jonwashburn: Localism Q&A: Official Answers

Love what you are doing and look forward to increasing the volume and quality of my localism posts.

Thanks Jon, this will be most helpful, congrats on getting a vision to become a REALity!!  :-)

Brad, Rich, Bob, I think we are the last people on ActiveRain tonight. Good work today!

hey, do you ActiveRain clowns ever sleep?...........wait, where is my red nose and my floppy shoes?? Brad, Rich, Jon, Matt, Jorgen, Nicole, Claire, Yi, Diego, Aaron get out the car, you are squishing my squirting flower!!

We are such dedicated schmucks! Jon's VW van is getting really cramped these days. Do you think we could get a U-Haul for all these servers? And why does Bob always get to ride shotgun???

This is really helpful.  Thanks for the info.  Now get some sleep!  Let the hamsters take over.  haha

BTW - thanks for making Kihei one of the featured towns!

Hey Rich, Brad, Jon, and Bob!  This is great.....it answers the big questions that were of concern to most of us (or at least me)! 

Thanks for putting up with all our moaning and groaing.......Ya know, we are all just like kids!  We whine and moan whenever we think we aren't going to like something new on our plate at dinner.....and then when we taste it we ask for more! 

I think it is going to be terrific!  Thanks for all your hard work!    Bob, I think I just stepped on your flower! 

Jon - Thanks for the clarifications. I think changing the URL structure is a SEO mistake. On AR you give the first 4 words of the tittle.  Now a DB# is part of the URL. IMO this is a big SEO downgrade.

 

Jon - Thanks for the clarifications. I think changing the URL structure is a SEO mistake. On AR you give the first 4 words of the title.  Now a DB# is part of the URL. IMO this is a big SEO downgrade.

Jon,

I post a lot on localism in Wayne County, MI probably more than anybody else.  I probably have 40 - 100 posts approved yet a newbie with less than 10 approved posts is the featured neighbor. WHAT IS GOING ON WITH THAT???????? I don't like that and I don't think the algorithm is working very well AT LEAST FOR ME.  IE. Plymouth MI.  and Wayne County Mi.  Then in some cities their are no pictures of featured neighbor yet I have articles.  Every single one of them is mine.  Yet I am not the featured neighbor.  CHECK OUT CANTON MICHIGAN AND TELL ME WHY I'M NOT THE FEATURED NEIGHBOR. 

Let's take Plymouth MI I have over 10 approved posts on the 2 pages.  Debra Drummond has 6 yet you have a newbie as the featured neighbor WITH ONE POST.  Something majorally wrong with the algorithm if you have the majority of the posts, majority of the pictures and you're not featured.  I helped build you something when it was nothing and you reward somebody else.

Then when you click on for more neighbors the only thing that pops up is the same featured person.  That is bad also.  The other neighbors pictures should pop up not the same person again.  You shouldn't have to click a second time to find somebody.  No surfer is going to do that.   I think if you go through Wayne County cities like Northville, Livonia, you will find the same things.  Blank featured neighbors, and writers who contribute a lot being ignored.  SHAME! SHAME! SHAME!

I don't like the situation at all.   Support those who support you! 

I think you have made some blunders.  It will be interesting to watch.  Rich J running around the internet telling people to wait and stop criticizing would be comical, if this was not all so sad. 

 

In agreement with Russ and Maureen, but not calling out the lynch mob....:

After the obvious plum of "Top Neighbor," can one earn "Neighbor" Status in "All Neighbors" in a town?  How?  And, I think quite reasonable to ask, how quickly?

How does one "Repost" Localism postings older than 6 months?  Can that be done by unclicking and clicking the "For Consumer" box, or does that mean cutting and pasting the content into an entirely new post, or totally inputting the entire post?

Should one consider Localism Postings older than 6 months that were formerly Featured in Localism as having adequate merit to Re-Post?   I just don't want to spend hours reposting stuff just to provide clay ducks for the editorial staff. 

Are neighborhood profiles desired Localism posts?  Such as........... 

Will posts that have an obvious expiration date, a la "July 4th Festivities in Podunk" earn lasting Localism Neighbor juice?

Interesting... I will need to play around with this one...

This is awesome Johnathan.  Thanks so much for all you have done for the online RE community.

 

I will also be watching for answers to the "repost" question.

Thank you for this post: it does clarify some of my questions. I do have another question: If a post is turned down for Localism by one of the editors, will there be any explanation as to why?  I'm sure Localism will be like having a newborn in the house for you all: very little sleep, lots of crying and wailing, and lots of poop to clean up;-)  But there's also excitement at the anticipation of what's to come!

So do you suggest that all of the articles that we created with html should be deleted then in order to have them not show up messy on the localism side?   

(I just answered my own question I think...it's probably why I couldn't use the outside blog that was offered here because of the html coding and framing issues.)  This is going to be much more time consuming then when I went back and cleaned up my tags :-)

Hi Jon:  GREAT new Localism site--there are some 'bugs' that I know are going to be worked out as time goes on (mainly, no one who IS an expert in my area is actually on the first page!!).  However, I worry about the purchase of neighborhoods--as a Point2 agent, I have an issue with the ones who pay to be the experts and DO NOTHING to contribute to the neighborhood OR even KNOW anything about the neighborhood--they just know that it's a prestigious area an WANT to land an 'easy' buyer.  They do a huge injustice to our community but, most importantly to the poor buyers who don't know what they're getting themselves into with the 'faux neighborhoor expert'.  THAT'S my only concern!!  I wish we could purchase tier of experts for each neighborhood based on the number of quality posts for that particular neighborhood.  Just food for thought! 

 

I do see some issues and things that I don't totally understand---for instance, why would I need to repost an article that is more than 6 months old?  Seems counter productive.  I'm not sure I like the featured neighborhood expert idea and what is this all going to cost?????  I've worked very hard on Localism over the past year and would hate to think all my hard work was for nothing now.

I still have one significant issue related to my situation.  Lake Norman, which is my "community" covers 4 counties and about 10 small towns.  I always have to post to the State of NC to be accurate which is probably why many don't make your cut.  Should I go back and repost them all to just one town?  When most people are moving here they are considering most of the towns along the lake equally.  Perhaps one of you could email me?

Also, I am still not receiving ANY emails alerting me to comments etc. from AR.  HELP!  Thanks for you hard work!

I know you all are exhausted...

One quick question, since most of my posts on localism are about Saline. How do I get them to show up, do I repost? I did geo-tag them but figured because the area I registered on was Ann Arbor that could be the reason.

No hurry to answer, just when you get time.

The more explanation the better, I feel like the book about "all I know, I learned in kindergarten" or whatever...All I know about googling, yahooing, blogging, etc., etc,. I learned on AR and sometimes I have to find someone very patient to explain it to me....lots of patience on AR !

Hi Jon, Thanks for answering some of the questions that have been posed. It must be exciting to see your vision finally coming to life. I know you guys have been working hard on this.

Change is always difficult at first and unfortunatley you will lose some members over this...but such is life. Keep moving forward and everything else will take care of itself.

 

Jon - Thanks for filling us in on the new localism. I am sure there are a few bugs to fix as mentioned in some of your comments. Good luck...Hope the lions still aren't feeding on you this morning :)

Hi Jon-  You guys must have been crouching behind the tables, as the tomatoes were being thrown.  Thanks for the Q & A.  The comments appear to be a bit tamer, today.  Growing pains are just that - pains.  Bring on the Advil.

