging Checklist: When Posting, 18 When Commenting, 18 ActiveRain — 19 Additional Social Networks — 20 The 7 Deadly Sins of Social Networking — 21 Crisis Management — 22 Conclusion and Join RE/MAX Social Networking — 23 Glossary — 24 Additional Resources — 26

Twitter: @remax Facebook: facebook.com/remax YouTube: youtube.com/remax LinkedIn: RE/MAX International, Inc Introduction Social networking. Everyone’s heard about Facebook and Twitter by now. Maybe you’re still trying to figure out what the buzz is all about. More importantly, you are probably trying to figure out how social networking can help real estate agents.

We’re here to help! The purpose of this Guide is to give social context for information exchange, and establish a presence in media rookies and experts alike the information, the back- a medium that is just starting to grow and flourish. ground, and the best practices that are needed to utilize social networking fully. Social networking can be an extremely Most importantly, the biggest and best social networking sites are useful tool to reach new customers, easily build and maintain FREE to use and will make much more sense with this Guide. relationships with clients and colleagues, provide an ongoing

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38years 13years years3 months9 38years 13years years3 months9

Consider these facts about social networking:

38 13 3 38 139 3 9 38years 13years 3years years 9yearsmonthsyears months 55.6 years38years 13years 3 months 9 million Years55.6 toyears reach 50 millionyears users: Radioyears (38 years), TV (13months years), iPodmillion (3 years) – Facebook added 100 million users in 9 months!

38years 13years years3 months9

55.6Nearly 66% of active Internet users have joined a social network. By the end of 2010, Gen Y will outnumber Baby Boomers million and 96% of Gen Y have already joined a social38 network.13 3 9 years years years 80%months YouTube is the 80%second largest search engine 55.6 in the world. million78% 55.655.6 78% millionmillion 55.6 ≥35years 80% 80% percent 78% of consumers trust ≥35 of Twitter users million years 55.6 peer recommendations. are over 25. million 78% 25% of search results for the 55.6 million adults, or just less than 1/3rd of the population, World’s≥ Top35 20 largest brands are links in the US now visit social networks at least monthly. to user-generatedyears content. 80%

Now you understand just how popular and frequently used • Send updates about listing changes, new homes on the social networking sites really are. That is why80% there is a great 80%market, and even your personal life. opportunity for RE/MAX agents to leverage this space for their • Recruit prospects. own benefit. It’s an inexpensive means to reach consumers • Advertise open houses and other events. where78% they spend a lot of their time. 80%• Provide information, answer questions and create dialogue with your clients. Consider78% these practical applications≥35 for real estate • Maximize80% your exposure in a medium that is popular with agents within social networks:years your client base. • The ability to create a personal≥35 profile promoting yourself and 78%your services on numerousyears highly trafficked social In essence, social networking is just another outlet for you to networking sites. expand your sphere of influence and carry on a conversation, just like you would in person. • Advertise your listings and give virtual tours. • 78%Connect with past, current and potential clients. ≥35years 78%Twitter: @remax Facebook: facebook.com/remax YouTube: youtube.com/remax LinkedIn: RE/MAX International, Inc ≥35years ≥35years RE/MAX Social Media Best Practices 2010 Types of Social Networking Sites 4

Types of Social Networking Sites There are many different kinds of social networks. From podcasts, to video networks, to social bookmarking sites, there are endless niches that are continually evolving. Take a look at this graphic for a unique visual representation of the great variety of social networking sites:

Social Networking Sites

* Chart from: THE CONVERSATION: The Art Of Listening, Learning, and Sharing, By: Brian Solis and JESS3

Information overload? Don’t worry, this Guide is going to social networking sites and apply that understanding to the cover the specifics about a few of the major players in other networks, should you choose to participate in them. social networking: Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, LinkedIn and Additionally, this Guide provides helpful rules of engagement blogs. You’ll be able to use an understanding of these specific and best practices about social networks in general.

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Where to Start? All social networking sites have one thing in common. In order to get going, you will need to create your personal profile. After you do that, you will be able to listen, learn and engage with others. Creating a profile is easy; just take a look at these instructions and recommendations:

Username Your Picture 1 Create a username that incorporates your actual 4 Change the default picture (also known as an avatar). name. It is best to use your name instead of an ob- Show off your personality. Most often, social scure nickname or phrase that people may construe networking sites are a more informal setting than a as spam or simply won’t recognize. professional suit and tie photograph (LinkedIn being the exception). If you come off as approachable in your profile picture, people will be more likely to reach Password out to you in social networks. 2 Choose a password that is difficult to guess. Incor- porate lower case letters, upper case letters, and numbers. Make sure to change your password every RE/MAX Graphic Standards now and again. See the Additional Links for more 5 If you wish to incorporate any RE/MAX material in your information on password selection. profile, please refer to the Trademark and Graphic Standards manual, which you can download on RE/MAX Mainstreet, for more information. (There is a Safety link at the bottom of the page to the manual.) 3 Beware of ‘phishing’ scams. If you receive a questionable message from a contact, there is a good chance that their account has been Contacts compromised. Check out the links below for more 6 Import your contacts. Social networking sites make it information on phishing scams. If you think your easy to connect with your contacts. Simply look for account has ever been compromised, make sure to ‘import contacts’ or a similar phrase. You will typically immediately change your password. Phishing scams be able to enter your email login and the social network- can happen via e-mail, direct messages on social ing site will automatically pull up all of your contacts and networking sites, or even instant messages, so keep match them with those who have profiles on the site. a careful look out! This is a great first step to connect on a social network.

These tips can be carried over to any social network that you might want to join. Later, we will go into more depth about individual social networking sites and their intricacies.

More information: How to Pick a Safe Password (Eric Wolfram) - http://wolfram.org/writing/howto/password.html Password Help (Google) - https://www.google.com/accounts/PasswordHelp Phishing (Wikipedia) - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phishing How Not to Get Hooked by a ‘Phishing’ Scam (FTC) - http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/pubs/consumer/alerts/alt127.shtm How to recognize phishing e-mails or links (Microsoft) - http://www.microsoft.com/protect/fraud/phishing/symptoms.aspx RE/MAX Trademark & Graphic Standards Manual – https://www.remax.net/marketing/downloads/Lists/Downloads_Library/TrademarkandGraphicStandards.pdf

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Personal vs. Professional Life on Social Networks

Now you know that there are instances when you should disclose your relationship with RE/MAX when participating in social media. This brings about the issue of personal vs. professional profiles on social networks. What should you do?

