Buzz at Inman Connect centered on what would be the next Big Thing. Where is real estate moving? What brokerage models can we expect to see?
When you consider that not too long ago we were printing and handing out The Book of MLS listings, and how having that information online has created on its own incredible changes in the industry, I find myself interested in the tools that connect people in different ways. And that is all technology is- a tool. It will not make a bad salesperson or agent better, but it can create different ways for people who are good at their jobs to maximize their potential.
I wanted to talk about a couple of things I picked up. Some are iPhone or smartphone mobile apps; some are desktop applications, and will be the subject of another post.
For my iPhone: Bump is a really neat idea. I have a stack of cards that I received at the conference- and these are all from people who I am really interested in. I am trying to find the time to upload all of this information into my social media network. The idea behind Bump is simple: you key in your information, find someone else with an iPhone who has the app and has done the same thing, and touch hands. Elegant in its simplicity, but I wish it was available beyond the iPhone platform.
I have also found that I am drifting away from my always used iPhone twitter interface Tweetie to Tweetdeck. It seems to upload photos better. I can also save groups of friends within it.
The iPhone, in my opinion, is great at running apps, and only a so-so phone and camera. I have been trying to find ways to tweak its camera performance. One app that I found is CameraZoom- this is fantastic for changing the size of the pic while taking it, and framing the results right in the phone.
Another is FlashCamera by Sudobility. My old phone- a sad little thing that you had to text letters by pushing the 10 numbers many times- had a flash. There are several apps that you can use to create the effect of a fill flash and save your life in a pinch. This is one. I can see if you were taking drive-by BPO pics and were running late that this could work.
And this one: I could have used this countless times in my traveling life. Called Call A Taxi from Networking 2.0, it finds your location, and gives you a list of taxi companies and their phone numbers, arranged by location. Very useful, and comparing the list against what I knew was available, seemed accurate from my location.
The last app that I saw used frequently in San Francisco was foursquare. This is a cross-platform app, and you set it up through your computer, and it is billed as a game. What you do is log in when you are out at a point of interest in the city. The app counts the number of time a player visits the point of interest; the person with the highest number of visits over time becomes Mayor of that place. What I liked is that you can choose to post your updates on twitter, and I could keep track of my friends’ whereabouts just by watching the stream.
Mayors in my area, according to foursquare
But back to Bump. Use it, and you get a little charge from touching hands with the person with whom you want to exchange information. What more can you ask for?
Thanks for the Bump, @TonyLazz
