Between all the phone calls and contracts, Realtors now are having a whole new set of duties to be carried out to help entice buyers and sellers into using their services.  As the World Wide Web evolves, we are constantly bombarded with "new web 2.0" software or services available online.  One of these much hyped about services is Social Networking.

Here is a short list of "Social" Networking websites which other Realtors may find of use.

Facebook:  Facebook is very commonly used amongst 18-30 year old demographic, and a good way to keep track of old friends-contacts.  This demographic eventually will age, as the users who use Facebook now may become our home buyers and sellers within a few years time.  Its a good idea to setup a Facebook profile, and add a few friends.  Search for city "groups" and you'd be amazed at what you'd find.  The only downside is some of the apps can be pretty annoying.  One good app is the "neighborhoods" feature, how-ever they are very far behind in including every neighborhood in the US into this feature.

LinkedIn:  LinkedIn is a more business oriented networking website allowing users to connect and recommend users business's and services.  This requires one thing, people in your SOI (sphere of influence) also on LinkedIn.  By allowing users to "recommend" people, it can help a lot when networking over long distances with people you may not have met before.

Squidoo:  By far the most interesting and fun, you can build your own custom-mini-website called "lens".  The interface can leave a bit to be desired at first, but you can fix your display and setup your lens without a heavy background in HTML or coding.  For an example, you can check out my Your Nashville Realtor lens for ideas to see what you can really do with it.

By using social networking, it will open up new contacts.  Best of all in most case's these contacts are local, and free!