From the category archives:

Web 2.0 / Social Media

Facebook Places – How To Create, and Claim Your Facebook Places Place.

by Ken Brand, Sales Manager - Prudential Gary Greene, Realtors / The Woodlands TX / Cell: 832-797-1779 on August 27, 2010

Facebook Places – Friend, or Foe?

Perhaps you’ve heard?  Facebook recently released a new Check-In feature called Places.  Mostly, from what I read, people who comment on these sorts of things, they think it’s lame and useless.  I don’t know how it will all work out.  Actually nobody knows.  But generally speaking, my money’s on Facebook.  I see that when I click on my Facebook Places iPhone icon, plenty of people are checking in.

Rather than fight Facebook, you might want to make Facebook your friend, just in case, you know, it really takes off.

But before I share how to Customize Your Own Facebook Places Page, let me add my voice to the shouts about Places security settings.  The Facebook default for Places allows your friends to Check You In.  The first thing you might want to do is change your Facebook Places security setting.  If you don’t diable the feature, your friends can check you into places you’re really not at.  For example, you might be sitting at home watching New Jersey Housewives, and your loose cannon friend is checking you into a strip club, or worse, a Justin Beiber concert.  Here’s how to diable that feature. I’d go do that right now, then come back.

Back To Customizing Your Facebook Places Page – For Your Business

So the idea here is, instead of checking in at the Facebook default for your real estate office, you can create your own entry.  You can included your name, phone numbers, and a little promo/bio.  The whole process takes only a couple of minutes.

Here’s how you start – I’ve Posted Step By Step Instructions, With Screen Shots – Click Here To Read The Rest.

Thanks.

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Facebook Introduces New, Improved and Easier To Manage Security Settings – 10 New Security Changes You Need To Know

by Ken Brand, Sales Manager - Prudential Gary Greene, Realtors / The Woodlands TX / Cell: 832-797-1779 on May 27, 2010

Is It Better To Ask For Forgiveness or To Ask For Permission?

Generally speaking, I’m in the “Ask For Forgiveness” tribe.

Facebook is a monster.  It’s super cool.  It’s fun and useful.  But at the end of the day, Facebook is a business.  They aren’t going to invest dozens of millions for the good of humankind.  They want everyone on planet earth to use and enjoy Facebook.  In exchange, they’re going to serve up targeted ads and things we don’t even know about yet.  It’s their right.  No free lunches, etc..

Recently, Facebook has pissed people off by making some undesirable changes to what the users post, where it goes, who sees it, how it’s indexed, etc.  In fact, if you follow this kind of thing, the uproar has been loud and even Congress is eyeballing them.

This isn’t the first time.  It seems every time it happens, Facebook asks for forgiveness, changes a few things, throws a couple of bones to the cry babies and makes a few positively viewed changes.  This is the case recently.

One more thing, before I share some Easier To Manage Facebook Settings info, if you’re using Facebook as a tool for business, or as I do, you believe Hugh MacLeod’s cartoon below speaks the truth, then you really don’t care.  Why?  Because you want to connect with as many people as possible.  The more people know you or about you, the more they can decide if they should trust you or not.  It’s that simple.  In the real estate business and in all business I guess, TRUST is everything.  Plus, if you don’t want people to see what you write or share, don’t post it.  Honestly, I really do believe that privacy on the internet is a myth.  Whether you know it or not, whether you like it or not, most everything we do is tracked or trackable.

Facebook Announces How Their New and Easier To Use Privacy Settings Work.

When I find things I think you might need to know or be curious out, I share them.  For Facebook updates, I rely on a site called AllFacebook.com.  They know what’s up and are happy to share.  If you want super detail, they have books and stuff.  So, here’s LINK to their Security Settings Post.

Here’s what you’ll discover in the blog post.

10 Things You Need To Know About Today’s Facebook Privacy Changes

  1. You Can Opt Out Of Applications
  2. You Can Hide Your Friends List
  3. You Can Hide Your Interests
  4. Instant Personalization Is Still Opt-Out
  5. You Should Review Your Settings
  6. Privacy Now Only Takes One Click
  7. You Can Hide Your Friends List
  8. 3 More Tips

There you have it.  Now we can all rest easy.  For the moment.

