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Curating great stuff with Delicious

For a while last year it looked like we might lose  Delicious, the King of online bookmarking and my favorite curation tool, as owner Yahoo did some strategic re-arranging.  Delicious was bought by the founders of Youtube and is now rocking on as good as ever.

So what is Delicious?

Think about how you arrange files on your computer:  perhaps that MS Word document is filed in a sub-sub directory of my documents like  C:.…\MyDocuments\business\correspondence\john_smith_ltr.doc.  Delicious allows you to organize Internet content in the same way.   If you find a blog post you want to save, you simply paste the link into delicious, assign one or more keywords and the article is saved to a specific URL - for example:  http://delicious.com/joespake/socialmedia/  will take you to the articles I think are interesting enough to save.  There are lots of possibilities for sharing with this simple format, and as a bonus, Delicious lets you generate an RSS feed for the sub-directory.  Wanna subscribe to my social media saves? just go to http://www.delicious.com/v2/rss/joespake/socialmedia.   Watch this screencast to see how easy Delicious is to use.

And what does curation do for me?

Having significant information at your fingertips is important if you blog, speak, or are in any situation where you would want to share information.  You can use your curated items to archive your great work or the great work of others, and you can use the keywords to drill down to the most specific levels.  If you are selling Xwidgets as part of your inventory, you might have a keyword for Xwidgets where you curate the latest and greatest articles from the Web on that topic.  You could just forward the link (like my link above) to get your customer up to date and establish yourself as an expert.

Original Article

Why am I hiding from my Facebook Timeline?

I’ve ignored my friends who have told me that Facebook has an absolute, drop dead date for Facebook users to cut over to Timeline.  I think for a Baby Boomer, I have done pretty well rolling with all the changes that FB has put me through over the relatively short time they have allowed the public to play on their little site.  And I have adopted social media across the board too, much to the puzzlement of my age peers.  Part of the reason for any success I have had in social media is  an attitude of looking forward and not looking back.  The timeline in my brain starts now and goes forward.  Sure I have some great memories, but those memories are to be relished and shared with those who are close - not with the whole world.

I know FB is free; and I know how to tweak security settings.  It just seems that there are parts of all of our pasts that we just don’t want dredged up.  It looks like I can’t hide much longer. Today Mashable reported that Facebook will be forcing everyone to get on the Timeline within the next few weeks.  As promised back in December, 2011, users will be notified at the top of their home screen that they have 7 days to get their Timeline tuned up and turned on.

I really fear Timeline because as we dig into the past, something like this could surface:

So now the question is, do I push the button and start working on my Timeline, or wait until I am under the 7 day gun?  Are you already on Timeline?  How’s it working for you?  Have you been hiding like me, or have you just never heard of Timeline at all? Your comments, whining, and rants are welcome.

Original Article

More will be spent on online ads than print ads in 2012

According to eMarketer, US spending on online advertising will exceed spending on print advertising for the first time in 2012, and the trend will continue as advertisers find more value online.  Online advertising  spending in 2012 is predicted at $39.5 Billion, compared to $33.8 Billion for all print advertising.  By 2016, the projection is  $62B for online vs. $32.3B for print.

As I have mentioned in previous posts, more and more of us are getting news and information online.  Think of how much time you spend online - work, research, news gathering, social media, compared to the amount of time you spend with print media - newspapers, magazines.  I think it’s obvious that print advertising will not be making a comeback.

What’s your opinion?

Related Articles:
US Online Ad Spend to Close in on $40 Billion - emarketer.com
US advertisers to spend more on digital than print: study - breitbart.com
Online Ad Spending to Surpass Print for First Time in 2012 [STUDY] - mashable.com

Original Article

Joe’s Memphis Real Estate Predictions for 2012

Earlier this week I posted  about the year-end residential real estate sales figures for 2011.   Will real estate be better in 2012?  Who knows?  A few pundits indicate consumer morale is improving.  We definitely have historic low mortgage rates.  The inventory I have shown lately has been of good quality and value.  The stage is set for a better year than 2011.

This is the first time I have ever made predictions.  We will return to this post this time next year to see how I did.  [Disclaimer: these are my opinions only and should not be used in making real estate decisions.  Always consult a licensed agent with a good reputation for real estate advice; and remember, all real estate is Micro-local.  What holds true for your community or neighborhood, may not hold true for mine]

Memphis Real Estate Predictions for 2012

1. Unit sales will increase significantly in 2012 - the demand has been pent-up for a really long time.  People are going to start buying houses to live in again.
2. Home prices will remain flat or decline slightly - it is going to take a while to cycle through the valuation thing.  Among the Zestimates,  appraisals, unrealistic sellers, foreclosures, and short sales, we will be struggling for some reality in valuation for a while.
3. Foreclosures will increase in 2012 - they were only slowed down in 2011 by government actions.
4. The Presidential election will have little or no impact on the housing market.
5. Real estate consumers will engage more in social media and online research than in the past, continuing to erode effectiveness of print information/advertising.
6. Consumers will demand more information via mobile devices.  Agents and companies will begin to realize the proper use and effectiveness of new technology, such as QR codes.
7. The government will dabble in the housing market again with another costly and ineffective program like the First Time Buyer Tax Credit a few years ago.
8. There will be more outcry from both sides of the aisle in Congress to cut back or eliminate the home mortgage interest deduction.
9. Housing in Downtown Memphis will make a major comeback.
10. Schools will be a bigger issue than ever for families purchasing homes.
11. Demand for condominiums throughout the city will increase.