When. considering sharing your personal life on social networking users will not want to see just a stream of listings, nor will they sites, you must remember that clients, colleagues, and want to see a constant stream of intimate thoughts and feelings. everyone else typically has access to the online content you We will address posting best practices later in this Guide. post. Keep this in mind when publishing information online that can be seen by more than friends and family. And know that information originally intended just for friends and family can Example: It might be best to create a Facebook always be forwarded on. Remember NEVER to disclose non-public information of RE/MAX (including confidential fan page for your business, and maintain a Facebook information), and be aware that taking public positions online profile for your personal life. Facebook fan pages allow that are counter to RE/MAX interests will cause conflict. for more of a hard sell, and can be strictly promoting business content such as listings and open houses. That being said, if you are comfortable sharing aspects of your Your Facebook profile can then be used to extend personal life on social networking sites, it makes the most current relationships and show off your personality. sense to have dual-purpose profiles for most social networking Check out the Facebook specific section further in this sites like Twitter and YouTube. It’s expected that people are Guide for additional information and advice on setting going to share both their professional and personal lives on up Facebook pages and profiles their profiles, and this is considered standard practice. It is possible and most natural to use a profile for both business and personal reasons. The key is to maintain a balance. Other

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Social Networking Rules of Engagement Deciding how to respond to others in social networking can be complicated. Situations and dialogue often cannot be predicted, making responses difficult to create. That being said, the following rules of engagement provide a great foundation for communicating in social networks.

Say who you are: Admit and correct mistakes: 1 In responding to any work-related social media 7 Everyone makes mistakes. Just be sure to own up activities, always disclose your work relationship. to them!

Show your personality: Stay on the record: 2 You weren’t hired to be an automaton. Be 8 Everything you say can (and likely will) be used in the conversational while remaining professional. If your court of public opinion, forever. So, assume you’re personal life is one that you (or RE/MAX) don’t “on the record.” Never say anything you wouldn’t say want to mix up with your work, then consider to someone personally and in the presence of others. establishing both private and public profiles, with Never use profanity or demeaning language. appropriate sharing settings.

It’s a two-way conversation: Engage and add value: 9 Listen and learn from what others are saying. Social 3 Providing valuable insight is a great way to networking is not the place to stand on a soapbox. demonstrate your expertise and position yourself as a leader in the real estate industry. If you respond to a problem, you now 10 own it: Listen first and then respond to ideas, If you become the point of contact for the media, a 4 not people: customer or employee complaint, stay with it until it is In the context of business, always argue over ideas resolved. not personalities. Don’t question motives but stay focused on the merit of ideas. Forward any concerns along to 11 RE/MAX International: We would be happy Pause and think before commenting: to help you sort out any situation that you may be 5 Sometimes, especially in the heat of the moment, it is unsure how to handle. best to take a step back and consider your thoughts before diving into a comment.

Know your facts and cite your sources: 6 When making claims, always refer to your sources, using hyperlinks when possible. Always give proper attribution (by link backs, public mentions, re-tweets and so on).

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Social Networking Best Practices There are definitely social networking do’s and don’ts that you should adhere to. Some are simple common sense, others …not so much. Take a look at our social networking best practices for some help.

Listen and pay attention to how individual social networks work save you characters for social networking sites with character before jumping into the conversation. Lurk and learn before restrictions, they are easier to share, and they typically provide participating. Most communities in social networks have certain useful analytics as well. This way, you can track clicks and get mannerisms that can only be learned by paying attention to some basic metrics on who are clicking links you are posting them beforehand. through a URL shortener. Bit.ly, Ow.ly, and tinyurl are popular examples of URL shorteners. To see analytics for any bit.ly link, Make sure you are sharing helpful content with your friends and simply append a ‘+’ to any bit.ly URL (i.e. http://bit.ly/d43tg+). followers. Link to external sources, start a conversation about content, and so on. If possible, cross link content into your Try to post content to a social networking site at least once office and other websites. People love to see different mediums a day. Vary personal promotion vs. other content. Users do of content, so link to blogs, news, videos, pictures, and so on. expect some self-promotion (LinkedIn being the exception), If people see you as a great resource in social networking, it will but not self-promotion 100% of the time. Try to keep blast go a long way to building trust and gaining a reputation as a communications to a minimum. A weekly or monthly update trusted advisor. about market conditions is reasonable.

Make time to check out your social networking profiles. The Understand that you do not and cannot control the message. worst thing that you can do is announce your presence on There is a tendency to want to treat social network participation a social network and then disappear. A few minutes a day is like advertising, where the ability to control messaging is the enough time to make using a social network worthwhile. norm. Once information or media is available on the Internet, people will inevitably reshape it according to their interests. Utilize URL shorteners, especially when Microblogging (i.e. This is common practice, so expect it. Twitter). URL shorteners are great for three reasons: they

More information: Best and Worst Practices Social Media Marketing (TopRank) - http://www.toprankblog.com/2009/02/best-worst-practices-social-media-marketing/ Starter Kit: Social Media and Social Networking Best Practices for Business (Fast Wonder) - http://fastwonderblog.com/2008/02/09/social-media-and-social-networking-starter-kit-for-business/ The 11 Rules of Social Media Etiquette (Digital Labz) - http://digitallabz.com/blogs/the-11-rules-of-social-media-etiquette.html Best and Worst Practices Social Media Marketing (TopRank) - http://www.toprankblog.com/2009/02/best-worst-practices-social-media-marketing/ Starter Kit: Social Media and Social Networking Best Practices for Business (Fast Wonder) - http://fastwonderblog.com/2008/02/09/social-media-and-social-networking-starter-kit-for-business/ The 11 Rules of Social Media Etiquette (Digital Labz) - http://digitallabz.com/blogs/the-11-rules-of-social-media-etiquette.html

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Basic Reputation Management A big advantage of social networking sites is the ability to monitor what is being said about RE/MAX, the real estate industry in general, or anything else you might want to keep tabs on. Social networking sites typically have built-in search functionality, and this is where you should focus your reputation management efforts.

Every now and again, you will want to search on: • Your business name Search • Your name • Your local market + real estate keywords (i.e. “Tampa real estate”) • Any other related keywords that might { involve you or your local business

This due diligence searching will go a long way in assessing if anyone is talking about you or your business on social networking sites. Additionally, you can use Google Blog Search to check blogs and news outlets for any content that is important to you. To use Google Blog Search, just type the relevant keyword(s) you want to search for in the text box and click “Search.” That’s all there is to it!