Hey, if we aren’t connected on Facebook yet, ping me.

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How Can I Sync and Share Important Stuff Between My Desktop, My Notebook, My Smart Phone / iPhone and My Magical iPad?

by Ken Brand, Sales Manager - Prudential Gary Greene, Realtors / The Woodlands TX / Cell: 832-797-1779 on May 26, 2010

The folks at GeekEstateBlog.com have given me permission to share and occasional ramble about Geek-Stuff for real estate agents, and anyone who will listen. If you’d like to read my first blog post for them, you can find it Here. If you’d like to read a bit first, be my guest.

Like you, I’m In and Out, on the Go, and in a hurry.  I need my important stuff handy wherever iGo and whenever I get there.

geekestatedropbox

I searched around for something REALTOR® friendly.  Something simple and affordable.  Something that works smooth-like-real-butter, on my desktop, my notebook, my iPad and my iPhone.

I  and settled on a beautifully simple application called Dropbox.  The process is straight forward. If you’re looking for a simple synching solution, I think you’ll like this.

  1. Sign Up for your Drobox account.  2Gigs for free.  50GB for $9.99 per month. Or, 100GB for $19.99 per month.  There are discounts if you pony-up a year in advance.
  2. Simply download the software to your computers/mobile devices and launch.  Computer, iPad and iPhone applications are free.
  3. Drag previously saved files into your Dropbox folder (See below) and begin saving new important files to your Dropbox folder and you’re good to go.

Most of my important stuff, listing presentations, .PDFs, letters, contracts, photos, slide-decks, etc., I create on my desktop or notebook.  For things I want to have handy anywhere (my desktop, my notebook, my iPad the cloud or my iPhone), I save it to the Dropbox Folder.

Here’s what you get on your computer when you install the Dropbox application.  Notice the Dropbox folder on the left hand side (red arrow).  To sync your files on all your geek stuff, either save new files to the Dropbox folder or drag previously created files from another folder to the Dropbox folder.  The little green-for-go check-mark means the file has been successfully synced (the syncing magic happens quietly in the background).

DropboxDesktopSaveFiles

If you’d like to read more – Go For it.

Thanks.

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My Touch and Tell Tale – i and Ms. iPad

by Ken Brand, Sales Manager - Prudential Gary Greene, Realtors / The Woodlands TX / Cell: 832-797-1779 on May 17, 2010

I wrote my story for Agent Genius.com. Take a quick look. If you like it, you can read the entire article here. Or if you have any questions, give me a call – 832-797-1779.

Have you heard about the iPad?

Are you wondering if it’s worth it? Or, is the iPad for iDIOTS and people who don’t know the value of a dollar?

Here’s my story. But, let me warn you… I’m not normal. I should tell you that before you go any further. To my credit, I did wait until the end of the day before slobbering my order.

I tried to tell myself that I didn’t “need” it.

Lust was excused as natural, logic prevailed. Whoosh went my $729 + tax. I pre-ordered mine evening one. It’s the 3G/32 Gig model.

My wife was annoyed….something about “stupid is as stupid does”, and some other stuff. You might agree, I don’t know.

Supreme Vulcan-Logic went like this…

  1. “I have (imagined or real?) tech-cred to consider. How can I be in-the-now and a legit-player, if I’m watching from the sidelines? Obviously a “Need” not a “Want.”
  2. “How can I answer questions about what it is, how it works or is it worth it, if I have no experience. Easily mission critical, not a “Nice, but not necessary.” Definitely necessary, critical in fact.
  3. “Imagine the possibilities! There’s not a guru (I’m no guru, I’m using the word for effect and for the people who believe there is such a thing) alive who doesn’t scream, reinventing yourself is more important than oxygen or fire or Crown Royal. How can you reinvent yourself and save the world if you not willing to embrace change, stretch your comfort zone, get out of the box and or generally sashay cliche’ your very own renewal, regeneration and personal salvation. Most definitely a “can’t live without it”, not a pinhead (see photo), narcissistic, knee-jerk, shiny object, impulse purchase.”
  4. “$700 is serious. The cost of not knowing the in’s and out’s, pro’s and con’s is seriouser. Better to invest in knowledge, experience and the possible future than sit idle and speculate (see 2. above).”
  5. “Etc.”