Looking forward to further explanations and clarifications - especially concerning Top Neighbors, Communities and Right hand column. 

Thanks for the clarity.  I really need to get more involved with the localism.  I know it will help increase business. 

Thanks Guys for putting this out and answering some questions. 

Parking here for updates:)  And waiting for the kinks to iron out.

Of course I am most concerned That the TOP neighbor in RHode Island is from California!!  I am nowhere to be seen in Rhode Island.  

Hey Jon,

Well most of my questions were answered and the ones that weren't ...I figure will as I know the bugs will take time to remove..growing pains...thanks

Jon,  Thank you for the explanation.  This probably would have saved you all a lot of grief, but...Oh Well!  Question?  Does the person purchasing a 'community' get a higher ranking in the search engines than maybe someone else who's posted better content?  Does this also change the hierarchy in AR or are they to be two separate entities and the point system remains at AR.  Therefore, someone can be #1 in their city, etc. in AR, but not in Localism because they are not paying.

I like the new localism - but I HAVE QUESTIONS too... apparently you guys don't want all the other marketing stuff and links to other posts at the end?  And what about HOUSES for sale and Housing REPORTS???  Are you guys just looking for fluff on a neighborhood - or are you going to add back the "NEWS" on the area?

Really exceptionally written posts will make it to the State level - cool - What CONTENT are you looking for in that exceptional writing???  As a lender - are there any subjects that I need to focus on?  I would assume that "direction of rate" reports would not be the stuff to make it on to Localism... but then... you guys might think that's relevant.

More details would be appreciated.

A post "Localism for Dummies" would be great. The site looks very sleek and you've already answered many questions and concerns. Thank you for all your hard work!

Thanks for your help and the fine explanation.  I think the new site will be far better than the old one.

Go Broker Bryant! You wrote the thoughts I was thinking. Change is hard. I know many people, including myself totally believe AR needs to be making money. I would pay to be a member here, however, there would be many who wouldn't support that either. I am keeping an open mind (since Bob found me after being lost). I can't afford the 100's of neighborhoods I work, they are very small here, so I don't think I'll be online 7/31, but again, as I learn more, that could change. Keep up the good work. Thanks for answering questions along the way!!

Jonathan,

Nice job covering many important questions raised by AR members!!! Patience is a virtue rarely found in the real world today...In cyberspace it is almost non-existent!!! LOL, Thanks,   Fran

P.S. Shouldn't the word 'free' be expunged from this answer???  JMHO

Question: How do I sponsor a city?

Answer: City sponsorships are free to the member who sponsors the most communities in each city.

Jon...

I guess I'm one of the few that understand that you guys need a viable revenue stream to survive. I am very impressed with the new Localism, and I believe that this will soon be a top destination for consumers seeking area info.

Now I KNOW what I need to write! I am sure that once everyone understands the importance of focusing on the CONSUMER, we will all have more business!

Thank you Jonathan for answers to the most burning questions.  I know you'll keep us apprised of what is going on and I'm looking forward to seeing what is to come.

I do have a question regarding your comment on reposting old content: 2) If you have a bunch of ugly or self-serving marketing material on the bottom of your posts and are open to removing it.

Not sure what are you referring to here?

Jonathan - Do you really want us to re-post Localism posts that are more than 6 months old?  That sounds like a major point-grab in the making.  I thought I read elsewhere that once you got through the last 6 months of Localism posts, then you would get to the older ones.

Also - there seems to be a big misconception in other posts that whoever pays to sponsor a community gets to choose what posts are allowed in that community.  It is my understanding that your editors choose the content, not the sponsor.  You may want to address that.

Jon- I think you guys have given us some really great stuff here to work with.  Now, we just need to get back to focusing on the consumer.  I think AR has become more of a hang out for some people. The focus on providing quality for a consumer to learn about a neighborhood has gone to the wayside.  We need to get back into alignment with why we joined AR in the first place!  Great stuff Jon & Team!

Jonathan - I like the Localism for Dummies concept. I am still concerned about the top neighbors and all the neighbors. Looking forward to more clarification and fixes.

Guys, more questions on reposting old content.  Some have asked like, how?  Delete and repost?  Simply add it back in?

Also,  What constitutes a localism post? In the past it has also been about Steps to buy a home, how to do short sale, etc.  Would one 'bother' trying to get that back on?

PARKING....

I have been checking out the new localism site. I like the new look but have a few concerns. The area I sell in is located in The Columbia River Gorge which straddles both Oregon & Washington and 2 counties in each state. One problem I have had in posting is sometimes having to decide which state and which county to post in when the article is relevant for maybe both states and either 2,3, or even all 4 counties. Lately I have been trying to write my posts to apply specifically to a certain area in the gorge but sometimes there is information that applies to the entire region. It would be nice if I could post to more than 1 state and county.

Another thing that isn't really correct for this area is the way the "popular cities" & "popular communities" are set up. All the towns in The Columbia River Gorge are pretty small and the towns are small towns in their own right. The way it's organized on localism is confusing and not really acurate. Here's an example. I looked up Klickitat County, when I click on White Salmon, It shows the communities as: Glenwood, Bingen, Lyle, Northwestern Lake, Bz Corners, Husum, Underwood, Pucker Huddle, Snowden, etc. Then if you click on one of these "communities" it says "White Salmon's  Glenwood" or "White Salmon's Underwood"  The thing is Glenwood is actually a town itself and is about 30 miles from White Salmon, not a community "in or of" White Salmon. Underwood is not in White Salmon it's about 10 miles away, actually in Skamania County, not even Klickitat County and is also small town itself, not a community of White Salmon.  Of the ones listed here the only ones that could be accurately considered "communities of White Salmon" are Pucker Huddle, Snowden and maybe Northwestern Lake.   

I noticed similar conflicts in the other gorge counties also: Skamania, Hood River, & Wasco. I don't know if others are having similar situations with their areas. It seems like the "popular communities" feature is maybe better suited for larger cities with many different neighborhoods still in that city.

I just thought I'd pass on my thoughts on this.

Jon, I appreciate you taking the time to put this together to address everyone's concerns.  I would think that a fairly simple fix to the column width issue would be  to change it in AR as well so that we can be sure that our posts are visually appealing, whether on AR, Localism or an AR outside blog.  I use a lot of photos in my posts and the ones that are even showing up in Localism are no longer in the places I want them and make the posts look not so great.  I'm willing to play by the rules, but the standard needs to be the same across both platforms to make it easy or many will not bother to post to localism (IMO).

Guys, I'm back.  Another thought.  Since the whole concept of the new Localism is to make it easier to navigate, etc. will there be an option to post local events on calendars, or to be able to search by keywords for other things.

For example, within the site..  Waterfront Condos, Green Living, New Construction, etc.

Or are we simply relying on tags and google.  It seems to me that now would be a good opportunity to add something like that.  IMO.  Especially is content is going to be syndicated.

 

Sidenote, I meant that all in a positive way.

Chiming in about the featured neighbors as well.  In my area it seems completely tied into whoever submitted photos.  No photos, no feature.  Maybe for now it would be more fair to have the top agents (points) for the area and then work on the algorythem a bit more later?

This clears up a lot of questions. Thank you for clarifying them!!

I too would like to know what the "ugly self serving marketing material at the bottom of the post" means.  Are you saying that I can't have links to my website and my logo, etc. at the bottom of my post? 

