Social Media in overseas property

By Carol Mann

A brief history of social media in my life. It’s a commitment! I have been chatting on the Internet for 15 years. #fact. Since its inception there have always been tools to communicate on the net, however the last year or so it has gone mental: In a good way.

Having spent most of my career in the overseas property industry I have had to communicate digitally for quite a while. Cost effective not to mention fast! AOL buddy system was first, then MSN with Skype hovering in the sidelines. MSN was brilliant. Still is. Once I had my key professional contacts educated as to the advantages we all saved time and money being able to communicate in this way. If a client on the phone, for example, asked me if a particular unit in say, Turkey, was available, I was able to send an instant message to the sales department – if they were online of course – and get an immediate reply straight from source… Deal done! Magic. Simplistic but you get the picture.

Social 3D

Back in about ’98, I was introduced to something called Adobe Atmosphere. This was the coolest 3D world and was the prequel to something called Secondlife. Secondlife is there now but it has become much too complicated and commercial so not for me I am afraid. However Atmo was amazing. It was, literally a 3D environment where a whole load of us, mainly designers and coders used to hang out and chat. There was a split screen scenario with the ‘world’ you were in at the time at the top and then the ‘chat’ stream below.

We all had 3D Avatars (avatar means God’s likeness on earth as a person) which we could make to look like ourselves. If there were any natty features missing there was usually some whizzy coder who could sort it out. From time to time some other whizzy coder would turn up and ask us all to come and check out his ‘new world’ he just created. We would all trot off then into some new space which would usually be mind-blowingly awesome. I remember one place which would make Hogwarts look like the local corner shop. It was heady stuff! If I remember rightly Adobe Atmo was originally devised for NASA (www.digitalspace.com) headed by a very clever chap called Bruce Damer. Bruce came to stay with us once when he was over in London one time and I am the proud owner of a signed copy of his phenomenal book Avatars!

Twitter and Facebook – connecting people

So, ticking along nicely with MSN and Skype fast forward a few years and along comes Friends Reunited. Great idea and made the inventors a small fortune however it was a bit clumsy and restrictive. The idea, however, was as most of us want to get / be in touch. Curiosity killed the cat! It was around this time that MySpace and some little-known programme called Facebook were released. I opted for Facebook – easy and seemed far less restrictive than Friends Reunited. Although I have been on Facebook for quite a long time I only ever befriend people who I really actually know or who come highly recommended. But that’s just my use for it.

So: Fast forward to early mid 2009. Decided to check out this twitter malarkey. Dabbled. Didn’t get it. Left it alone. Fast forward to April 2010. Decided to dabble again. I was more than curious and determined to master this new tool.

The last year has opened up a box of magic tricks. I am probably a bit of an idealistic romantic however I think the Internet is now some kind of magician. The possibilities of connecting, learning, understanding, having fun, doing business etc. etc. are endless. How many times have you heard someone say and indeed thought “don’t know how we ever managed without it?” There will come a time when there won’t be anyone left on the planet who will remember a time without it.

So what has Social Media ever done for me?

I have found friends or friends have found me who I had completely lost touch with. Especially friends overseas.
Connected with lots of friends from school – boarding school so bonds are strong – we keep in touch or randomly just comment nice to know we are all there. Facebook.
I met some of my now best friends and business connections online. Twitter.
I have made some amazing friends with fun, lovely, intelligent people. A blend of online and offline because of online connections. Twitter.
I do great business. LinkedIn. Twitter. Email. Blog. Website.
I have immense fun. Twitter. Facebook. Empire Avenue
People communicate as an alternative to texts – sometimes the fastest way to reach someone with a message. Twitter. Facebook. LinkedIn.

By Carol Mann

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