September 5, 2010

The U.S. Government is Doing IT, How About You? (Social Media)

The General Services Administration reached agreements with popular social media networks like Facebook and YouTube to allow agencies to use the service.

Previously, elements of the terms of these services blocked the government from using them.

So what’s a governement to do? us government and social media

The “agreements” resolve legal concerns and conditions having to do with liability, endorsements, advertisements, freedom of information, and governing law.

Other than the blog post with the video, there isn’t much to the page other than a few links to Whitehouse.gov and to Obama’s and Vice President Joe Biden’s MySpace pages, as well as a link to some playful White House photos. The whole page seems designed to humanize Obama and help younger voters relate to him.

There are no ads on the page, but if you click through to photos page, then you do get some ads. The ad beside this photo of the president running down a hallway with his daughter’s puppy says, “Pimp My Profile.”

Not very Presidential.

Hopefully, these pages will follow the same pattern as the administration’s other web efforts – they start out underwhelming, but improve eventually.

For example, the White House blog originally contained little more than repackaged press releases, but it has become chatty and conversational.

Meanwhile, until recently, the Recovery.gov site for learning about how the $787 billion stimulus package gets spent lacked any real data.

Privacy advocates’ biggest concern is that most social networks treat a government agency no differently than a former roommate. People might friend the White House on MySpace, for example, to indicate support for the president or to get messages about what the administration is doing.

In doing so, however, they are agreeing that every party photo, love poem, and wisecrack from a friends that appears on their profiles will be visible to White House Web masters.

And so far there are no guidelines that say whether those Webmasters might keep copies of any of personal information they see or send it to the government officials who could use it to get authorization to audit people’s taxes, keep them from boarding an airplane, tap their telephones or even arrest them.

In case you are wondering where your tax dollars are being spent these days via federal employees, here are a few places to visit online to learn more:

5 Daily Principles for New Home Sales Agents

As new home sales agents, we often find ourselves looking back on the “game-tape” of the events that were played out on life’s field that day.

At times we may be searching for answers, meaning, direction, and are left wondering, “Where did the day go? What did I forget to do? Could I have done more?” calendar check list

Today can seem like the same day, everyday, yet we play back the moments spent and time loss anyway…hoping, for a glimpse of a fresh start tomorrow.

There is an endless list of daily decisions that need to be made and acted upon in order for us to find inner peace and success; according to John Maxwell there are only twelve.

In his book “Today Matters,” leadership expert John Maxwell crystallizes a dozen key areas of life, that he guarantees will help any individual find fulfillment, purpose, and success each day of their life.

Known for his quick witted humor in the organizational and business leadership arena, he takes a more personal, reflective tone in scripting what could be known as one of his best books yet.

John begins by underlining the value of every single day; saying that “today can be a masterpiece…, or a disaster;” it all depends on the sum of decisions that we make each day.

The following paragraphs illustrate just a few out of the twelve key points found in the individual daily decisions outlined by Maxwell in “Today Matters.”

  • Today’s ATTITUDE gives Me Possibilities

Ever look in a mirror and not like what you see? Is your reflection involved in a hidden conspiracy to sabotage your self image?

Are you at conflict with what you believe about yourself?

Some people are old, and don’t act their age; some are overweight, and don’t care; others are beautiful, and haven’t a clue.

Your attitude is the reflection, of your perception of life. What you believe determines what you will see!

Beginning each morning with a positive mental outlook is crucial to realizing the impact that each day has in creating a healthy life.

  • Today’s PRIORITIES Gives Me Focus

Allowing outside circumstances and events to dictate the path and destination of life is frustrating and dangerous. Prioritizing each activity, everyday ensures you a maximum return on time and energy.

Imagine waking up every morning with a list of 100 places to stop on your way to work. Most likely many of those detours would keep you from making it to your job on time, and keep you from doing what you know needs to be done.

Half way down the list, the pit in your stomach spells out the potential loss of your job, so you disregard the rest of the itinerary and rush to work. But it’s too late, the damage is done – your boss doesn’t understand.

Not having a clear impression of what is important to you personally in life is just about the same thing… going somewhere but, not getting to where you want to be.

  • Today’s HEALTH Gives Me Strength

If you feel like you are moving a lot slower than you use to, it’s probably not the fact that your birthday is next week. Really!

Medical studies, one after another prove that it is the lack of physical activity in human life that degrades our bodies, not necessarily our age.