Are my open house announcements and blogs that advertise listings going to make it?  Or are you just looking for a bunch of "general information" about an area?

Thanks for the answers to lots questions troubling many of us have. The nore folks know early on the better so the necessary changes can be made. Some more, though:

 

You say Use plain text and photos. Don't do html editing.

Seems like we are being told to be less creative and less visually interesting. As in no videos, no color, etc. So we have to go back an edit EVERYTHING that we did for Localism that has problems due to the narrow column?! Or suffer with posts where some of the content is not as readable. Will check to see if resizing the videos works but this feels like a huge effort.

 

And regarding your comment If you have a bunch of ugly or self-serving marketing material on the bottom of your posts and are open to removing it.

WHAT sort of material are you referring to? We are encouraged to use call to action buttons. Are those out now? Lots of folks include contact info and the like at the bottom of their localism posts. Is this not considered acceptable anymore? Do we really have to edit ALL past Localism posts? For some of us that is possibly hundreds.

You suggest reposting excellent and timeless posts over 6 months. I assume by reposting you mean redoing the consumer/state/county/city selections. Does that mean going back ALL the way, say a year or more, for those of us who have been around. Seems like those who have been here a while and helped to build the original Localism now are being penalized.

7400 Posts reviewed and 940 approved? Barely 13% Are you serious? Am I reading this correctly? Are there that many that are really inappropriate? Or am I misunderstanding?

We all love to see the many advances here on AR. Thanks for keeping us up to date, and always moving forward. But, wow, the time investment ahead  to correct some of these issues seems insurmountable.

Jeff

 

Jeff

This answered some of my questions but raised more questions.

Does this mean that there is a delay time for posts to appear in Localism?  I posted something that was time releavant yesterday - if it hasn't yet appeared - than it was a waste of my time, the important information didn't get out there and no one benefited. 

When you discussed sponsorship you mentioned that there can be non-real estate related blogs on real estate (schools,, churches and organizations).  This piece confuses me a bit - are you saying that each neighborhood is a blog in and of itself?

How does one submit an organization for a blog? 

Really, no pictures in Localism Posts?  We are talking neighborhoods, local towns and current events - it seems that pictures are especially important in these blogs?  Help me understand this one, what am I missing?

Maybe I'm misunderstanding what Localism is.  I'm grasping the concept and it's pretty brilliant, but I'm still not clear on what we are trying to accomplish here?

 

I don't like it.  I don't like it at all.  My Real Estate shows, that look so nice, absolutely STINK in Localism.

I have written TONS of useful info for Localism (community profiles) and only a tiny fraction is there...and what is there looks terrible.

This may very well be the end of it for me.

Just one more thought about column widths, then I'll shut up:  If you reduced the left and right margins a bit, it would give room to expand the main column a tad, and not lose any width in the sidebar column.  (FWIW:  The original Localism was a full width display -- uncustomized Active Rain is a full width display,,,,,,)

This really sets  my mind at ease after reading some of the many concerns other bloggers have written. Sounds like it will be a great benefit for ALL.

Someone made a comment - and I gues deleted it - about people putting posts to Localism that consist of "I'm a great realtor, call me".  Those kind of posts I can understand being left off.

However, I just did a search for Pike County and Wayne County PA and found only a tiny fraction of the posts I created for Localism that were informative about the community - such as a profile on a community, with amenity info, dues, photos of the community, and where it is located. 

I wrote blogs on several communities in my area and NONE of them are showing up when searching the Localism dashboard. 

I am NOT happy about this.  This is not "self serving" material unless you count the call to action at the bottom of my posts "Contact me for more info about homes in this community"   as "ugly self serving marketing material."

I am one of the only people in my two counties producing content in AR and Localism - and yet, I am not a "local neighbor?"

What gives?  I just posted a blog for my company about upcoming Open Houses scheduled in a particular community in our area.  How long will it take to get approved?  Isn't that local content that real estate customers will be looking for?

 

Karen - Agree with you on RES. This is very disappointing.  It seems creativity and visual appeal is being curtailed. And the overall visual apapeal of post where we have included photos has shifted in some cases becuse of the column limit. I don;t know about you but I do not have time to go back and corrct everything that has been done. It's hard enough just to post these days. Hoping they can find a better solution.

Jeff

Alright after hanging out and drinking foo foo drinks with little umbrellas all day yesterday I feel I am ready to comment :)

I like it!  The interface is easy and it puts newbie and old faces all on the same playing field.  There is absolutely NOTHING wrong with that and top contributors should get and do deserve the top spots.  This will make people work harder to earn their keep :)  Many built their points up by merely inviting people and then once they reached a certain point and were comfortable with it, they sat on the sidelines being a featured <fill in the blank>.

The sponsorships to bother me a bit and I think the top neighbors should have first dibs on community purchases.  If not then a pay as you play system that I mentioned in the past.  As I mentioned on Katerina's post yesterday, keep the current points system in place.  Allow 15-20 posts free per month and then start charging a buck or two to post each additional post.  Even though I haven't been contributing much lately, my voices in my head have been nagging me to contribute but the schedule doesn't allow it. 

I also think that the integrity of the site may be lost when you have paid sponsorships (unless it clearly states somehow that they paid for that spot.)  People have called me because of the posts I have populated to localism and that I am the "community expert."  I can answer their questions quickly and effectively about area activity and happenings.  If they call the paid sponsor who has NO idea about the area you can get a disgruntled surfer on your hands.

On the flip side, my profile is written to the communities I serve and I how it is next to my posts so there is no mistake.

No matter what you decide, you have every right to monetize the site.  You put together a great community for which I am extremely thankful and appreciative of.  Nothing you will ever do will satisfy the masses.  I have had a ton of closed business from here so I will support you no matter the outcome!  It is well worth it.

I know what I will be doing noon on July 31 :)

Jeff,  as I said, this may be the end of it for me.  Yes indeed, it's "FREE" but it's my "FREE" content, and YOURS, that will power localism and make it something that people will want to visit and will make sponsors want to place ads. 

I for one am not happy about these changes, about my good posts being left out, about my real estate shows (which I pay for) looking horrible - and I do not have to help power Localism at all.  I am now beginning to understand why others have been saying for a long time to have an outside blog.

I have it established already, and I think that I may very well be posting my own "Localism" on my own local blog.  Then it will look the way I want, and it will be "approved" and I'll get plenty of google juice from it.

It's a pity, but hey.  We all have to do what's best for our own business.  I hope this works out for AR with Localism, but I seriously think that the most dedicated bloggers who've been here for a long time building content for AR and Localism are going to be left with a very unpleasant taste in their mouths after this.

Jumped the shark?  I sadly think so.

I thought that the goal of being able to post to Active Rain, Localism and the outside blog was to make things simple for people.  Why would there be different layout requirements for each?  If I have to create things for each platform, then it becomes a very difficult task to manage.  The layouts should work across all of the platforms, even if it means changing what AR looks like now.

As far as the stuff at the bottom of the page, it sounds like the editors want to make sure that nothing that makes us easy to find is readily available.  Why should a consumer have to search the page to find contact info, if we're willing to provide it to them as they finish reading the article?  You may look at it as junk, but the fact of the matter is that it is a convenience to readers, and it provides great SEO as well.  I can tell you this with absolute certainty because I see how frequently I pop up on Google Alerts because of what is at the bottom of my page.