I know I don’t need to convince you or justify myself, I’m just sharing the sober realities I wrestle with before I purchase a piece of the future or invest in the magical. You know?

Patiently waiting….Click Here For The REST.

Thanks for reading.

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How Do I Tweak My Facebook Security Settings?

by Ken Brand, Sales Manager - Prudential Gary Greene, Realtors / The Woodlands TX / Cell: 832-797-1779 on May 13, 2010

I keep my Facebook Setting wide open.  In the real estate business, sharing with as many people as possible is positive.  Basically, I don’t post anything that I’d like to keep private.  Some say, and I’m inclined to agree, that privacy on the internet is a myth.

If you like to keep your Facebook stuff semi private, you can tweak your personal Facebook Settings.  The New York Times has created a pretty cool chart illustrating  the 50 Facebook Security Settings you can tweak and your 170 options.

Published: May 12, 2010

Facebook Privacy: A Bewildering Tangle of Options

To manage your privacy on Facebook, you will need to navigate through 50 settings with more than 170 options. Facebook says it wants to offer precise controls for sharing on the Internet

Thanks for reading, if this information is helpful, please feel free to share it with your friends and click on the Facebook “Like” Button at the top of this post or just below.

Cheers.

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Selfish-Selling Is Zombie Dead. Long Live The Intimate Business Of Being Chosen.

by Ken Brand, Sales Manager - Prudential Gary Greene, Realtors / The Woodlands TX / Cell: 832-797-1779 on March 29, 2010

I wrote this article for AgentGeniu.com.  I thought you might find it interesting.  Here’s how it starts.  If you like it you can click HERE to read the rest.  Thanks.

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We Need A New Bike.Selfish-Selling Is Self-Focused and Sucks.  We Need A New Bike.

It shouts how mighty, majestic and magnificent we think we are.  It’s heavy handed and pushy in pursuit of doing-the-deal.  It’s me before thee.  It crams square solutions into round problems. Selfish-Selling doesn’t work anymore.  It’s zombie dead. That means, it looks raggedy-ass, it smells putrid and it’s soulless.  But it doesn’t know it’s dead, it shambles around threatening to feed on innocent civilians.  You know what I’m talk’n about, right?  Selfish-Selling is zombie dead.

Thankfully, there’s a fresh approach.  Instead of the business of selfish-selling and feeding on the innocent, we can focus on…

The Intimate Business of Being Chosen.

Click HERE to read the rest.

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Julie Bell, Prudential Gary Greene, Realtor Icon – The Woodlands TX

by Ken Brand, Sales Manager - Prudential Gary Greene, Realtors / The Woodlands TX / Cell: 832-797-1779 March 25, 2010 Read the full article →

I Scream, You Scream, We All Scream For Sketch-A-Search Iphone and iPad Real Estate Search – Huh?

by Ken Brand, Sales Manager - Prudential Gary Greene, Realtors / The Woodlands TX / Cell: 832-797-1779 March 25, 2010 Read the full article →

Today’s Realtor Icon’s Invest In Themselves and Their Clients By Embracing New Technologies and Modern Strategies…

by Ken Brand, Sales Manager - Prudential Gary Greene, Realtors / The Woodlands TX / Cell: 832-797-1779 March 24, 2010 Read the full article →

If You’re A Real Estate Agent, You’re In The Business Of Being Chosen. Take this Scrape-The-Label-Test and see if you’re Bright, Focused and Distinctive.

by Ken Brand, Sales Manager - Prudential Gary Greene, Realtors / The Woodlands TX / Cell: 832-797-1779 March 23, 2010 Read the full article →
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