If you want more control over your search, click the “Advanced Search” link to the right of the search button. There you’ll find options to specify titles, authors, languages and more. Once you get your search results, there will be an additional link that allows you to switch between displaying the results with either the most relevant or recent results at the top.

Additionally, you can configure Google Alerts to scan blogs, news websites, video sites and more and send you as-it- blogsearch.google.com happens, daily or weekly emails based on search terms you choose. For example, you can have Google Alerts send you daily emails from news and blogs for the search term “Denver real estate.” This is a handy way to have relevant blogs and news articles found automatically for you and sent right to your inbox. Note that you must have a Gmail account to configure Google Alerts.

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Individual Social Media Platforms: Facebook

Facebook Individual Profiles vs. Fan Pages We’ve said it before; it makes the most sense to create an Wikipedia says: Facebook is a social net- individual profile for yourself and a fan page for your business. working website that is operated and Check out the RE/MAX International fan page to see what we’re talking about here. Also, you can read the wall on the privately owned by Facebook, Inc. Users RE/MAX fan page to see numerous examples of other RE/ can join networks organized by city, work- MAX agents’ fan pages. A fan page is the place for you to place, school, and region. People can also promote your new listings, open houses, and other information. Fan pages are the place where users expect this type of add friends and send them messages, and ‘push’ content. update their personal profiles to notify friends about themselves. A few more tips on fan pages: Facebook is the social network where you will have the opportunity to connect with anyone from old classmates, • Fan pages - share pictures, video, blog posts, and any friends, family, other real estate agents, and even potential other type of multimedia content that may be of interest clients. If you were wondering about how popular Facebook is, to your fans. consider this: Facebook just overtook Yahoo! as the second most • Invite past and present clients, friends, family, and visited website in the United States, with 133.62 million unique co-workers to join your fan page. The more fans, the visitors. Facebook’s interface is constantly evolving, but there are greater chance natural conversation will occur on your numerous aspects of Facebook you’ll want to know about. fan page. • Ask questions to engage with your fans, i.e. “What Real Estate Applications are the most important things to consider when buying There are quite a few applications that you can install a home?” that may help increase the visibility of your listings, • Check out other fan pages and build on their success. check out: Nearly every brand has a Facebook fan page. Take a moment to scope them out and see what they are doing right. For a start, check out the Custom Facebook Real Estate Applications: Page Gallery. Please take into consideration the fact • eListit that these fan pages likely cost each brand a lot of money, so don’t worry as much about the aesthetics of • Postlets each page. Instead, focus on how each brand may or • CenterStage for Real Estate Agents may not be successfully engaging with their fans. • And the best one so far: Real Estate Marketer • Update your fan page regularly! If you are going to (www.facebook.com/realestatemarketer) neglect something on Facebook, make it your personal profile. It is inexcusable to create a fan page and then ignore it. See which one of these applications may be of use. Keep in • Make your fan page an information resource. Post mind that some are more annoying for your friends and some and link to useful content that will help your fan base are more discreet. We like Real Estate Marketer because it with their real estate needs. Becoming a reliable re- places your listings in a column in the left-hand side of your source is the best way to build your fan base naturally. profile, helping you to avoid overtly publishing your listings in your news feed.

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Creating and managing a fan page is a considerable link to “Privacy Settings.” Make sure that you take the time to go undertaking, but if done correctly, can be quite beneficial for through these settings when you first create a personal profile. your business. For more tips and guidance, check out the Facebook specific links at the end of this section. Dealing with Friend Requests Generally, it makes the most sense to only accept friend Privacy Settings requests from people you know in some form or another. After One of the most important things to consider when using a all, anyone who becomes your friend has access to whatever social network like Facebook is your privacy, especially for information you share with your friends. This is why it makes your personal profile. If you are accepting friend requests from the most sense for you to also create a Fan Page for your people you do not know, or have some of your privacy settings business. That way, if someone you do not know “friend- set incorrectly, you may disclose personal information that you requests” you and is a potential lead, you will be able to direct had no intention of sharing. To help address this, Facebook them to your fan page. Don’t worry, you can still communicate allows you to control almost everything that friends and others directly with him or her from a fan page. can see about you. Managing Your News Feed To access Facebook’s privacy settings, click on “Account” on the top right corner of Facebook. From there, you should see a Once you start developing a network of friends on your personal profile, you’ll begin to receive lots of notifications on your news feed. Thankfully, Facebook allows you to control A few tips on privacy: who and what you see in your news feed.

• If someone is harassing you on Facebook, you have the If you’re sick of hearing about people’s farms, trips, quizzes, ability to block that person from interacting with you. questions, or any other silly app that is cluttering up your news This is a quick and easy way to prevent someone from feed, hover over any post within your news feed and click contacting you through Facebook. the “Hide” button. From here, you will have the option to hide users themselves or the app that is spamming your news feed • Quite a few of Facebook’s default privacy settings allow on their behalf. Don’t be shy about hiding annoying friends for more public visibility than you may be comfortable from showing up in your news feed, they won’t know you have with. For example, anyone on Facebook is allowed to hidden them, and you will remain friends with them. Utilize view your profile picture photo album by default. This is “Hide” to make your news feed more manageable and useful. why it is so important to carefully review each section within “Privacy Settings” after you create a personal profile. Joining Groups and Becoming a Fan of Pages • Facebook allows search engines like Google to Not only can you be a resource for potential buyers through access and display publicly available information Facebook, but Facebook can be a fantastic resource for you! within their search results. This may be good for your Search around for groups and fan pages that have like-minded public visibility, or it may be publicly disclosing more people talking about your interests. You’ll be surprised at how information than you are comfortable with. To many there are and how much you can learn from them. see what may potentially be displayed, click on the Think ActiveRain on Facebook. Introduce yourself and start “Preview” to see what the public can see. participating in the conversation. • Applications that you install (i.e. games, quizzes, tools) all have their own privacy settings. Go through each Vanity URL for your Profile and Fan Page application’s privacy settings after you install it to make Recently, Facebook has allowed users to create vanity URL’s sure everything checks out. for their personal profiles and fan pages. Simply put, a vanity • There are definitely other settings that relate to privacy URL lets you create a custom URL that will take users to that may not be in the “Privacy Settings” link. Check out your profile or fan page. For example, RE/MAX International the “Account Settings” and “Application Settings” as has the vanity URL http://www.facebook.com/remax. Van- well, after you create a profile or install a new app ity URL’s provide a memorable link that makes sharing much easier. Claim your vanity URL at http://www.facebook.com/ username/.