Instead of telling people to change to fit the platform, perhaps you should evaluate what everyone is saying, and make the platform fit the people that are providing the content.

Thanks for the in depth Q & A. We know that with change there are always a few bumps in the road. We are excited to be a part of it.

Jonathan- Thank you for answering many of our concerns. We will have to just wait and see how this all pans out.

I like the idea of monetizing by charging a fee for outside blogs and leaving Localism without the sponsoring model.

If you want a sponsoring model on Localism I would turn the tables on vendors and instead of them always asking agents for money and sponsorhips, ask them to become the sponsors.

We would control the content on Localism but along with a more filtered adsense, you could sell sponsorhips to like Painters, landscapers, pool services, maids, gardeners, and those types of services that would enhance and that takes off the stress of all of us members.

Are you going to post what the criteria is?

We get listings from AR and we write to a seller audience, are the editors just interested in buyer type posts or are they going to apply this to seller posts too. For instance, most of our business is from short sales so I write at least 2 localism posts per week about short sales. This is very much needed info since the rumors out there are just wrong. Will these posts be considered as NOT for localism?

What do you mean by the ugly stuff at the bottom.

I have a signature and links to other posts on AR and a link to our website so they can see more listings. Do I need to remove call to actions?

I get the MOST compliments from consumers saying they come back to read our blog because of how visually appealing they are. I don't want to move it all over to plain text as this visually appealing format is something they have come to expect from it.

I know that you are doing all you can to make us happy and make money at the same time. Not an easy task.

I believe there are many ways to monetize Active Rain other than the sponsoring of all these subdivisions. I still have quite an issue with that.

I also have contributed a ton of Localism articles, the majority of which are not up yet.  However I also read the stats, figured they haven't been reviewed yet, and will trust that if I didn't write crap, my article will make it there. 

Localism articles NEED to be reviewed and that takes time and I'm grateful I'm not paying for it.

I agree with Katerina, paid sponsorships should be others, not contributors.

I agree that RES has become a widely used tool on AR and it should be able to be easily integrated into everything, especially Localism.

I also want a more specific answer on reposting.  I have a large number of quality articles that are over 6 months old.  I understand you needed to put a limit somewhere for reviewing articles and are leaving it up to us to self-edit and repost old stuff for publishing review.  Just let me know exactly how you want it reposted. 

Thanks guys.

Thanks for the questions and answers. Guess I will have to get in and check it out for everything to make sense.

Jonathan,  Thank you for clearing up some issues with Localism.  I am so hyped about it.  Thank you for you efforts.

I had an egg bagel sandwich for breakfast this morning.  It was fangoddamnedtastic!

Oh, and paid sponsorship of communities and allowing banner advertisement from commission rebate whores that ride the coattails of our local content without actually providing any of their own to snag the consumer leads who visit the site are still very bad ideas.  I'm looking at the community that I have dedicated the past year to promoting.  Nice that I have to contend with "Search Phoenix MLS and receive 20% of our commission when you buy a house through Retard Realty!" screaming at the consumers who are on the page to read my content.  Jesus Christ bananas.

The bagel really was unbelievable though.

I am still not 100% on what I think all around, trying to stay optimistic but am still waiting to see how the rest rolls-out before really deciding.  I think Renee's idea of noting on the bought spots that they are bought or paid advertising or whatever could help make consumers aware that it is what it is.  Essentially and eventually you are going to have non-Realtors I assume buying these spots as they will see it like ads.  I think that readers/consumers deserve to know and want to know that people paid to be there - since it is in the end transparency they are after.

One thing I would like a bit more info on is the ads that are appearing.  First I want to say I am not against ads, I completely support the concept of monetizing the site in some fashion.  I just want to have a better understanding if ads are non-edited (but our content is?) or is that too still something being tweeked.  I also don't have a real understanding of how ads like that work.  Do you just have random ads from a service or have you hand picked these advertisers?  I have now seen a variety of dating services next to my areas and my content which I am not that crazy about.  Also this one ad in particular which calls itself the Hyperlocal City Guide - to get connected and get hyperlocal.  I guess I don't completely understand, but want to, why you would spend so much effort & we would spend so much effort with our content,  getting people to be on your premiere Neighborhoodpedia and then had a competitor advertised all over to click to.  And by the way - this is not criticizing their sight, I honestly know nothing about it - its really just wanting more info on why its there in the first place. 

I have noted that on most other sites with ads they are really labeled as paid ads or paid sponsorships.  Honestly most of the ads on Localism look like part of the content of the page - not like ads at all in my opinion.  Particularly this hyperlocal one.  The dating one kind of does too. 

So, all in all, just looking for some clarification and more info on that.

I am in favor on monetizing the site.  I just want to make sure I understand the final direction we are headed. 

Thank you Jonathan, You answered so many of my questions. Many Congratulations on your new Localism.

Would you guys be so kind as to post the width parameters for the localism page so people like myself can try and make adjustments to my banners and buttons.

thanks and keep up all the hard work..............   have you taken your phones off the hook yet... ???

Jonathan...

I just put up what BB and I consider to be "The Flip Side" of all of this. As always there's a reason for the insanity :)

Success At It's Best...ROAR!

TLW...ROAR!

Jon,

Thanks for taking the time to answer some of the questions.  The idea behind Localism is great.  For those of us who have tried to post quality content, that is our own, it is disappointing to say the least to not make it as a "Top Neighbor" or even an other neighbor. 

I hope you guys are considering the comments and critisisms as a way to improve the site, not taking it personally. 

Personally, I would rather pay a membership fee rather than compete for the sponsorship of the neighborhoods.  Kind of reminds me of what Realtor.com did.  I stopped referring buyers to the Realtor.com site. 

Lastly, in the College Station, Texas city - many posts that are currently showing up are really about our neighboring city Bryan or maybe more applicable to Brazos County.  I'm not sure how the "editors" are going to be able to know the little details about different areas.  Granted...some bloggers may not be against their Bryan information showing up in College Station since College Station is considered the more affluent city even though Bryan is larger, population and area wise.  I'm sure this issue applies to numerous cities all over.  If incorrect information is showing up, I would think that readers who actually know the area are not going to consider this a site with accurate information. 

All that said, I think Localism is a wonderful idea and concept.  It will be great to see how it works when the bugs get worked out.   

 

This is more exciting than an Ohio State football game....not really, but close......I am lucky that my content is for the most part showing up and I am a top neighbor. Probably because of my market size.....not a lot of AR action here yet like most of you folks. Must be difficult in the bigger AR markets. I feel your pain and these are all great questions.....good luck team....

If it's one thing that I respect this network for ....is that when Sally doesn't feel good about something there is someone who calls me and lets me voice my opinions and allows me to ask questions and talk about my insecurities when it comes to this network. Yes, I get insecure when there is BIG change.

Bob called me yesterday and I told him that all these questions need to be answered because there are a LOT of people who were confused about all this and many called me. I had no answers and as soon as I saw BOB calling I got off the phone to call him back.

I got the answers and many of them are right here....which I believe are many others concerns.

I know this may sound silly, but I invested so much time and effort in my Localism posts that I was so sad to not see my own flying around the new Localism. The majority of us who have been writing wonderful posts and trying to show others how to write a good one were pretty much 'deleted' from the spotlight.

