Twitter and Commercial Real Estate
Has it happened? Have we finally reached the tipping point (an overused term, I know, but it does apply here) in commercial real estate, when it comes to using Twitter?
I believe the answer is “we’re getting closer.” Why? A major player in the CRE arena is not only now on Twitter, but this internationally known company has three feeds on it as well. It’s (drumroll please) … Colliers International. Just by their feed structure, I can tell this is a firm that really “gets it,” when it comes to Twitter. Colliers has three feeds:
- @ColliersIntl - for commercial real estate-related tweets
- @ColliersNews - press releases from its news site
- @CRE_Research - a “direct line” into Colliers’ research. Lots of good research material in this feed
Welcome to the Twitter pool, Colliers International. The CRE end is still a bit empty, but there’s more people coming in all the time. We need a few more of the big guys involved before we make the official “tipping point” call. And if you’re on Twitter, please follow them. I do, and it’s well worth the mental bandwidth.
I’ve also seen some other real-estate companies — one big, others small — with presences on Twitter, including:
- @NewmanRealty
- @Ladin_Ventures
- @weichert
- @CBCAtlantic
- @NAINashville
- @AllianceCRE
- @Maxsell
- @pmzrealestate
- @prusantafe
- @SanFranciscoRE
- @LongBarnes
- @tristaterealty
And the number of individuals involved in commercial and investment real estate on Twitter is climbing as well — more than 2,200 people showed up in a Twellow search for “real estate.” They run the gamut from broker/agents to individual investors, from information publishers to “gurus” trying to bring people into their investing flocks.
There’s way too many to list in this post, but you can search for those pros here at Twellow (the best), here at Twitter’s own search engine (searches tweets/messages only) or here at Twitter’s user search (not nearly as good as Twellow). Use “real estate,” “real estate” or other keywords for searches.
Better yet, I’m following a bunch of people involved with commercial and investment real estate. Just go to my profile (@bob_sibdu), click on “following” on the right-hand side just under my name and bio, and when you see someone you want to follow, click the “follow” button. Make sure you’re signed in, or it’s all for naught.
Overall, though, the Twitter space for commercial/investment real estate is still perfect for the taking. And if a big-time firm like Colliers International has taken notice, I don’t think it’ll be too long before others jump on the bandwagon. I’d start staking my claim now, if I were a CRE pro thinking about doing it.
Want to discuss how to use Twitter for commercial and investment real estate? Join Sibdu today — it’s free! We have a public discussion group specifically set up to talk about Twitter and CRE … click here to be taken to it. While you’ll be able to immediately see the group, you’ll need to sign up for Sibdu to participate in the conversation.
Bob,
I love your articles about Twitter and commercial real estate. You’re %100 correct in saying we’re about to reach a tipping point. I look forward to all your future posts.
Twitter - @joestampone1
↓ Quote | Posted February 10, 2009, 2:12 pm@joestampone1
Thanks so much for the kind words - I appreciate it. I think that Twitter has been slow in CRE (like most technologies), but it is starting to catch on. Between that and social networking (including what we’re doing with Sibdu), I think we’ll really reach the critical mass/tipping point here soon.
Thanks again!
↓ Quote | Posted February 10, 2009, 5:29 pmhttp://twitter.com/CapitalPacific
Been twittering for a while now, glad to see the CRE community building.
↓ Quote | Posted February 10, 2009, 5:58 pmThis is great! Thanks for the Twitter tip. I had no idea so much about commercial real estate was on twitter. Looks like I’ll finally be joining Twitter to check it out.
I’ll be sure to digg this to help others find it too.
Thanks and have a great day!
↓ Quote | Posted February 10, 2009, 6:16 pmMark
http://www.CommercialMillionsBonus.com - There is a new commercial real estate investing course launching today.
Great article, Bob! And thanks for the @cbcatlantic mention. Slowly I’m getting individual agents in the office on Twitter. It is good to see that over time more CRE offices are joining.
Thanks again!
↓ Quote | Posted February 11, 2009, 12:55 pm@cbcatlantic
Good to hear that you are getting people onto Twitter. I’d suggest that your agents put their Twitter identities in the signatures of their outgoing e-mails, and even on their business cards.
Thanks for the post, appreciate it.
↓ Quote | Posted February 11, 2009, 1:00 pmI have been following Colliers for a while now (all three of them). Its a great resource as they typically have links to blog posts and other articles of interest. Interesting to note that IFMA is also on Twitter. @IFMA
Looking forward to seeing more CRE people and corporations on twitter.
Jason
↓ Quote | Posted February 11, 2009, 1:17 pm@threefourteen
@threefourteen
Thanks for your comments. Also good to know that @IFMA is on Twitter as well. Appreciate the visit, and have a good day.