More information: All Facebook - http://www.allfacebook.com/ Inside Facebook - http://www.insidefacebook.com/ Facebook Help Center - http://www.facebook.com/?ref=logo#!/help/?ref=pf

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Individual Social Media Platforms: YouTube

YouTube regarded as a resource of relevant information, as you take advantage of the quality videos that others have produced. Wikipedia says: YouTube is a video sharing YouTube User Tips website on which users can upload and Should you decide to create your own YouTube account, we share videos. YouTube uses Adobe Flash have some tips and guidelines to help you get started: Video technology to display a wide variety YouTube is evolving fast and continues to increase in popularity. of user-generated video content, including Please take a look at the resources below for even more infor- movie clips, TV clips, and music videos, mation on how to best use YouTube in your own business. as well as amateur content such as video blogging and short original videos.

YouTube is something that RE/MAX International has decided to emphasize in its overall social media strategy. The recently created RE/MAX Brand Channel will allow you to upload your listing videos, personal profiles and any other relevant video such as promotions and community profiles. Be sure to check out the new Brand Channel and incorporate it into your regular social networking activities to reach an even larger audience.

Creating a Personal YouTube Account Creating an account with YouTube is easy, just follow the online instructions and you’ll be all set. That being said, you do not need a YouTube account to be able to view videos. Creating an account allows you to comment on other videos, and more importantly, upload your own! YouTube is a great place to upload your videos for a couple reasons. For one, it’s www.youtube.com/user/REMAXIntl the second largest search engine in the world. This provides a tremendous opportunity for free visibility. Secondly, content on YouTube can be easily shared, embedded into other websites, YouTube Tips: emails and spread around. Therefore, if you place videos on YouTube, they will be easy to link to from anywhere else, be it • When you upload a video, the words you use in the title your website, Facebook fan page, your blog, or even Twitter. and the tags are extremely important for other people finding your content. The title is the primary way us- Sharing YouTube Videos ers find videos so using a title they can remember is Perhaps the best feature available on YouTube is its ability to paramount, and adding relevant real estate keywords share. Nearly all YouTube videos can be linked to or embed- is also important. Similarly, make sure you add tags to ded elsewhere. This enables your videos to go “viral” and each video that accurately describe the video. Tags are be seen by a larger audience across the Internet. And you another major way videos are identified. don’t have to be a video expert to utilize YouTube. Even if you • Always remember; users enjoy shorter videos. Try to decide not to shoot, edit and upload your own videos, you can make your videos as short as possible while still getting still link to YouTube videos that you think are important to your your point across. No one will sit through a lengthy fans and followers. You can also use the popular YouTube video online. “embed” code to share others’ videos on your own website or other social media platforms. In this way, you can still be

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• Customize your page to your liking. Within YouTube, there are several ways to make your page look how you want it to. Click on “My Account” and “Account Settings” to access this information. • When you find a YouTube user whose content you find informative or helpful, feel free to subscribe to their channel. You can then manage all your subscriptions in one place to find new videos. YouTube always suggests “related” videos which will give you lots of other relevant content to view and comment on. • You may also “Favorite” videos, and your favorites may show up on your profile as well. • YouTube has developed an extensive search capability. Similar to other social networks, you www.youtube.com/user/REMAXIntl can search for desired content with the search bar. Keyword searches on real estate terms (i.e. “Atlanta Houses”) are a good way to see what types of videos other people are sharing on their profiles. • Create unique playlists for specific categories of videos (i.e. listings) and place your videos into these playlists. • Create a cool background for your profile, or use some pre-existing RE/MAX imagery. Make sure any imagery incorporating RE/MAX logos adheres to the Trademark and Graphic Standards guide on Mainstreet. • Respond to comments and messages about your videos. Try to include links to helpful content if questions or concerns arise. If you have problems with spam or inappropriate comments about your videos, you have the option to disable them altogether. • Link to YouTube videos from your other social networks. Video is a very popular medium on the Internet, so make sure people know you are producing it!

More information: Beginner’s Guide to YouTube (Butterscotch Video) - http://www.butterscotch.com/tutorial/Sign-Up-For-YouTube An Expert’s Guide to YouTube (CNET) - http://news.cnet.com/an-experts-guide-to-youtube/ YouTube Help - http://www.google.com/support/youtube/bin/static.py?page=start.cs&hl=en-US YouTube Help Center - http://www.google.com/support/youtube/ YouTube Help Forum - http://www.google.com/support/forum/p/youtube?hl=en

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Individual Social Media Platforms: Twitter

Twitter Twitter Glossary

Twitter is littered with its own terminology that may not make Wikipedia says: “Twitter is a free social a whole lot of sense at first. That’s where we can help. Take a networking and micro-blogging service look at some of the more common terms in the Twitter lexicon. that enables its users to send and read messages known as “tweets.” Tweets are text-based posts of up to 140 characters Twitter lexicon: displayed on the author’s profile page and Direct Message: A private message sent to another Twitter user delivered to the author’s subscribers who are known as followers. Users can send Followers: People who have subscribed to your tweets and receive tweets via the Twitter website, Short Message Service (SMS) or external Following: People whose tweets you are applications. subscribed to Hashtag: Seen as “#”, hashtags add contextual Twitter is the latest and greatest social network. It is also descriptors to tweets and are useful for searching on the most confusing. It has its own unique conventions and a subject terminology that may take time to understand. Of all the social networking sites, Twitter is the one where listening before Reply: Seen as “@”, a reply is a public response to jumping in is most crucial. Many question Twitter’s usefulness, another Twitter user that everyone can view but you cannot question its popularity. Twitter can be simply described as a series of Facebook status updates, except with Retweet: Seen as “RT”, a retweet is copying another’s a 140-character limit. Twitter is most useful when breaking tweet into your own news and helpful links are shared among the network. Tweets are even showing up in search results for popular topics in Trending Topics: A quick snapshot of the most search engines like Google. tweeted-about topics on Twitter, as they happen Tweet: A Twitter update or posting Using Twitter

Like the Wikipedia entry states, there are numerous ways to Who Should You Follow? use Twitter. First and probably easiest is to use the Twitter website itself. All the basic functionality needed can be Some good people to look for are real estate writers, colum- found there. nists, publications, co-workers, agents, and really anyone who provides value to you. You can utilize Twitter Search to look for That being said, Twitter is unique in that there exist numerous people tweeting about relevant topics, and any external Twitter external Twitter applications created by third party develop- application will have built-in search as well. Also, while you’re ers. Some of the more popular external Twitter applications on the lookout for people to follow, make sure you follow RE/ are Tweetdeck, Twitterfeed, Twhirl and Tweetie. These external MAX International! programs work just like Twitter does, in addition to having a slick interface and many other Twitter tools integrated right into From our Twitter account, you can check out who we are fol- the application. These applications are also desktop-based, so lowing and who our followers are. These people are probably you won’t have to open up your web browser to related to RE/MAX or the real estate industry somehow. So, access Twitter. let us save some work for you.