Is this ego? I tend to believe it is just hard work and effort that we all were praised with a Localism Feature etc...and it didn't matter that there was no gold star....we were stars on the dashboard....and then ....zilch...nada.

But bottom line....I know you guys are always thinking in the best interests of the community and will succeed in getting this all together.

It's was a sad day for me yesterday....with only me inside my head.

Thanks for Bob calling me...and thanks for putting up this post with answered questions...and thanks for whatever you guys will keep doing..to make the best of ActiveRain and Localism.

I look at it this way....ActiveRain is my first and foremost 'love'. I can write anything and everything here. ....

 

Three questions:

1. You mentioned that 940 posts have been approved ...

Total Posts: 179,526
Total Posts reviewed: 7,400
Total Posts approved: 940

Does that mean that the posts that we're now seeing have all been approved? Has the one sentence post that asks "how's the real estate market in your area" been approved? Has the postlet advertising a listing been approved? Has the post that is a blatant ad for the agent been approved? By the way, the agent with the one sentence post is a 'Featured Agent' with very few points. If these posts have all made it through the approval process, then I don't understand the "goals" of Localism.

2. Three different platform layouts is very troublesome. Two weeks ago, I spent a few hours revising my AR profile so it would fit and look nice on my AR outside blog. Got all the text to line up with the graphics. Now it's all screwed up on the Localism profile. Like Katerina mentioned, I don't want my info/posts to look bad because that reflects on my acceptance of "less than perfect". That's certainly not a trait I want potential clients think I tolerate. We want to spend time selling real estate, not spend it rearranging posts to fit three platforms.

3. Will we be able to designate our posts to ONLY appear on our outside AR blogs, and to NOT appear on AR or Localism? If I can do that, then when I write the post I only need to write it to fit that one platform.

While I'm taking a wait-&-see attitude, I will say that I'm rather disappointed, especially with the fees to buy neighborhoods that you asked US to set up 18 months ago. We worked to give credibility to your site, now we're being punished for what WE gave you.

Jonathan, I really do appreciate the answers. I do understand the way content is being approved and agree, I understand the top neighbors and like that type of format because it is based on writing. I will have to go back and read more about the approval for state spots and figure out what posts went thru and which ones need some tweak. I have no problem doing an edit to meet the criteria. I am just a tad confused on what that criteria is. Yesterday a blog I saw that had been approved was waaaaaay cute - cute big picture and there were 10 words - 10 words. That was is. That sort of confused me on the criteria.

I do understand that if I can't purchase enough neighborhoods I can be on that front page - I can be one of three people on that front page. I do understand that my blogs that I write will be listed under the static content that some one has paid for.  I understand that I as a user know how the lay out works and I know that they paid, I know what "Authored by" means I wrote the article and the person's picture above that didn't. I understand that as I scroll down the blog roll those little pictures at the bottom of each blog must be that person - that author person and not that "sponsor" person. I am a user and an author and I understand.

However, does the consumer - I don't know and only time will tell.

I guess I am just disappointed about the neighborhoods - there are 32 in my small town of Bremerton. I have written two posts in the last year that I put in a neighborhood because really Bremerton is the neighborhood. For me to capture that "free" city spot which should be my goal I would have to purchase 32 neighborhoods and that would cost me around $275 per month. That just doesn't seem smart business sense for my business. It might be smart for Reid Real Estate Company, WRE, Re/Max ect. Anyway, I totally agree that you need to fund this site. I am sorry if I don't have a plan for that "city spot". I am just disappointed it was that spot that was the target to pull revenue.

Thank you for your company, for your platform - and thanks for not telling us to calm down, breath or relax in your response - that got hard and annoying all over the blogosphere yesterday.

 

 

 

Do you have to be a realtor with a community to be able to post in the localism?

You have put in a lot of effort and hardwork into the new localism and I thank you for all the work that you have put into the Rain as well.

What do you think about something like this...  http://activerain.com/blogsview/586740/Sponsor-a-Commutity-Refer 

Not that I am looking to do this, but is this a legit concern regarding the new localism?

Matt...

I believe that to be presumptuous at best. You're assuming AR would allow such a thing to happen.

TLW...ROAR!

I have no issue with the sponsorships, but was upset that people who had never posted could buy an area before me. I have entered the majority of neighborhoods for my area. BUT you addressed that concern. If I choose to pass, then have at it. If I can't have first dibs for working hard, then it I need to delete my content off localism.

My issue is the significantly inaccurate data on there right now. Just send you guys an email offering to help correct it. Pictures of other counties in my county, etc. That is a data entry problem on the part of agents who uploaded the data. They almost need a master moderator (a local agent) to double check the data before posting. I think localism is a great idea, but it's only as good as the information entered. Marion county gained some new cities in this version of localism. I'm sure the assessors of Marion county are happy, but not Yamhill, which has lost some cities to us.

I think Debe's concerns and suggestions in her comment http://activerain.com/blogsview/586195/Localism-Q-A-Official#2682712 are very valid.  I am all for AR making money but I agree that it will hurt other expert Realtors if spots can be purchased by anyone.  I like Debe's idea of "I wish we could purchase tier of experts for each neighborhood based on the number of quality posts for that particular neighborhood".  This would incourage members to write quality content in order to become the expert in that area.  The more quality content members write will also help localism.  So in the end Localism will have some great content and true local experts contributing that content.

Jonathon, thanks for posting to answer a lot of the earlier questions on the official "Unveiling" post!

I spent some time yesterday exploring the New Look of Localism, and while it's still in it's emerging stage (everyone...think of a butterfly trying to GET OUT of the chrysalis) when it's a struggle to make it all work...you know it will and it will be beautiful and USEFUL when it's finished! 

You (and the AR Team) have a vision, and visions take lots of effort and tweaking to make happen.  The feedback and concerns that everyone is voicing are important and you all are addressing them well, considering the small amount of time so far.  Some of the concerns expressed are ones you will (are) addressing, and some are just misunderstandings, that will work out over time.

I think you all are being very service aware and thank you all for that...you and the AR team are in 24/7 mode!  What an exciting time for you all!  :  )

Localism as a Neighborpedia resource needs an editorial eye to make sure it's information is relevant to consumers landing on the page...and editors need to be paid....as do their bosses!  Localism must be monetized, everyone wants (needs) to have their efforts rewarded (paid for).  While I still have had no $$ realized yet from any of the blogging I have been doing for the last 18 months...I know it will happen!

Everyone knows (and there have been lots of complaints) of bad Localism posts and photos.  It's important to make sure what shows up is neighborhood/community relevant....WHAT is it like to live in THAT community?  Everyone writing posts for Localism needs to keep that foremost in their minds.

Since I have not been very active on AR recently (too busy with some other things) many of my posts are over 6 months old...so I now will be focusing on this new form of Localism.  In some ways it is refreshing to have this new platform and goal to achieve...Thank you Jonathon for the new opportunities!

PS, I also worked yesterday on my AR "outside blog".  I like the idea of making posts to AR, then choosing to sent the post on to the "outside blog" and or Localism too...nice to choose!  Gosh have I got a LOT of work to do!

Will ActiveRain be limiting the amount of communities one can sponsor? I think that would be a good idea as well. Maybe 10?

