Todd Dubner

The real question is, "How long can these Real Estate Portals continue to subsidize agents?" If you look at the top portals, the total profit from the marketplace is a negative number. A full assessment at http://bit.ly/8cwwv

This is a good summary of social networking manners. I agree with the other posts that separating identities is a risk. In order to cultivate friend, acquaintances and other business relationships, you essentially need to blend how how live with how you generate your livelihood. Some good training on Twitter and Facebook being presented by NCI (the parent company of The Real Estate Book, Unique Homes and By Design Publishing) at http://tinyurl.com/nci002. My blog is all about real estate agent personal branding and social networking. www.tdnyc.wordpress.com

Sorry, more for the comment that I missed above... Also, the Internet seems to be moving from the Google phase (everything a search query away) to the Facebook phase (every question answerable by a network of trusted friends and acquaintances). I am sure you would all permit Google to index the pages of your websites so that you appear in search. I believe that participating in the social network ecosystem will permit you to be found by more people over the long run. While there might be a longer period to develop the ROI, being present is critical!