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an accepted practice in Twitter and a great way to introduce yourself. • Do not use auto direct message tools. You will see these when you follow someone and instantly receive a generic “thank you for following me” direct message. This is considered a spam technique and is frowned upon. • With that in mind, feel free to greet a new follower with a customized reply or direct message. Just make sure to personalize it. • Don’t forget to use URL shorteners for links! • Engage with your audience - don’t just tweet out your listings each morning and neglect any real dialogue that may be occurring. Your followers will be able to see the link to your website from your bio. Like other twitter.com/remax networks, a diverse mix of content is best. Also, check out some other successful brands on Twitter to • Beware of suspicious links from unknown sources. see how they are interacting with their followers. A few good Since you cannot tell what the actual URL is from examples are Zappos, Pandora Radio, and Comcast. You’ll a shortened URL, make sure you trust the source notice all of these brands have custom-made backgrounds on before clicking. their Twitter page. For more information on creating your own Twitter background, check out this great Mashable article.

As you’re now well aware, Twitter is a unique and complex Additional Twitter Tips entity in social networking. It isn’t quite like any of the other popular social networks. Yet, it is extremely popular. If you’d like more in-depth information on using Twitter, check out the Twitter Tips: links below for additional help and advice.

• Make sure you fill out your bio and link to your website. This may sound like a no-brainer, but it is easy to forget when diving in. • Retweet interesting content that you see from other users. Simply append “RT” to the tweet or use the built-in “Retweet” button. • Don’t get fooled into obsessing over your follower count. If you are consistently posting useful or informative tweets, the followers will come naturally. • Let your friends and family know you are on Twitter. This is a great way to start building followers and finding people to follow. Use Twitter’s built in tool to import your contacts. • Feel free to start a discussion with a reply (@username), even if you don’t know the person in real life. This is

More information: Newbie’s Guide to Twitter (CNET) - http://news.cnet.com/newbies-guide-to-twitter/ The Twitter Guide Book (Mashable) - http://mashable.com/guidebook/twitter/ Twitter Help Center - http://twitter.com/help/start

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Individual Social Media Platforms: LinkedIn

LinkedIn • Import your contacts from relevant email addresses. To do so, simply navigate to your “Contacts” link, and then select Wikipedia says: LinkedIn is a business- “Imported Contacts” and select those contacts you wish oriented social networking site. Founded to connect with. Connecting with contacts helps build your network, which will in turn increase your visibility and trust with in December 2002 and launched in May your contacts’ contacts (2nd, 3rd degrees of separation). 2003, it is mainly used for professional • Keep tabs on the ‘Who has viewed my Profile’ module. De- pending on the privacy settings of the user who viewed your networking. As of February 2010, profile, you may see their exact name and title, or you may see LinkedIn had more than 60 million anonymous profile characteristics such as industry and title. Sometimes an anonymous viewer will show only as a position registered users, spanning more than and company name, while others display with the viewer’s 200 countries and territories worldwide. job function and the industry and location they are in. This is because we may have to modify the verbiage to maintain the LinkedIn should be thought of as the business social network. Think anonymity requested by the viewer. Clicking on viewer names of it as an online resume and networking tool. Probably the best or descriptions will take you to a “People Search” results page showing all members who meet that specific criterion. Thus, reason to use LinkedIn is the ability to leverage your LinkedIn network you can oftentimes drill in to who was looking at your profile. to post and answer questions, network with other professionals and utilize recommendations. There is a level of inherent trust on LinkedIn • Join relevant industry groups. Oftentimes there is a useful and that really makes the network useful. Check out the following list relevant dialogue going on in these groups, as well as meeting and networking opportunities. Groups typically utilize email for helpful tips and best practices when using LinkedIn. notifications to keep members up on recent happenings as well. If you see a unique space, you are also able to create LinkedIn Tips and Best Practices your own groups. • If you own an iPhone, download the LinkedIn iPhone app. This LinkedIn is a great resource and one that we highly mobile app contains everything you need in a quick and simple recommend signing up for. It doesn’t require much maintenance, interface. LinkedIn for iPhone has added a number of new and building out your contacts is a great way to meet new features, but we expect many will want to try out “In Person.” people. Your profile is also a good thing to link to as it shows Leveraging the new Bluetooth capabilities in iPhone 3.0, In Per- off all your accomplishments. son allows you to find and connect with other people running the LinkedIn application in real time. With In Person, you can connect instantly with other iPhone users who are connected on LinkedIn, perfect for conferences and other meetings. LinkedIn Tips: • Look into LinkedIn Applications and see if any might be helpful • Utilize LinkedIn Answers to provide high value responses to or provide value to your profile. LinkedIn Applications enable industry questions and position yourself as an industry thought you to enrich your profile, share and collaborate with your net- leader. You can answer questions from your network, ask work, and get the key insights that help you be more effective. questions, and browse open questions (not from your network) Applications are added to your homepage and profile enabling with LinkedIn Answers. LinkedIn gives “expertise” points by you to control who gets access to what information. Some having your answer chosen as the best response by the asker. of the more popular LinkedIn Applications include SlideShare If you answer enough questions and are awarded expertise Presentations, Polls, My Travel, and Google Presentation. For points, LinkedIn will list you as an “Expert.” more information about each, visit http://www.linkedin.com/

More information: 10 Ways to Use LinkedIn (Guy Kawasaki) - http://blog.guykawasaki.com/2007/01tenways_to_use.html LinkedIn Blog - http://blog.linkedin.com/ LinkedIn Learning Center - http://learn.linkedin.com/ LinkedIn New User Guide - http://learn.linkedin.com/new-users/ The Definitive LinkedIn Guide (Center Networks) - http://www.centernetworks.com/linkedin