OK, that’s my 10 predictions.  What are some of your predictions for Memphis real estate in 2012?

Original Article

What I learned on vacation

[caption id=”attachment_20197” align=”alignleft” width=”200” caption=”Katy on the empty streets of Hot Springs”][/caption]

I like to vacation when other people aren’t vacationing.  Which is why we like to vacation in January. The townhouses were all pretty empty at Sunbay in Hot Springs, Arkansas, except for ours.  The famous bar at the Arlington Hotel was empty when we stopped by for Martinis.  Not many tourists walking and gawking on Central, except us. We had some nice walks, met some interesting local artisans, and generally relaxed.

Here’s what I learned on vacation:

1.  If you feel guilty and go to a gym, don’t use equipment you aren’t familiar with.  I tried out some Nautilus machines, and had strained muscles for the rest of the vacation.

2.  Many locals in resort towns have no idea what all the outsiders that come to town do there.

3.  Getting my car repaired, including a scheduled major maintenance, at the dealership in Hot Springs was much cheaper and faster than getting the work done at home.  And they gave me a free loaner car.

4. No matter how good of a gambler you think you are, you don’t always have a winning day.  Our vacation dates overlapped the first 2 days of racing at Oaklawn.  Each day we sat near people who were seasoned gamblers, with tip sheets.  We all had net losses, but at least Katy and I enjoyed it.

5.  You never seem to get to the pile of books you brought along that you have been meaning to read.

Original Article

Memphis real estate sales decline in 2011

[caption id=”attachment_19877” align=”alignleft” width=”300” caption=”For Sale www.1573Vance.com - Midtown”][/caption]

The Memphis Area Association of Realtors (MAAR) has released sales information for December and year-end, 2011.  The report contains complete information on all publicly recorded sales in Shelby, Fayette and Tipton counties, including information on pending sales and active listings.

Sales

[caption id=”attachment_19870” align=”aligncenter” width=”500” caption=”December, 2011 and year end sales summary”][/caption]

Residential unit sales were off 10% in December vs. 2010, and year-end totals lagged 2010 by 8.4% .  Both median and average sales trended down in 2011, as the market desperately sought price stability, and home buyers remained cautious.

Foreclosures

[caption id=”attachment_19871” align=”aligncenter” width=”500” caption=”Foreclosures down in 2011, but what will 2012 bring?”][/caption]

While foreclosures ruined more Christmases in 2011, with a  December increase of 67%,  foreclosures for 2011 were down by over 15% at 4,113.  There seems to be a lot of politics going on in the foreclosure arena.  Time will tell.

If you haven’t downloaded the sales report (link at end of post), you are missing a lot of real estate information on listings, pending sales, and inventory.  This would be a good one to file away since it is the end-of-year report.

One more interesting feature is the neighborhood reports.

[caption id=”attachment_19872” align=”aligncenter” width=”500” caption=”Midtown and Downtown Sales”][/caption]

Two of my specialty areas showed declines in Unit sales but increases in median and average prices, showing once again that all real estate is local - micro- local!  Download the report to see how your neighborhood is doing.

Download Full Report

Note:  In the next day or so I will be posting my Memphis Real Estate predictions for 2012 - Stay Tuned!

Original Article

RSS what?

Ever see this symbol before?  This post is not about RSS (Real Simple Syndication) or how it works.  It’s about the the computer literate folks I encounter every day who are not utilizing the power of RSS feeds to simplify their lives.

Unless owners of sites block their feeds, any website with dynamic (frequently updated content) has a feed.   The feed updates and syndicates changes, i.e., new blog posts, updates, news articles, for anyone to grab.

So when I am discussing a particular blog or site with someone who just surfs to it occasionally, I always ask if they “subscribe”.  I am often met with a blank look when I tell them they can automatically receive updates  every time their favorite blogger posts, or their favorite news outlet adds a new story.  You can subscribe to the feeds for sites you enjoy through a piece of aggregation software like Google Reader, and like magic, receive all the latest updates for everything you like on the web.

A big piece of my connection with the world comes through my 211 feed subscriptions, which include Google and Twitter alerts, specified feeds for local and national news, social media, technology, and real estate posts from industry leaders, and some fun stuff too.    I don’t spend much time surfing and Googling, because I have the content I want served up to me.  If  I find a great blog or site, I just add it to the list.  Sometimes when I open the reader, I there are 300-500 articles in queue; I can easily whittle the list by headlines, to efficiently get through a lot of fresh news quickly, while bookmarking the best.  I don’t touch newspapers, or much other print media, because by the time something gets to print, it’s old news.

There is a lot of power in RSS for syndicating content across the wide spectrum of media, and many tools to spread the word via RSS.   In future posts I will discuss leveraging feeds, but for now it would make me happy if you started getting at least some of your favorite online content served up to you like a big bowl of grits  in the morning.  Play around with the Google Reader and see how easy it is to subscribe to any site that sports the orange symbol above- start by subscribing to this one!

If you use your Google Reader as a major information source, let me know in the comments along with how many subscriptions you have.  Also, if RSS is foreign to you, don’t be embarrased to comment.  I would love to discuss.

Original Article