The NWMLS will soon be replacing the “Locator” system agents use for searching for listings, etc., with the “Matrix” system. At this point it’s still a work in progress, or in effect a beta system, and it won’t replace Locator for a few months. Those agents who have gone through a short seminar, however, can start playing with it now. I attended the seminar on Monday, and here are my initial impressions:
Posted in 
Yesterday, the “IE6 funeral” took place in Denver. This is what appeared on the funeral site:
Internet Explorer Six, resident of the interwebs for over 8 years, died the morning of March 1, 2010 in Mountain View, California, as a result of a workplace injury sustained at the headquarters of Google, Inc. Internet Explorer Six, known to friends and family as “IE6,” is survived by son Internet Explorer Seven, and grand-daughter Internet Explorer Eight.
Those mourning the Web browser, but unable to attend, were asked to send flowers. So, Microsoft sent a big bouquet!
In the photo above, a funeral guest is showing off the card that arrived with Microsoft’s bouquet. Microsoft confirmed the test and also that it sent the flowers (according to SeattlePI.com.)
The card reads:
Thanks for the good times IE6, see you all @ MIX when we show a little piece of IE Heaven.
The Internet Explorer Team @ Microsoft
Internet Explorer 8 has been in existence for over 8 years and Microsoft plans to continue support until 2014, but many in the tech world are happily ready to move on and ‘kill’ IE6 – especially with all the problems and bugs it has caused users.
Still using IE6? Please, either upgrade or I recommend switching to Firefox or Chrome!
What’s your browser of choice? Would love your feedback, leave me a comment below!
Written by: Katie Lance, Marketing Manager, Inman News
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One of the topics people ask me frequently about is social media – and specifically they ask me for how to make the best use of their time. Anyone who has dived into social media knows that it is not “free” – it takes time and a thoughtful effort to make it work your time.
If you are like me, and seem to be “always connected” – whether it’s Twitter, Foursquare, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc – it’s a great reminder that you need to be smart with your time. If you’re not careful, social media can be a time suck!
So how can you be more smart with your time?
Plan social media into your schedule for 1 hour a day: 30 minutes in the morning and 30 minutes late in the day.
The key here is multi-task, move fast, don’t get distracted.
If I was a real estate agent – this is how I would do it:
AM: 1st thing after or before you check your email
1. Turn on your computer. Open 7 windows: Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, your web site, your blog, your favorite news website (i.e. Inman News 
), and your favorite ‘drip marketing’ social media site (my fave is Hootsuite). Move fast, don’t get distracted.
2. Facebook: Scroll through the page – make 3 comments on other people’s posts. Post what you are up to that day. Respond to anyone who has commented on your or left you a message. Move fast, don’t get distracted.
3. Twitter. Click your @ button (i.e. – @katielance). Anyone who has mentioned you – thank them publicly. Respond to DM’s. Scroll through your home page and re-tweet 3 things of interest. Move fast, don’t get distracted.
4. LinkedIn: Post your status update – have it feed to Twitter (check the ‘Twitter’ box to do so – so easy!) Respond to any messages in your inbox. Check your groups. Not in a group? Join a group and comment on 1 discussion a day. Move fast, don’t get distracted.
5. Close these 3 windows: Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn. Keep Hootsuite.com open and your web site, blog, and your favorite news site. Pick 6-8 links to share that day in Twitter. One can be a listing. The rest must be good content or newsworthy. Pick 3 links to share for Facebook. Twitter moves faster than Facebook which is why you need to post more often. Plug your posts and links into Hootsuite. Space them 1-2 hours apart. If something is a hot topic you can schedule it to go out more than once. Move fast, don’t get distracted.
PM: Repeat!
Next day: Repeat!
Do this everyday 5-6 days a week. If you follow this schedule it will become a habit. Also don’t underestimate the power of commenting and interacting – this is probably MORE important than posting your own content and links. Social media is just that – social!
BONUS TIP: Plan into your schedule an additional 2-3 hours a week if you are a blogger. Also plan one time a week to search for new friends, fans, and followers.
Looking for more info? Stay tuned… I have something exciting in the works that will be revealed in a few weeks.
I would love to hear how you formulate a schedule for social media – what works and doesn’t work for you. Please leave me your thoughts in the comments below. Thanks!
Written by: Katie Lance, Marketing Manager, Inman News
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Yesterday I was pleasantly surprised to find an email newsletter from – TWITTER! I guess it shouldn’t suprise me – but at first I was a bit surprised that the company that made “140 characters” a household name, decided to get a message out to their members via email.
Good reminder to all of us that email is still a great way to get a message out – especially to your loyal fans (or followers!)
Here is the body of the email in it’s original form – lots of great new things coming down the pipeline from Twitter!
Hi there,
In the early days of Twitter, I used to send out short updates just to keep everyone in the loop since so much was happening. It’s been a while, but you signed up for short, monthly updates from Twitter so we thought it was time to start sharing more information. We’ve had quite a year. If you haven’t visited in a while, we’d like to invite you to come have a look at http://twitter.com — we’ve been busy!
Growing Up
In the course of a year, registered Twitter accounts have grown more than 1,500% and our team has grown 500%. Recently, we hired our 140th employee! His name is Aaron and he’s an engineer focused on building internal tools to help promote productivity, communication, and support within our company. We celebrated with a little dance party.Features of Note
Some features of note that we released over the course of a year include the ability to create lists, quickly spread information with a retweet button, and an easier way to activate your mobile phone to work with Twitter over SMS. We also built a new mobile web site that looks and works much better on smart phones.Feeling Inspired
By working together during critical times when others needed help, sharing important information that otherwise might not make the news, and inventing new and interesting ways to use Twitter, you’ve shown us that Twitter is more than a triumph of technology — it is a triumph of humanity. Projects like Fledgling and Hope140 were inspired by you.Chirp!
While there may only be 140 full-time employees working at the Twitter offices, there are thousands of dedicated platform developers who have now created more than 70,000 registered Twitter applications creating variety and utility for all of us. We’ll be gathering this spring at Chirp, our first ever official Twitter developer conference.Thanks,
Biz Stone, Co-founder (@Biz)
Twitter, Inc.
Would love your thoughts on email newsletters. I am a big believer in them myself – especially to drive traffic to your web site or blog. I also think they are a fantastic way to keep your ‘raving fans’ updated on the latest and greatest that you are promoting.Leave me a comment below!
Written by: Katie Lance, Marketing Manager, Inman News
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Another huge earthquake! Now the world is turning to Chile this week to offer assistance. Today’s reports talked about 500,000 homes being affected and the deaths are climbing. The number of deaths will be far less than the number lost in Haiti, because of better building codes. Chile is the unlucky place where the largest ever recorded earthquake happened in 1960,so structural engineers have worked hard to increase building standards in the country.
Needing to renew my license soon I had to take the Core Curriculum class. A new topic covered this year is coverage of real estate agents by the Department of Labor & Industries (L&I). L&I’s coverage is more commonly known as workers’ compensation, and covers workers for on the job injuries. Workers’ compensation covers not only medical costs, but also lost earnings. For many agents this might be the only health coverage they have.