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Individual Social Media Platforms: b) Hyperlinks pointing to older posts or your website in Blogs the post body c) Tags used to describe the post subject matter Wikipedia says: A blog is a type of website, 3. Scheduling: Obviously, the more the better. If you usually maintained by an individual have something to write about, do it! No less that one post per week if possible. Consider an editorial calen- with regular entries of commentary, dar, also writing down which TYPE of blog posts you’ve descriptions of events, or other material written lately, and which you intend to write. This helps such as graphics or video. Entries are you from doing recurring posts, and gives some variety to what you’re writing. commonly displayed in reverse-chronological order. “Blog” can also be used as a 4. Links: Link to other blogs and/or to previous posts of your own (using keywords for links to posts of your verb, meaning to maintain or add content own when possible). to a blog. The ability for readers to leave comments in an interactive format is an 5. Post Length and Content: Mix up length of your posts. Don’t be afraid to be brief (i.e. 200 words). Brevity important part of many blogs. rules, and people don’t read long posts as often as short ones. When possible, offer analysis, new tips and tricks. Blogs are fantastic because they aren’t tied to a social network A picture per blog post is a good tactic to gain attention. or have any character limitations. They are a place for more detailed information, stories and anything that might not fit 6. Announcing: Sometimes announce on other social into the limitations of other social networks. Blogging, if done networks to notify others about your blog post (ex- correctly, can bring a level of visibility and credence to your ample: Facebook or Twitter). Do it tactfully by writing a business that other social networks can’t match. question, then including a link to your post.

So, should you start a blog? Like other social networks, it’s a 7. Keep giving: When you can’t think of what else great opportunity for you to show off your expertise and have to give, give some more. Being helpful is the #1 thing (hopefully) meaningful conversations with all kinds of people. you can do for your community. Share your insight and If you have helpful knowledge to share, a blog is the best industry tips. You can’t execute them all anyway. place to do it. That being said, blogging is a big commitment. You will want to post something at least once a week or else it really just isn’t worth it. When Commenting: There are many blogging platforms available should you 1. On Your Blog: Comment to other’s comments in decide to start a blog. You have Wordpress, Blogger, Tumblr your own blog. This will grow the conversation and ad and Posterous are the most popular blogging options. All of more value to your posts. these platforms will host your blog for you. So, you don’t have to worry about securing a domain for your blog and doing any 2. On Other Blogs: Make your comments thoughtful, complicated setup. All of these options are great and setup is beginning often by referencing what stood out to you in the so easy you will be blogging within a few minutes. Once you’re post or in another’s comments. Strive to include a valuable all set up, check out this handy blogging checklist. take-away for anyone else reading your comments.

3. Frequency: No hard rule, but remember conversations are easier to join than start. Commenting on a few When Posting: of the same blogs often can establish a relationship with the blogger and their audience. 1. Title: Intriguing titles go a long way. Consider using odd numbers as part of your title (example: The Top 5 4. Linking: If you are linking to content of your own, be Tips to Home Buying). sure it relevantly addresses the topic at hand. Consider 2. Keywords: As much as possible, use real estate including links to other blogs. Linking to your own con- related keywords in: tent in a comment is better received when the blogger recognizes you have commented earlier. a) The post title

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Individual Social Media Platforms: ActiveRain

activerain.com ActiveRain

Hopefully, you are already familiar with ActiveRain also hosts a community of ActiveRain, the leading real estate-specific some 20,000 RE/MAX agents, who can social network. ActiveRain already boasts provide even more relevant assistance to nearly 175,000 users and can be an you. For comprehensive advice, tips and incredible resource for networking and tricks to using ActiveRain, check out The information around real estate. Official ActiveRain Guide.

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Additional Social Networks

Delicious images, video, links, quotes, and audio to their tumblelog, a Delicious (formerly del.icio.us, pronounced “delicious”) is a short-form blog. Users are able to “follow” other users and see social bookmarking web service for storing, sharing, and their posts together on their dashboard. Users can like or discovering web bookmarks. The site was founded in 2003 reblog other blogs on the site. The service emphasizes and acquired by Yahoo! in 2005. It has more than five million users customizability and ease of use. (See Wikipedia entry.) and 150 million bookmarked URLs. (See Wikipedia entry.) Vimeo Digg Vimeo is a video-centric social networking site that launched in Digg is a popular social news site that lets people discover November 2004. The site supports embedding, sharing, video and share content from anywhere on the Web. Users submit storage, and allows user-commenting on each video page. links and stories and the community votes them up or down Users must register to upload content. Registered users may and comments on them. Users can “digg” stories they like or also create a profile and upload small user pictures as their “bury” others they don’t. (See Wikipedia entry.) avatars, comment and “like” videos. (See Wikipedia entry.)

Flickr Wikipedia Founded by two entrepreneurs and purchased by Yahoo! in Wikipedia is a Web-based, multi-language, free-content 2005, Flickr is the world’s premier photo sharing and hosting encyclopedia written collaboratively by volunteers. Sponsored site. Its members have uploaded more than 3 billion photos. by the nonprofit Wikimedia Foundation, it has editions in about (See Wikipedia entry.) 200 different languages. (See Wikipedia entry.)

Foursquare Foursquare is a location-based social networking website, software for mobile devices, and game. Users “check-in” at venues using text messaging or a device specific application. They are then awarded points and sometimes “badges.” (See Wikipedia entry.)

Google Buzz Google Buzz is a social networking and messaging tool from Google, designed to integrate into the company’s web-based email program, Gmail. Users can share links, photos, videos, status messages and comments organized in “conversations” and visible in the user’s inbox. (See Wikipedia entry.)

MySpace An online social network similar to Facebook. MySpace caters to artists and bands who enjoy the flexibility of creating an individual “look” for their page. As with Facebook, MySpace allows users to “friend” each other and create groups. (See Wikipedia entry.)

Ning Ning is an online platform for people to create their own social networks, launched in October 2005. (See Wikipedia entry.)

Picasa Picasa is a software application for organizing and editing digital photos, originally created by Idealab and owned by Google since 2004. Similar to Flickr, Picasa is also a photo sharing website and community. (See Wikipedia entry.)

Tumblr Tumblr is a blogging platform that allows users to post text,

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The 7 Deadly Sins of Social Media Lust, Gluttony, Greed, Sloth, Wrath, Envy and Pride. Yuck - the power of the word is evident in just looking at this infamous list. This list captures the learning that takes a lifetime of community influence.

