As a technology person I have to present new ideas all the time. Without fail someone will always present the case why they are the exception. This doesn’t apply to me because…. Sometimes they are right but most of the time it’s just they haven’t learned about the new technology. The Commercial real estate industry is known for being slower than other groups to adopt technology. I’m not exactly sure why that has historically been the case? My guess has been that at its heart the business is still very relationship driven and brokers don’t see value in market efficiencies without relationships. Brokers want buyers who they know can close a deal, they want to know what this seller expects when their property is represented. On the other hand buyers and sellers want a broker that they can TRUST. While getting a getting a deal done with a new stakeholder isn’t impossible, working with known people helps the deal get done.

Real estate brokers can and do still add value to a transaction. They do this by leveraging these relationships that they’ve cultivated over decades. They help put the right buyer and seller together understanding what each person wants and how to value the property. They can be creative in how to structure a deal because they have experience. This pace of change though has really accelerated in the past 10 years, thanks mainly to the internet and how we communicate. There was a time that a letter sent via 2-3 day mail was adequate now there is an expectation of a response at 10PM via your blackberry. And it continues to change. It’s time for the brokerage community to understand thefundamental change in the way communication occurs in real-time via social networks.

The biggest objection I’ve heard to social media is that “I don’t care what someone had for lunch”. But it’s more than that, If every buyer, seller and broker in Oklahoma were on one of these networks and exchanging information in real time on listings, sales and market conditions, I think everyone would want to be there. The best thing about them is you can turn up the “volume” on people that are interesting and tune out those that are not relevant. This is exactly opposite of email where just anyone can send you meaningless information and you have ask to be taken out of the list.

Social network are just like having meetings face to face except it happens on all the time on the internet. If you see value in going to any other meeting then social media is the virtuial representation of those meetings and conferences. All that being said critical mass on these networks has yet to build. One of the best for business contacts is Linked in. The hot social network right now is twitter and doing a search at search.twitter.com for #CRE shows that more people are adding to the “conversation” daily. While I’m unsure of who the ultimate winner on the web will be, I am sure of that communication is changing so it’s time for the CRE world to jump in.