OK, there's some of my content showing under my town, which is good. And I appreciate you getting it there. 
But I still think the "sponsoring neighborhoods" thing is such a bad idea. I live in a very small (about 16,000 pop.) town. We have several "neighborhoods" showing up because I posted to them because I had listings there. They are basically subdivisions, and there could theoretically be an awful lot of them, even though the town itself is so few people. Most of the posts in my town are mine, and there is no way I am paying to sponsor anything. which means that unless one of the few others in my town steps up and PAYS YOU (unlikely as they aren't active on AR now and a lot of agents are now cashiering or waiting tables because sales are so slow here) then my town just won't have any community content at all on Localism. I'll put up my own community content (already have some on my web site) and link to it. So there.
I can understand if AR needs money. Maybe starting the outside blogs AND revamping Localism all at the same time was overstepping. But its done now, and if you guys need revenue then I would much rather pay you a fee to participate in Localism then to buy your friggin' communities! I would rather see you charge everybody who participates in  Localism $5 a month (and I WOULD pay it and I think most would) and let people contribute community content after the wikipedia model, say, rather than sponsorship.

Jon- Absolutely great....love the Q and A....I just learned things I didn't even know I didn't know :) :)  Oh, and your new sponsorship reminds me very much of the Point 2 Neighborhoods.....I bought one overseas, and got quite a bit of exposure from it. 

Not a bad idea, but here's my Q?

How long is the Sponsorhip....a year; 6 months? 

Another thought....just for the gamers....if someone bought Ann Arbor, and someone else made a community of Ann Arbor, Michigans premier area (just pretend) would that count?  Something tells me that this can and will be manipulated......would love to say we are all responsible adults, but hey that isn't the case :)

Again, thanks.....I don't particularily like the look of the new Localism, but I like the ideas :)

My Grandfather used to say, "If it ain't broke...don't fix it"......was Localism broke?

Jon, thanks for the answers as always.  I still find your vision of communities disturbing, Jo Soss's comment above reflects my largest concern.  As many have stated I would pay a monthly fee to contribute or be present, but paying per community under the proposed definition of such will not be very feasible for those of us who have to work broad geographic market in order to thrive.

Great questions everyone. We are working on compiling all of these and will certainly have a part two to this post where we address this set of concerns.

One thing, the content that is currently showing up on the community and city pages has not all been approved. When we imported the last six months of data, we populated it onto the particular pages it was geo-tagged to. As we review posts, only the approved posts will stay.

Thanks for the answers to some very valid questions.... hanging to not miss anything..but sure I will... we should all go sell something today to buy the top neighborhood and get back to work!!  Thanks for all your dedication Jon, Bob, Brad, Rich and team... You are very much appreciated for all you do and your willingness to work through the difficulties and the unknown...  there is a grander picture...I am sure!

Thanks for the Q &A it clears up a lot of questions.

Questions: Does that mean that if one of our posts aren't on localism they have already been denied? How does one post photos?

I was thinking that maybe once all the posts are sorted through and the real top neighbors are determined those should be the ones eligible for the pre-sale. That way those with the most content in their communities would have first pick for sponsorship, and not someone from a neighboring city that wants more exposure or someone who's never even posted to localism before.

Apparently, posts that were submitted between June 19 - 25 were not considered - was that down time while the new Localism was being launched?

If so, can those posts be re-submitted or re-posted?  I wrote a comprehensive Relocation post just for Localism during that gap time, it is still on my blog, but not included on the localism page.

Thanks!

Hey, You guys deserve a lot "pats on the back" for all your hard work to implement a new Future for AR.  I sure hope that it works as plan.  AJ

Question: Once all the data has been "approved" and what is in Localism is correct how will it link back. When I do a search now to look for some of my Localism blogs I find that some link back to the new main Bremerton Localism page and some link back to the article as it is on the new Localism page. So link back to article or city?

HI - I am curious too. I have written over 100 posts and they have not shown up as regularly as some of the others in my area of Myrtle Beach.  One member's posts occur with great regularity.  He has accumulated over 50000 points in just a few months.  I know he has some in and I would sure line to know how he does it...

i'm doing neighborhood video (specifically for each condo) would those be used as good localism content?

GREAT INFOMATION ... and  ansewers most of my questions .. I will wait and trust that great an powerful ...

I guess I need to go in an check the counties in my area again.  I live in an area that is divided by a river with two counties on either side.  I have not been able to post to the correct city because of the incorrect county choice available.  How does this get changed. 

BTW - I love everything else.

Wow, I have a ton of catch up...hope that isn't impossible.  We will see.

The new system is a joke, it is all about money, sponserships and who is willing to shell out the most, really, really sucks and this is truly a sad day, but pretty much everyone in the industry knew this was coming sooner or later.

 

Sorry to be the negative one, but no need to sugar coat it.

I think the best thing to do for all of us is to take a minute and breathe!  Two days ago we all were overjoyed with excitement & anticipation for the big release.  Then when we saw $$ involved and things not perfect, everyone turned negative...give the guys time...trust them...Besides...it is all we can do for now!  I know they won't let us hang.  They have brought us this far and will soon be taking us to a new realm!

This is starting to get way to complicated, what happened to blogging for fun, comments, and an occasional referral.

Um, how do we add photos now?  I was able add before, and had just gotten a new round ready?

I don't care if it is free or paid, but at least be upfront and honest about what is really going on from the beginning.  It smells really bad around here.

 

Brian:  When exactly have we not been upfront and honest? I think one of the best things about AR has been the level of transparency that has been shared since day one from Jonathan & Matt, and the others. So I'm not sure what you mean here....

This is exactly why I'm glad I have my own blog, on my own domain, controlled by me.

No editor tells me what can and can't be posted, and I don't have to wake up one moring and find the rules have changed. Every post I write goes on my blog when and where I want it, not at the whim of some "editor" and no one can pay to out-rank me.

I also don't have ads on my blog that compete for my services.

This will be interesting to watch.

I don't have time to review all comments, so forgive me if I am repeating anyone.  After a little more time on Localism this afternoon, I find that I am not even a neighbor at all in Arizona.  Forget my city, forget my county ... not in my entire state?  Three pages of faces I barely recognize, and a lender from San Diego?  WTF is up with this, guys?  Takes time to transfer content, I get it, but who are these faces that don't even work my market?  Or the ones who have little more than profiles set up?  Not everything I write is rated X, you know.  I'm sure one or two freaks in the Scottsdale area would like to be my neighbor.

Comments are disabled on Localism? WTF???

Paul - take heart. There are only 316 neighborhoods in Scottsdale. You can sponsor them for only $2,370 bucks a month! (that's assuming you get teh low price of $7.50/neighborhood)

Now if you want the east valley, that'll probably cost you over $10K a month.

Well, first I believe it was very clear that the featured profiles or whatever you want to call them from the beginning were based on participation, content creation, building points.  Now, that isn't entirely true, correct?

I'm not going to go back and find all the questions that were asked whether or not this was going to change in the future where we would have to pay because I simply don't have the time.  But, I very specifically remember all of AR staff strongly denying any plans to monotize this process by charging members.

Now, a short time later there is a new investor, albeit a minority investor in AR.  None other than a lead generation company who we all know has been preying on new agents who won't take the intiative to actually run their real estate business like a true business on a local level for a long time.  Hmmm.

Then, all of the sudden the "new improved" Localism shows up and wouldn't you know it, he who pays gets better placement.

i could go on and on and on.  it is time for agents to step up and take control of their business, period, and sadly i agree with the post above, you have to have control over your content.