Pride Greed 1 When you have too much pride to admit you are wrong, 5 A deliberate betrayal for personal gain. Greed has many and you continue defending your flawed position, even different labels in social media: astroturfing, spamming when conflicting facts are made available, you are and the like. The sin of greed just might be the most treading on some seriously thin ice. What’s worse is reviled and hated of all the sins in social media. when you “spin” facts in an attempt to convince others Don’t appear to deliberately hijack social networking of one kernel or intent of truth in your statement. You conversations for personal, employer or corporate gain. must accept that it is OK to have made a mistake. Don’t posture a different entity on a social network as if it has no ties to biases, to yourself or RE/MAX. Gluttony 2 Too much, too fast. To avoid gluttony, we recommend Lust starting on one or two social media platforms. Get to 6 Excessive praise and adulation of industry experts can know the inner workings, leverage the value of each of be in bad taste. We’re not saying don’t try to create those communities and then confidently start expanding relationships with these individuals; by all means do your social network footprint. Remember you are pursue those relationships. What we are saying have present to add value to the communities you join, not some skill and tact, and use common sense. to push your messaging in those communities. Wrath Sloth 7 Uncontrolled feelings of hatred and anger, where you 3 Sloth in the social media sense is more meaningfully lash out and post a stream of vile, meant only to tear the failure to apply and use your talents and gifts in someone or something down with the intent to do the conversation. Just remember you’re good enough, harm. Do everything in your power to resist publicly you’re smart enough, and people like you. You have berating an individual or company. Don’t personalize valuable information others may need. anything. Always take the high road.

From The 7 Deadly Sins of Social Media (Capture the Conversation) -http:// Envy www.capturetheconversation.com/read/the-7-deadly-sins-of-social-media/ 4 “I had that idea three months ago.” You might have brilliant ideas and have written great articles, but if your network is non-existent, then guess what: If a tree falls in the forest... Can you confess your network is lacking punch? (See “Pride,” above.) If so, gather the strength and commit to putting yourself into the conversation. Offer to help others in ways that genuinely and directly benefit them, not you.

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Crisis Management

Let’s face it, crisis situations occur in social networking. Think of the Domino’s Pizza YouTube fiasco as a prime example. While we sincerely hope that no one associated with RE/MAX ever has to deal with a social networking crisis, it is important to know what to do if a crisis occurs within social networking.

If you are engaging in social networking and you see a until it is blown way out of proportion. Take action early and potential crisis situation developing (i.e. serious slander or avoid the serious repercussions that would follow. Do not spreading lies, private company information being disclosed), engage if there is a crisis developing before talking with your contact your office manager immediately. Take notes on what office manager. has been developing so far. Most importantly, do not wait

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Conclusion That’s it! Very simple, isn’t it? Well, maybe not very simple. The best thing for you to do now is go out and try out a few social networks yourself. Once you do this, you will begin to understand the social networking landscape much, much better. Hopefully, you will also see the enormous potential that exists for your business.

If you need any assistance in developing a social networking strategy for your office, please contact the RE/MAX International Public Relations department.

Thanks for reading our Social Media Guide!

Join RE/MAX in Social Networking: Facebook - Join RE/MAX International by pasting this URL into your browser, once you are logged into Face- book: http://www.facebook.com/remax

LinkedIn - Once you’ve created an account, you can join the official RE/MAX International Group (Groups > Groups Directory > Search Groups: RE/MAX Interna- tional) to get news and information and to connect to your peers around the world.

Twitter - Connect with fellow agents and follow RE/ MAX International on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/ remax

YouTube - Check out the RE/MAX International YouTube Brand Channel, where you can upload your own videos, and view, embed or link to an extensive collection of RE/MAX commercials, corporate messages and other videos at http://www.youtube. com/remax

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Social Networking Glossary

App Hashtag Popularized in the general lexicon by the iPhone, an app is A hashtag (or hash tag) is a community-driven convention for simply an application that performs a specific function on adding additional context and metadata to your tweets. Similar your computer or handheld device. Apps run the gamut from to tags on photo sharing sites, you add them in-line to your Web browsers and games to specialized programs like digital Twitter posts by prefixing a word with a hash symbol(or number recorders, online chat or music players. (See Wikipedia entry.) sign). Twitter users often use a hashtag like #followfriday to aggregate, organize and discover relevant posts. Astroturfing Astroturfing is a fake grassroots campaign that seeks to create Hosting the impression of legitimate buzz or interest in a product, ser- A blog, video or podcast needs a hosting service before it can vice or idea. Often this movement is motivated by a payment appear online. Companies sometimes host their blogs on their or gift to the writer of a post or comment or may be written own servers, but a better choice for video or audio is to use under a pseudonym. (See Wikipedia entry.) a host such as YouTube for video. (See Wikipedia for different kinds of hosting.) Blog A blog is an online journal that’s updated on a regular basis Metadata with entries that appear in reverse chronological order. Blogs Metadata refers to information — including titles, descriptions, can be about any subject. They typically contain comments tags and captions — that describes a media item such as a by other readers, links to other sites and permalinks. (See video, photo or blog post. (See Wikipedia entry.) Wikipedia entry.) Microblogging Creative Commons Microblogging is the act of broadcasting short messages to Creative Commons is a not-for-profit organization and licens- other subscribers of a Web service. On Twitter, entries are ing system that offers creators the ability to fine-tune their limited to 140 characters. (See Wikipedia entry.) copyright, spelling out the ways in which others may use their works. (See Wikipedia entry.) News Reader A news reader (sometimes called a feed reader, RSS reader Crowdsourcing or news aggregator) gathers the news from multiple blogs or Crowdsourcing refers to harnessing the skills and enthusiasm news sites via RSS feeds selected by the user, allowing her of those outside an organization who are prepared to volunteer to access all her news from a single site or program. Popular their time contributing content or skills and solving problems. examples include Google Reader, NetVibes and Bloglines (See Wikipedia entry.) (all accessed through a Web browser) and FeedDemon or NetNewsWire (applications that runs on one machine). (See Embedding Wikipedia entry.) The act of adding code to a website so that a video or photo can be displayed while it’s being hosed at another site. Many Paid Search Marketing users now watch embedded YouTube videos or see Flickr Paid search marketing is the placement of paid ads for a busi- photos on blogs rather than on the original site. ness or service on a search engine results page. An advertiser pays the search engine if the visitor clicks on the ad (pay-per- Feed click or PPC). A Web feed or RSS feed is a format that provides users with frequently updated content. Content distributors syndicate Permalink a Web feed, enabling users to subscribe to a site’s latest A permalink is the direct link to a blog entry. A blog contains content. By using a news reader to subscribe to a feed, you multiple posts, and if you cite an entry you’ll want to link can read the latest posts or watch the newest videos on your directly to that post. computer or portable device on your own schedule. (See Wikipedia entry.) Podcast A podcast is a digital file (usually audio but sometimes video) Geotagging made available for download to a portable device or personal Geotagging is the process of adding location-based metadata computer for later playback. A podcast also refers to the show to media such as photos, video or online maps. Geotagging that comprises several episodes. A podcast uses a feed that can help users find a wide variety of businesses and services lets you subscribe to it so that when a new audio clip is pub- based on location. (See Wikipedia entry.) lished online, it arrives on your digital doorstep right away. (See Wikipedia entry.)

