Noteworthy

theFrontSteps launches a San Francisco real estate…

sf-neighborhoods.png…community using ning for the backend.

The real hurdle for a project like this is getting enough people in order to make it a viable community. The 44 members so far is a great start, although it appears to be heavily skewed toward real estate professionals and not too many consumers (at least not yet). Nonetheless, it is worth checking out if for no other reason that it would be trivial to replicate elsewhere if it works.

I like that they pre-filled in a bunch of condos (and neighborhood) groups, but it does beg the question… Why not just use an existing social network like Facebook where there is already a community of people and tools that can help you encourage them to participate (like news feeds)?

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2 responses

  1. Toronto lofts Avatar
    Toronto lofts

    Why not just use an existing social network like Facebook
    We can turn the question – why not try build new one, better one? Innovations are fueling all businesses, so why not to try some innovation? We are aimed at neighbourhoods in Toronto so it’s not so big as San Francisco, anyway, social network is developing and changing continuously and existing networks are not always able to keep pace.
    P.S. that’s not very appropriate ilustrating picture with that SS group on the side 🙁

    Reply
  2. Dustin Avatar
    Dustin

    Toronto:

    I have nothing against building a new social network and my only argument against it is that it can be extremely tough to attract consumers…. That doesn’t mean it can’t work, but I think most people building niche social networks underestimate the work it will take to encourage participation.

    Reply

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