From Fanning to Liking

Last week, Facebook changed it's oh so popular with businesses, groups and Realtors Fan Pages to ... well, simply Pages. You are no longer asked to "become a fan" if you like what they are selling, representing or otherwise putting out there on Facebook.

In truth, Facebook has always called them Pages. We added the "fan" part since they allowed us to "fan" the pages we liked.

Now, we click the thumbs-up "Like" button. Hmmmm. I get it - you can get a lot more people to click "Like" than you probably can with "become a fan". But I have to say, thumbs down from me.

"Like" is not strong enough. I "like" loads of things. I am a bit more discriminating with my fanning. It's too early to tell what effect this will have on your Realtor pages, although I suspect your "people that like this" number will grow faster than you could accumulate fans.

Also amusing myself with wondering what all of those businesses with, "Fan us on Facebook" advertising will do with ... "like us"? Seems so lukewarm to me.

Have a great week!

PS: Okay, wow - posted this and then read an article on Mashable about a new website called likebutton.me that will show you what your Facebook friends "like" across various sites. Read the article here.

So ... of course I checked it out. Here is a screen shot of what I got (click on the photo to see it larger):













Pretty darn cool - although I still don't love the word "like".

PA Real Estate License Renewal

It's license renewal time here in PA and the process is slightly more challenging than in previous years, so I created a little demonstration for you ...

A few important points before we get started:

1. You must renew your PA real estate license by May 31st, 2010!
2. You will need your NRDS # to register for a login/password on the Dept. of State website.
3. Your CE credits were NOT sent to the state and you are NOT required to turn in your transcripts with this license renewal. After everyone is renewed, the state will conduct a random audit and, if chosen, you will need to provide copies of your transcripts for your 14 hours of continuing education.

PA Real Estate Li

View more presentations from Stefanie Hahn.

Happy Friday!!!

Tech Knowledge - What is Chatroulette?

Let me be clear, from the very start - Chatroulette is NOT for the under-age, the faint of heart, the squeamish or the easily offended.











So what is Chatroulette? Well, I don't believe it's the next big thing or Facebook 2.0, but the concept is so Web 2010 and completely mind-blowing. In a nutshell, Chatroulette allows you to chat with another person anywhere in the world - you log in, click New Game and are instantly dropped into a web chat with another person. They could be in the next town over over halfway around the world.

If you are not into the person you are chatting with, you can click Next to chat with someone else. Chatters on the other end can also "next" you - which will start a new chat for you.

So, full disclosure - you know I HAD to try this ... and while the numbers were overwhelming, almost 17,000 active users on the site when I was chatting, there wasn't much variety. In my 40 or so chats, I was connected with only 1 other female, the rest were men and a few groups of teenage boys. None of which were the Jonas Brothers, who have supposedly use the site to chat with fans :) My experience was completely random, pretty funny and at times, very strange.

Note: While you can report inappropriate behavior, you need to be prepared to see some crazy stuff and not all of it will be PG-13. If you try Chatroulette, keep an open mind and remember to click Next!

Now I know you're wondering, "how can I use this in my real estate business?" Currently, I would say that you can't - but I still think you need to know what's out there (hence the Tech Knowledge - What is Chatroulette title). The concept of Chatroulette is currently more powerful than the reality of it for me, but who knows, with some tweaks, this could be huge.

If you are adventurous and always need to know what's hot, then yeah, check it out > www.chatroulette.com. Happy Sunday!!!