Comments on: Facebook Neighborhoods Application

By: Brent

Brent — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 02:41:38 +0000

anyone find any other real estate related facebook apps yet?

By: Mike

Mike — Sat, 22 Sep 2007 04:42:24 +0000

It’s entirely possible that I have more to say on the subject.

By: Mike

Mike — Sat, 22 Sep 2007 02:56:43 +0000

Hi Sandy,

Yes, Groups provide a lot of the functionality of social networking. The challenge for Facebook applications is how to enrich such applications through things that software can do well, such as information aggregation, database management and search, and extra functionality - I think the possibilities are just being scratched. For example, what if you took the NY Times quiz functionality and added it to the Neighbors application. People could add questions and answers (the gossipy the better I suppose), and then post them for people to try to guess and speculate on. That might be fun! Or not. Depends on the neighborhood. But you could see how aggregating stuff like repair shop recommendations, etc. into this app would make it much more powerful!

What do you think?

Mike

By: Sandy Cann

Sandy Cann — Sat, 22 Sep 2007 01:51:46 +0000

A lot of this type of stuff is happening in Groups. The town where I live, a very small one in Ontario Canada, has it’s own group. We have neighbours, past neighbours, videos and pictures. We have general concerns voiced, upcoming and current events noted, and a detailed history of the area, etc. What more could we ask for.

By: Mike

Mike — Fri, 21 Sep 2007 19:24:30 +0000

Hi Colin,

I won’t speak for Bryan, but my thought is that Point2 should have targeted Real Estate agents as the people to seed the data in the neighborhoods and get the community going. It would be in Point2’s and the agent’s (and ultimately the neighborhood’s) best interest to get useful information into the database.

Mike

P.S. You’re right about not going overboard on direct selling in the app.

By: Mike

Mike — Fri, 21 Sep 2007 19:06:36 +0000

Hi Bryan,

Thanks for stopping by and for your kind words. I think there will be many more apps like this one; the potential is just so great on the Facebook platform. But like any other social media endeavor, there’s a lot of work to get the thing off the ground, and Point2 hasn’t done that yet.

Mike

By: Colin Carmichael

Colin Carmichael — Fri, 21 Sep 2007 19:05:09 +0000

Bryan: “the fact that Point 2 doesn’t seem to have targeted real estate agents and rental agencies to use this as a tool, seems like a major slip up IMHO”

I disagree. When I saw that the app was developed by a realty company, I almost didn’t install it, because the last thing I need is an app trying to sell me listings I don’t need. Luckily, I added it anyway, and hardly notice the listings that do appear - because I’m not in the market.

If corporate-developed apps are going to gain any traction, they must keep the branding and ’selling’ functionality to a minimum.

By: bryan w

bryan w — Fri, 21 Sep 2007 17:50:31 +0000

Mike-
Totally agreed. I reviewed this over at apprate.com (http://www.apprate.com/neighborhoods-135/) last month, and came to very much the same conclusion. This is one of those apps that shows HUGE potential, yet suffers from serious lack of users. It’s a shame really, because I think there is a growing number of people who would like to see more apps like this. Interesting and useful, with a bit of fun thrown in. And the fact that Point 2 doesn’t seem to have targeted real estate agents and rental agencies to use this as a tool, seems like a major slip up IMHO. Good review, though, right on point.