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RSS Tags RSS (Really Simple Syndication) — sometimes called web Tags are keywords added to a blog post, photo or video to feeds — is a Web standard for the delivery of content — blog help users find related topics or media, either through entries, news stories, headlines, images, video — enabling browsing on the site or as a term to make your entry more readers to stay current with favorite publications or producers relevant to search engines. (See Wikipedia entry.) without having to browse from site to site. All blogs contain a RSS feed, which lets users subscribe to content automatically Troll and read or listen to the material on a computer or a portable In Internet slang, a troll is someone who posts controversial, device. Most people use a RSS reader, or news aggregator, to inflammatory, irrelevant or off-topic messages in an online monitor updates. (See Wikipedia entry.) community, such as an online discussion forum or chat room, with the primary intent of provoking other users into an Search Engine Marketing emotional response or to generally disrupt normal on-topic Search engine marketing (SEM) is a series of online tactics discussion. (See Wikipedia entry.) that, when combined with Search Engine Optimization, helps to attract customers, generate brand awareness and build Tweet trust. SEM (sometimes called search marketing) seeks to A post on Twitter. While all agree on usage of tweet as a noun, increase websites’ visibility chiefly through the purchase of people disagree on whether you “tweet” or “twitter” as a verb. pay-per-click ads and paid inclusion. (See Wikipedia entry.) RT stands for retweet: Users add RT in a tweet if they are reposting something from another person’s tweet. Search Engine Optimization Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the process of arranging UGC your website to give it the best chance of appearing near UGC stands for user-generated content, an industry term the top of search engine rankings. As an Internet marketing that refers to all forms of user-created materials such as blog strategy, SEO considers how search engines work and what posts, reviews, podcasts, videos, comments and more. (See people search for. Optimizing a website primarily involves editing Wikipedia entry.) its content, identifying high-traffic keywords and improving the site’s layout and design. (See Wikipedia entry.) URL Shortener URL shortening is a technique on the World Wide Web where Social Bookmarking a provider makes a web page available under a very short Social bookmarking is a method by which users locate, URL in addition to the original address. For example, the store, organize, share and manage bookmarks of Web pages page http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=TinyURL&di without being tied to a particular machine. Users store lists ff=283621022& can be shortened to just http://bit.ly/mw6lb. of personally interesting Internet resources and usually make these lists publicly accessible. Delicious is the best-known Web 2.0 social bookmark site. (See Wikipedia entry.) Web 2.0 refers to the second generation of the Web, which enables people with no specialized technical knowledge to Social Capital create their own websites to self-publish, create and upload Social capital is a concept used in business, nonprofits and audio and video files, share photos and information and other arenas that refers to the good will and positive reputation complete a variety of other tasks. Web 2.0 is characterized by that flows to a person through his or her relationships with others involvement and interactivity. Some of the best-known Web in social networks. (See Wikipedia entry.) 2.0 websites include Wikipedia, MySpace, Digg, Flickr and YouTube. (See Wikipedia entry.) Social Media Social media are works of user-created video, audio, text or Webcasting multimedia that are published and shared in a social environment, Webcasting refers to the ability to use the Web to deliver live or de- such as a blog, podcast, forum, wiki or video hosting site. layed versions of audio or video broadcasts. (See Wikipedia entry.) More broadly, social media refers to any online technology that lets people publish, converse and share content online. (See Webinar Wikipedia entry.) Short for Web-based seminar, a webinar is a presentation, lecture, workshop or seminar that is transmitted over the Social Networking Web. In general, participants register in advance and access Social networking is the act of socializing in an online community. the presentation in real time over the Internet and listen to the A typical social network such as Facebook, LinkedIn, presenter either through computer speakers or a telephone MySpace or Bebo allows you to create a profile, add friends, connection. Webinars are generally one-way and can involve communicate with other members and add your own media. chat or polls. There are a large number of companies that offer (See Wikipedia entry.) webinar services. (See Wikipedia entry.)

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Widget A widget, sometimes called a gadget, badge or applet, is a small block of content, typically displayed in a small box, with a specific purpose, such as providing weather forecasts or news, that is constantly updating itself (typically via RSS). Widgets make it easy to add dynamic content to your site or blog. (See Wikipedia entry.)

Wiki A wiki is a collaborative website that can be directly edited by anyone with access to it. Small teams often find that they can accomplish a task easier by creating a collaborative online workspace using wiki software such as pbworks, Socialtext or mediawiki. (See Wikipedia entry.)

*Glossary derived from http://www.socialbrite.org/sharing-center/glossary/

Additional Resources:

Brian Solis (Blog) - http://briansolis.com/ Capture the Conversation - http://www.capturetheconversation.com/ Chris Brogan (Blog) - http://chrisbrogan.com/ Guy Kawasaki (Blog) - http://blog.guykawasaki.com/ Ignite Social Media - http://www.ignitesocialmedia.com/blog/ Mashable - http://mashable.com/ RE/MAX Mainstreet - http://www.remax.net/ Social Media Business Council - http://www.socialmedia.org/ Word of Mouth Marketing Association - http://womma.org/

Twitter: @remax Facebook: facebook.com/remax YouTube: youtube.com/remax LinkedIn: RE/MAX International, Inc Join RE/MAX in Social Networking: Facebook - Join RE/MAX International by pasting this URL into your browser, once you are logged into Face- book: http://www.facebook.com/remax

Twitter - Connect with fellow agents and follow RE/ MAX International on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/ remax

YouTube - Check out the RE/MAX International You- Tube Brand Channel, where you can upload your own videos, and view, embed or link to an extensive collection of RE/MAX commercials, corporate messages and other videos at http://www.youtube.com/remax