Oh my …. how times have changed!
I remember when I started my social media efforts over two years ago and the sentiment that existed at that time among commercial real estate professionals regarding the use of social media as business tool. In those days, if you brought up social media in a room full of CRE professionals you would get some crazy looks, raised eyebrows and sometimes a roll of the eyes. I chose to operate under the radar in the beginning when I started a blog, sending tweets and designed a facebook fan page. I certainly didn’t try to hide it, but I also didn’t make a big deal out of it, understanding what the typical reaction would be from my peers.
However, knowing that CRE is typically a late adopter to new technology and observing what was happening in other industries with new media, I had no doubt that social networking would ultimately become more mainstream among CRE. Today, the vast majority of CRE professionals have chosen not to jump in, but they don’t snicker anymore.
In fact, late last year I made a bold prediction that a major CRE services firm would hire a director of social media in 2011, “25 Fun and Fearless CRE Predictions for 2011“. Well it turns out I was kind of right. While, I am not aware that any of the major CRE brokerage firms have hired someone to direct social media efforts, it appears that General Growth Properties, one of the top mall owners in the U.S. is looking for someone to do just that.
I suspect at some point all of the major CRE firms will create a social media position because it is now clear that social and business is here to stay. Who will be the first among the big CRE brokerage firms? Ironically, I stumbled upon this job posting on Twitter.