Prove me wrong, but don't talk your way around the truth of the situation.

 

Big problem with the column widths as mentioned excessively here and elsewhere.  Looks like the Mixpo videos don't fit.  Looking at my latest one, which overlaps the sidebar and covers a bunch of the testimonials in my profile.  Scrolling down a bit, the charts in my market reports have had entire columns chopped off to fit.  Losing a TON of pertinent information there which basically renders the market reports useless.  I've read that there is little that can be done, but this is a major problem, fellas.

Hi Jon,

I found you post very informative and helpful.  I am one of the "FAMOUS" newbies and did not have a clear understanding of how my posts related to localism.com.  After reading all of the comments, I took the time to go Localism for state and sure enough, I am listed as a Top Neighbor.  I do post frequently regarding very local info. Maybe everyone should be checking their posts to see how local their info really is instead of all the griping. 

Paul, you are a neighbor and a Top Neighbor as well, you are pictured right next to me at http://localism.com/az 

 

It looks like there is a lot of work to do and it will be a while until things get sorted out.  I wanted to make a couple of comments I think are important, but don't want to share them with the entire form.  How should I get these concerns to you?

Ask and ye shall recieve, Gina.  That just happened.  LOL.  Thanks fellas.  I thought I had moved and just forgotten.

Joan - you could probably click "Contact Active Rain" way down in the footer of the page.

Or click this: http://activerain.com/action/default/feedback

"Ask and ye shall recieve, Gina"

Or just wait a couple of weeks and "Pay and ye shall receive"........

The downward spiral for localism?  Will it pull down AR also?

Brian:  Based on the level of your past involvement here on ActiveRain, you may have missed much of the information that we have communicated in the past. But because every one of our members is considered valuable to us, we're more than willing to field your questions and concerns. We've always been very open and upfront about what we do. Since day one, our primary purpose has been to create an environment of value and benefit to our members. None of that has changed. You don't have to pay. It's an option. Your membership on the Network will continue to be totally FREE. That will not change.

If you are not a top neighbor in your community and you feel you should be, I'm sure you will be once the content is reviewed. I'm very sorry that we weren't able to get all the posts reviewed prior to launch. Things will shake out over the next few days and the cream will rise to the top.

Again, we are addressing each of the points, concern, frustrations that are coming out in this post and will be up late responding and trying get everyone up to speed on our vision for Localism. I really think that once the review process is complete, the complete vision is understood and we start to detail some of the awesome features that will be showing up on Localism in the coming weeks and months, people will be very happy with the tool.

This is going to be a way to connect with your community onliine in a way that we believe will be unique. It won't just be about posting and commenting, the experience will be much richer. As has always been the case, you are free to contact any of us directly about anything as well.

I am a little surprised at the top neighbor selections in my area, but the explanations above help a little, not much but a little.

I am additionally surprised at the omission of some of my more recent localism posts that should meet the standards of applicability to the local community.

The land grab approach to neighborhood sponsorship seems to run far counter to the general philosophy and approach to networking on Active Rain. That disappoints me a good bit.

My recommendation is to open the sponsorships to more members than just 1 and to allow the top visible sponsor to rotate with the most recent acceptable post or photo. That would allow for more income to AR and would encourage sponsors to contribute quantity and quality material.

Sponsorship could be less per member, and probably still earn AR more per neighborhood.

It would seem to me to be more consistent with current AR philosophy that democratically rewards participation and quality rather than turn to a land grab department green light special approach that would seem to breed me first, get out of my way mentality.

Richard

I hate to send two comments on this post, but I felt that the preceeding post had enough in it already.

Is it possible to post to Localism, and for that matter to the Outside Blog, without posting to AR?

At issue is the appearance of the posts, and specifically, the appearance of the footers, which are mentioned in this original post, in the reference to "ugly and self-serving material."

I am positive that my footer is to be included in that description. And with the current layout of the Localism page, it actually looks like the ugly and self serving footers go with the post below them rather than the post above them.

I would like to retain a self serving footer, but would like it to look less ugly on the localism page.

How will we post different footers to accomodate the different looks of the different blog formats? Or can we issue on the different blogs separately? And then how would the points be calculated?

There is a lot to address.

Thanks,

Richard

 I can't say I like the gving equal top space for people who simply have 10 a month to give you, I think this lacks integrity to the concept that made you successful. I also think the top agent in the city should automatically get the expert spot not be allowed to purchase it, they purchased it with their massive contribution to your platform.

I think this unvalidates the hard work of the people who have garnered these top positions and to be honest it makes me wonder what good all the hard work was when all I needed was 10 a month. Plus the resplitting of the neighborhoods like you said queen anne and north queen anne, then next and next will not only mean the person who bought queen anne then still gets bought out by someone one uping their description, which makes you more money but follows the model that P2 did and I stopped buuying anything there.

This is what I call the popstar syndrome, you start off nice, then get successful, then go slutty ( selling what was free and changing the way you do things that got you successful) fact is that the people who have a lot of the problem are the ones who have contributed the most, they are the ones that will stand to lose on the selling to the highest bidder thing. We will see if you are listening or not and if not, you will still have business but will move from my eyes to a business looking to squeeze money out vs. a place that I respect. I am watching as are many people who feel their voice may not count as much as it seems.

I think you can't please everyone, but this paying to be called an expert to me is a fat lie to the public. They are not an expert because they give you 10 dollars a month. This is like siskel and ebert, people used to care what they thought because they didn't just say everything was good, but I felt after a while the two thumbs up was on anything so I lost respect for it. To me this is a moral issue. I hope you guys remove this aspect to localism. It may have seen like a good idea but i think it will backfire and dilute your brand in a big way. Just like Seth Godin says you are rounding the corners to appeal to a larger audience and then you will turn off the early adopters that actually made AR big. Learn from Myspace, they went popstar and then lost big when other models came forward. You need to defend your biggest asset the top bloggers who in my opinion do not support selling expert spots.

Jon: First, thanks for pointing out my level of "expereince" here on AR. My "level" of experience is good enough that I am very highly ranked in my state and top in my community so i guess my "level" of AR experience in your opinion isn't based on what a consumer  (i.e. the one that actually puts food on my table) sees but only what fellow real estate bloggers and other agents see about me, hmmm.

Second, the reason I don't have 50 gazillion posts is I'm not sure i want my content in AR's hands at this point becuase frankly, i'm not convinced our best interests as agents are being served here in the big picture.  I hope I'm wrong, but so far I have heard a lot but haven't seen anything to the contrary.

Jonathan, my head is spinning, but thank you for keeping us informed of all the changes...

Brian, It looks like I offended you with a prior comment I made, but I am not sure exactly what or where I said it.

Ok Jonathan

Brian - It was Rich who made the comment you're objecting to.

No, I was objecting to Jonathan's comment, here it is:

Quote from Jonathan above: Brian: Based on the level of your past involvement here on ActiveRain, you may have missed much of the information that we have communicated in the past.

I assume this comment from Jonathan in response to my post means that he feels my level of involvement here at AR is not very high in his opinion.  He certainly wasn't pointing out that I have had a high level of involvement.

As I said I am number one in my market and very high in my whole state so if my "level of involvement' here at AR is low, I'm not sure what else I could do so Jonathan would respect my level of involvement here at AR.  Apparantly that is not the case.

Why?  Jonathan, what level of involvement would be considered good in your opinion?

