More genius from Valeria. Good stuff as usual. Now the first one to figure out the engaging customers well widget promise to share!

Hi Jason:

The widget will come next ;-) Welcome to this conversation where we are customers and sellers at the same time. Can we learn to move back and forth between roles? My guess is that many just are both without wondering which one is which...

Great comment - I watch what is happening in the real estate industry & the same is occuring. Point2 has a Facebook app that works for agents. Their 'Neighborhoods' app also provides a much more granular capability for FB users to identify where they live..

Hello Steven:

And learning about where you live or want to live is the first question a home buyer asks. There used to be the 'official' real estate spin on neighborhoods. I wonder how that has changed because of open conversations from the people actually living there...

If customers and sellers become one unit as partners, what will be the other force in the market that they should contend with? Will it now be markets grabbing shares from markets instead of social network brands?

John:

Thank you for joining the conversation. How about other partnerships of customers and sellers? I'm not sure I get the second part of your question entirely.

> If customers and sellers become one unit as partners, what will be the other force in the market that they should contend with?

Mindshare.Infinite opportunity will be balanced by the challenges of scale.

Thank you for jumping in, Chris. Anyone else want to venture on other manifestations of social networks?

All of these networks are breaking people down into all of the roles that they are: buyer, real estate agent, promoter, reseller, etc., which brings out an honesty and truth in the conversations and relationships that they have. To build on that, those that build the networks have access to some really raw, honest and valuable information. That’s the next step in gaining real value from social networks.

Hi Dan:

Thank you for chiming in. Last week at Conversation Agent I was on a soapbox about privacy vis-a-vis information aggregators -- companies attempting to paint a picture with the pieces that doesn't necessarily make a whole picture. Rather a fragmented view of pieces. You say it well, there is raw information. Will the social networks honor the honest intent in which it was given?

I believe that if the social networks allow for progressive disclosure, in which an individual can choose how much they share, who they share it with and when they share it, coupled with a reward or value exchange($) in return for access to the information, the honest intent will stay in tact. The important part of the honest intent is making sure the value exchange takes place. For to long companies have felt entitled to the data, that entitlement will need to shift so that the value a company receives is equal to the value an individual receives.

I'm not quite sure how much I want all those social networks to become a means for businesses to be in touch with me. It's bad enough I get spammed with unsolicited sales pitches on email and Facebook.

I have no problem with it if it's something I choose to opt into. But I don't want more sales pitches and ads being thrown at me every time I go online.

I suppose having a place where people can go -- if they choose -- to buy, sell or conduct business is fine, as long as it doesn't interfere with the primary reason I've joined a social network site.

Dan -- the value needs to be there, agreed. I have seen incentives attached to building communities (for example, employees inside a company) and they seem to work.

David -- well, the cases made in the news are about friends recommending purchases to friends. I guess now the questions of defining "friend" becomes a bit more urgent.

David... we need to recognise that the online social networking sites just like every aspect of the online experience has become a valid part of our lives now. So you have to expect to receive unsolicited messages just as you do when you're driving/walking down the street and someone tries to sell you something. Basically marketers and sellers of virtually every product know we spend an increasingly larger amount of time online and it's becoming the best place to reach their target markets. What i think will help in the future will be the better definition of target markets ensuring that most information/sales pitches u receive are actually useful and applicable to you.

Does anyone have any comments on the implications of these social networks on business relationships, and the adverse effects of how one may be portrayed on facebook, or myspace?

I know there have been many questions of how employees are portrayed on these social networks, and that less than desireable profiles can have a negative effect on marketing and sales efforts.

Any thoughts on the subject???

Valeria, I am a new reader to your blog and I am loving your insights and the conversations they spark. The phenomena of the buyer becoming the seller was pioneered by Google when they allowed us to place their browser on our sites and offered us money for anyone that performed a search. Using money as a motivator is a smart move. For me the consumer, its an opt-in program and I make money. For Google (or whichever other company)-I leverage the power of the influential consumer to make sales without making them upset. A win-win.

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