↓ Quote | Posted February 11, 2009, 1:21 pm@BobWoods - Jeanna here, I run the @ColliersIntl Twitter account. I LOVE your suggestion about putting Twitter accounts in signature lines and business cards - we’re trying to promote this with LinkedIn, and it would be great to see this happen with Twitter too!
@threefourteen - Thanks! Glad we’re providing information that’s interesting to our followers! I too, am interested in seeing CRE grow on Twitter - especially awaiting the entrance of our major competitors on Twitter - Grubb & Ellis, CB Richard Ellis, Jones Lang LaSalle, etc.
↓ Quote | Posted February 11, 2009, 4:47 pm[...] Bob Woods added an interesting post on Twitter and Commercial bReal Estate/b - Getting Warmer | from Sibdu b…/bHere’s a small excerptAnd the number of individuals involved in commercial and investment breal estate/b on Twitter is climbing as well — more than 2200 people showed up in a Twellow search for “breal estate/b.” They run the gamut from bbroker/b/agents to individual b…/b [...]
↓ Quote | Posted February 11, 2009, 6:16 pm[...] Bob Woods put an intriguing blog post on Twitter and Commercial bReal Estate/b - Getting Warmer | from Sibdu b…/bHere’s a quick excerptAnd the number of individuals involved in commercial and binvestment real estate/b on Twitter is climbing as well — more than 2200 people showed up in a Twellow search for “breal estate/b.” They run the gamut from broker/agents to individual b…/b [...]
↓ Quote | Posted February 12, 2009, 5:40 am[...] Bob Woods placed an observative post today on Twitter and Commercial bReal Estate/b - Getting Warmer | from Sibdu b…/bHere’s a quick excerptIt ain’t there yet, but commercial breal estate/b is warming up to Twitter. [...]
↓ Quote | Posted February 12, 2009, 11:18 pm[...] also upped the activity here at the blog (my post about CRE and Twitter really caught fire earlier this week!). And I’ve started Part I of our CRE Audio Domination [...]
↓ Quote | Posted February 13, 2009, 4:08 pmGreat Post. I’m an agent at Colliers International as well. One of the few guys actually twittering in Canada… we’re always a little slower at adopting new technologies up here.
A Couple question for you… top 3 reasons a commercial real estate agent in Toronto Canada should join a US based site like Sibdu? Any plans on expanding to Canada?
Look forward to following your blog!
↓ Quote | Posted February 16, 2009, 4:41 pmhttp://officesearchtoronto.com
@cfives5
@cfives5
Thanks for the kind words, appreciate it. I’d say here are the top 3 reasons:
1. We really don’t think of ourselves as a U.S.-only network. We’re U.S. … for now. When we get enough interest from any country (definitely including Canada), we’ll do what we need on our end to have listings, RFPs, etc. for you.
2. You can still take advantage of all of the social networking functionality that Sibdu has to offer. That includes public and private groups, and most of the features those have to offer; as well as forming associations with other Sibdu members.
3. International networking is becoming more important nowadays. As Sibdu grows, we hope to bring everyone connected to CRE into our platform - no matter where they’re at.
And a fourth:
4: Job boards. We have ‘em! If we really wanted to get something going for Canada, I could form a Sibdu Canada group and let the conversation flow from there (and have an all-Canada job board as well).
If you have any other questions, please let me know.
↓ Quote | Posted February 16, 2009, 5:25 pm[...] In my latest “update,” I listed several new companies and individuals who were new to Twitter at that point. I would do the same for this post, but quite frankly there’s so many CRE-types using Twitter now, that it’d be impossible to have such a list here. [...]
↓ Quote | Posted April 20, 2009, 2:32 pmGreat article Bob! As the co-founder of TweetLister, a twitter-based tool for posting, managing and scheduling Real Estate property listings on Twitter, we too have been seeing a definite increase in commercial real estate activity on Twitter. Here’s an example of commercial listings from around the country that were posted to Twitter using our tool. I think it’s safe to say that Twitter is becoming more mainstream for commercial property listings and related content.
↓ Quote | Posted October 5, 2009, 4:58 pmGlad to see this post. We are getting involved with Twitter and it’s good to see other doing the same.
↓ Quote | Posted October 23, 2009, 10:10 amTwitter is truly been a blessing in commercial real state. Once you follow Twitter, you are assured that you are updated with the current news regards to real state.
↓ Quote | Posted November 5, 2009, 6:46 amArticle is informative. Before investing in real estate, one must possess the efficient knowledge related to real estate. This may help him to avoid the loss. I have heard that foreclosure homes in Canada, is increasing.
↓ Quote | Posted November 18, 2009, 2:53 am