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The New Networking

Are professional and social media just a passing technological fad, or could they actually have useful business applications? Our survey attempts to answer that question.

Online networking is the biggest thing on the Internet today. Essentially, it's the digital equivalent of conversations once held around the office water cooler, with exponentially greater reach. Social and professional media allow like-minded individuals who would not have otherwise had a chance to connect to come together. Interested in hamsters? There's a website for you. Unicycles? Funny hats? There's a website for those as well. Hamsters riding unicycles while wearing funny hats? Willing to bet there's a site for that, too, along with people who want to talk about it.

Now these networks have grown to serve more business-oriented purposes, and today there are countless websites dedicated to everything from investment and asset management to entrepreneurship and financing. And you're just as likely to see online conversations revolve around companies and products in addition to hot topics and deal making. As a result, social media have emerged as a significant networking tool and driver of new business…for those who use it correctly and effectively.

Thousands of businesspeople have signed on to networks to connect with colleagues, and several companies across a variety of industries have long embraced social media as a marketing tool. Commercial real estate has actually not been a late entrant into this realm; in fact, a handful of industry-specific "web communities" have been launched in recent months.

Because our industry has long been accused of being behind the times when it comes to technology, Real Estate Forum decided to conduct a survey to gauge how those in commercial real estate use the Internet and social media, and to what extent.

The results—not to mention the participation level—were surprising (okay, so maybe we underestimated you guys) and most of the comments provided valuable insight into how our business approaches these types of innovations today. Most of those who took part in the survey use social and professional networking sites, and a good amount see the current and future value in them when it comes to professional applications. And while the bulk of those polled are wary of how networking sites could help their business, it was mainly because they feel that either most of these media are still relatively new, too fragmented and not specific to general interest groups, or because they don't yet know how to fully utilize them.
A Beginner's Guide to Online Networking

General Social/Professional Sites
Twitter (www.twitter.com) The most widely used social networking platform, this micro-blogging service allows users to post updates immediately. Entries, called "tweets," are 140-character posts submitted via web form, text message or instant message.

Facebook (www.facebook.com) and MySpace (www.myspace.com) Mainly social sites that are useful for staying in touch with friends or nurturing relationships with clients and colleagues. Facebook has the edge over MySpace in terms of popularity among adults.

LinkedIn (www.linkedin.com) A business-oriented, professional networking site that allows members to create business contacts, search for jobs and find potential clients. Its 42 million-plus members are in 200 countries and represent 170 industries, including all Fortune 500 companies.

Digg (www.digg.com), Reddit (www.reddit.com), Delicious (www.delicious.com), StumbleUpon (www.stumbleupon.com) User-driven news aggregators and bookmarking sites. Users submit content or links to other websites or news stories, other users vote on them. Based on popularity, the posts get pushed up or down the home page to become more or less prominent.

Industry-Specific Sites
CREOpoint (www.creopoint.com) An online professional network exclusively for the commercial real estate industry. Users can access industry news, network within the professional community, share white papers and best practices, take part in forums, check out event calendars and videos and access career development opportunities.

The Real Corner (www.realcorner.com) A community for commercial real estate professionals to network, collaborate, share best practices and develop professional relationships. Users can submit questions or comments in forums and receive feedback from other members; share thoughts or articles; post blogs; and join or create specific interest groups within the sector.