In-Air Social Networking SOMEWHERE 30,000+

In-Air Social Networking SOMEWHERE 30,000+ FEET ABOVE THE U.S. -- During a plane flight from New York to California last night I observed a very active form of social networking aboard the plane, in the form of viewing patterns with the television screens situated at every seat. This in-air viewing audience has individual access to numerous channels throughout the flight, and I witnessed a phenomenon in which the viewing of specific television programming seemed to ebb and flow in an almost communal fashion. Maybe it was just that I spent too much time at Real Estate Connect NYC hearing presentations about marketing techniques and online social networks? Naw, there seemed to be more to this. When President Bush began his speech about the planned Iraq troop buildup last night, there weren't that many people tuned in at first. But as people spied the speech on others' screens, it seemed to spread like wildfire. Many screens aboard the plane lit up shortly after with images of the president. Just as the blog chatter seems to spread quickly over the Internet when big news breaks, this very basic social network (or was it a viral campaign of sorts?) -- of simultaneously landing on the same channel -- developed in an instant. As another example, a passenger was laughing out loud while watching a comedy program. Other passengers craned their necks or leaned over to find out what was so funny. And then they tuned in to that same channel on their own television screens to see if the program was really that hilarious or if the guy got a bit loaded on gin and tonics before boarding. It would be an interesting social experiment to study how the viewing habits of individuals aboard those TV-equipped planes are actually influenced by others' viewing patterns -- in this case visually based rather than word-of-mouth. How does that tie into real estate (besides the gin and tonics)? Some real estate search sites have developed tools that show "hot properties" -- those that seem to be drawing a lot of traffic from Web users, and map areas that are popularly viewed by online home shoppers. Does that mean those properties and areas -- or those TV channels -- are better because more people are going there? Or is it just that everybody else ends up going there just to find out why all the other folks went there in the first place? –Glenn Roberts Jr., Inman News

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