In modern society it is readily declared that the right attitude to have in our careers is “work smarter, not harder.” Time will prove however, that this is a fallible viewpoint.

We should be aiming to, “work harder and smarter!” Our physical bodies need to be challenged consistently. You have heard that a “chain is only as strong as its weakest link,” so it goes with us.

Every detail to maintaining a healthy spirit, soul, and body will add value to our life experiences each day.

  • Today’s FAMILY Gives Me Stability

Physically, the muscles in the abdomen are the most important group of muscles in our body.

From our mid-section you can trace an unbreakable fiber of muscle tissue to each one of our other 560+ muscle groups.

Intricately woven, this network of different muscles combine and work together, to promote physical movement throughout our body.

In our lives, the role of our family and its members, demonstrate a similar relationship between society and our self.

The “bread basket” of personal peace and fulfillment is found in a life patterned by love and interdependence with others.

Developing healthy relationships with those that are closest to us give us strength to fulfill our potential daily.

  • Today’s THINKING Gives Me an Advantage

For most of us, thinking is something we do not do enough of.

It used to be, that men and women were praised for the gift of being able to pull thoughts out of other’s minds. In contrast however, today’s society rewards those who are able to incorporate their own thoughts into another mind.

We should think more about thinking.

Weighing out our options in fore sight, allows us the freedom to be able to choose our own destiny.

This incredible tool is powerful in that it provides us with the opportunity to concisely and effectively communicate our goals, desires, needs, and position in life to others around us.

Today, amidst everything else, is a new chance to get it right… even this morning’s troubles have already been spent, paid in full, with no option for a refund!

Benjamin Franklin was quoted as saying, “One today is worth two tomorrows; what I am to be, I am now becoming.”

There is no better ailment for days gone by and no fonder cure for days to come, than making good decisions today.

Take time to evaluate, and become familiar with what is really important in life, and don’t hold back in living it out.

Do this daily and discover truly that TODAY MATTERS MOST!

Wisdom for New Home Sales

A few years ago, I was driving to a friend’s new home for the first time.

Jamane Williams and his wife Alecia, were first time home buyers in a freshly built new home community not far from where I grew up in Houston, Texas.

He called me with great excitement and enthusiasm for the new home that they had just purchased, and I gladly accepted his invitation to visit.

new home salesHe had given great directions on how to get to his new home, but somehow I managed to get lost along the way.

Row after row of neatly combed, and recently built streets led me to what I thought was a dead end.

However, the developer of this new home community must have had me in mind when designing this subdivison because at the end of every road was a turning circle (in Texas we call them cul-de-sac’s.)

Feeling lost and with no foreseeable alternative to continue forward, I had no choice but to turn the wheel, hug the curb, and back-track my way down the same street to where I began…

Web 2.0 and social media platforms have drastically changed the way online buyers are shopping for everything, including your new homes.  

Have you met potential home buyers halfway by changing your own approach to sales and marketing?

Mr. or Mrs. New Home Sales Agent: if you feel lost, or the road that you’re on looks like it might be a dead end… take heart, you may not need to change roads, just direction.

In essence, many home builders have reached the dead-end of “new home sales street.”

Fear not, as this challenging market is actually a turning circle that will allow our industry turn the wheel, hug the curb, and start a new direction with new home sales marketing efforts.

 P.S. I eventually made it to my friend’s new house…

Information Sharing Builds New Home Sales

Let go of information… holding onto it can destroy the new home sales process. Home Builder Marketing

In the best selling book “Idea Virus,” Seth Godin likens the spread of information online, to the particles of an infectious virus.

Note this is not just theory, but an observation of how effective messages move through the lines of digital communication.

Information technology has broaden the width and depth of our world online, and offline as well. By shortening long distances, new online social tools and web apps have exponentialy increased the number of messages to us all… (think Twitter.)

This constant influx of information often overloads one’s ability to effectively interpret and properly categorize a majority of these incoming messages; thereby creating a need for information aggregators.

Here’s the “opportunity” for the new home sales pro:

The fracturing of traditional offline information into mobile bite-sized info bits is creating a seemingly endless supply of emerging micro-real-estate-markets.

Why not be the local information aggregator for your new home community?

Online home buyers prefer their home search information to be well filtered, and thoroughly refined… why not research and aggregate all of the home buying related information for your area.

Then use your new home sales blog to filter your competitors’ real estate marketing and sales messages to the bottom of the search engine pile, and present yourself as the local micro-real-estate-market expert.