This is exactly what sucks about Localism and the root of the problem in my opinion.  i am #1 in my market which I thought was the goal in participating in AR in the first place, yet, a founder is questioning my level of involvement? I'm confused.

Now, I have a high level of involvement compared to anyone else in my market, yet with Localism now anyone in my market who has been sitting on their A#% watching me get results with AR can come in and take away some of what I have worked for unless I am willing to shell out money for something I thought was free because I was providing AR with valuable user-generated content which in turn helps AR as a whole with SEO, etc.  Sorry, something isn't right here folks.

I don't have a problem shelling out the money, but I am questioning it just based on principle alone.

 

 

Brian - look again - as I said before, that's Rich's post - notice the signature.

 

Oh yes, sorry.  Jonathan, I apologize, it was Rich's comments i was referring to.  however, it does appear Rich is still AR corporate and making these comments?

I like it! Especially the the clean, crisp look. It looks like a blog and I think well written, local relevant content will work it's way through.

The advertisement "Who's to Blame for $4 Gas" is a bit tacky though. That particular advertisement draws the readers eye away from the displayed content and takes away from the clean, crisp look. I guess that's what the creater of that advertisement intended it to do!

What is a realistic expectation for us to wait for our recent localism posts to appear?

Brian,

Rich made the comment.

Brian:  Based on the level of your past involvement here on ActiveRain, you may have missed much of the information that we have communicated in the past. But because every one of our members is considered valuable to us, we're more than willing to field your questions and concerns. We've always been very open and upfront about what we do. Since day one, our primary purpose has been to create an environment of value and benefit to our members. None of that has changed. You don't have to pay. It's an option. Your membership on the Network will continue to be totally FREE. That will not change.

 

07/10/2008 05:04 PM

by Rich Jacobson ~ ActiveRain Community Builder (ActiveRain Corporation)

You can choose not to send your posts to localism, they will still get indexed by the search engines off of ActiveRain and you will still get the same level of exposure you are getting now. That has not changed. The fact that consumers will be duped into believing that someone is an expert in their area based on writing a community description gives little credit to consumers. Being an expert takes more than writing a community description. It takes a continued demostration of expertise. If you are continually posting to your market on Localism, adding value, you become the expert.

Yes, I agree Bob

And yes, it was Rich's comments not Jonathan's i was referring to.

But Bob, so your comments beg the question, if this is the case:

"The fact that consumers will be duped into believing that someone is an expert in their area based on writing a community description gives little credit to consumers."

Why would AR allow anyone willing to shell out whatever amount it is going to be and let them parade as the expert on their (AR's) site?

 

 

 

QUESTION: I have just entered some posts after updates from the months prior to the upload. I checked if they were in the new Localism and they weren't so I made some changes/updates and put them into the city and then a neighborhood. Can I go into all of my other blogs that are showing on the new side and edit to selet neighborhoods now?

 

Brian,

I'm sorry, we may have to agree to disagree, I don't believe that creating a description of a community that is labeled 'sponsored description' is allowing someone to 'parade as the expert'. In conjunction with additional content about that community, it may elevate a visitor's opinion of their expertise, but the sponsorship alone I do not believe bestows 'expert' status on them. Not once have we claimed that by writing a description of a community one becomes an expert on that community.

I'm not sure I can actually believe what i am hearing. If you haven't once claimed that writing a description or sponsoring a community one becomes an expert then why on #2 of the sponsor a community page on Localism under "Why" sponsor a community does it say:

"Establish yourself as the community expert. Provide increased market exposure through strategic search engine placement.

that sounds to me like at least someone at AR feels by sponsoring a community you establish yourself as the community expert.  AR's words, not mine.

As I have been saying for a few days... I am kind of sitting back for a little while and letting the dust settle.  I also don't want to fly off the handle without having a solid reason.  You A|R Guys are friends, and as such I want to be sure that any criticisms I level are accurate. 

But, I see a lot of people getting worked up on things that haven't been completed (content migration and such). 

I am, however, worried...

Thanks for the explanations of the changes. I've got a ton of postings I'm going to have to edit because of the column width but I'll live. I'll just replace the pictures with a video.

All very interesting on how this is taking shape.

I'm so up in arms with all this... but THANKS Jon for answering most of my questions.... I not sure if A/R will work for me ... if I post to Localism will it be edited so much that It will be taken off.....

How can I be feautred... I would have to work twice as hard to achieve that goal and to post as many as my conterparts.... i want to be recongize too, but where can I start.... What are some of the content are you looking for... I want to make sure you accepts my post.... so let me know.... If I have to pay for it. I sure do want it to be worth it in the end....

I must say that this must have taken a lot of work to put together, but will it be worth it.... I can't wait to see that...

 

Thanks for the clarification we will keep watching for more info.

I'm going to comment here, and it can be deleted if you guys feel that it is inappropriate..

But Brian Brady just posted an interview with Jon and Bob.  It's something like 45 minutes long and you can hear what they have in mind and what this vision is.  I found it to be very helpful, you can hear sincerity in their voices.

Some of this nit picking is getting kinda old.  I'm supporting the guys and waiting to see how it turns out.  It's all different, but change is good, right?

Guys, we are out hear watching.  Thanks for everything and I thought the interview was great! 

Sidenote:  There are already sponsors on AR.  It has not negatively affected my leads, business, blogging or search ranking for that matter.

 

Stephanie - Thank you for posting. I heard Bob this afternoon now I will go listen to Brian's.  I am seeing the light too!

You quoted:
Question: Are the photos still being editing out?
Answer: Yes.  This will be a never ending process. All photos will be manually reviewed.

Question: The new design format is too small; why are you restricting creativity with it?
Answer: The narrow width on the left column is necessary for future feature initiatives within Localism.  I would argue that creativity is not being restricted..........  Please continue to upload pictures and videos to the site.

Which is it...Photos yes or no? I'm thinking the answer must be YES.

Jo, I'm not sure I understand everything they are doing but they sounds more than sincere on Brian's post.  I trust them when they say it will be fantastic.

Here is an interview Jonathan and I did with Brian Brady today. If you want to hear us tell the vision of Localism, this is the place to get it. I think it may help explain a little bit.

Sometimes words don't come out on a keyboard like they do in a candid conversation. We have known Brian since almost the launch of ActiveRain and he has never shied away from asking us the tough questions, both in private and in public and we have always been up front with him and given him straight answers.

It's a little long, but well worth the listen.

Jonathan and Bob discuss Localism with Brian Brady

Thanks for the great infomation........

 

 

 

 

1) Where is the "new, improved Localism" mission statement. I think that might provide some clarity.

2) There seems to be a lack of respect for the original content that people contributed to put AR in the position to be dictating TO us how things are going to be. Does anyone but me see the irony in this?

3)If this model does not appeal to actual bloggers . . . then they will go elsewhere. AR seems a little cavalier about this . . . it is a leverage thing. Bloggers gave AR awesome content and made the site a success, now the management is capitalizing on what was created by bloggers . . . and making rules and decisions that don't appeal to or serve said bloggers.

What is wrong with this picture?

Deborah, listen to the link that Bob just posted.

I have a question: Besides the "sponsorship" thing, which is really confusing peeps, I'm interested in the top neighbor issue.... Today I was replaced by a poster who has only posted 2 posts, ever. And neither were earth shattering. Confused as to how that happened.     I'll keep reading and just park here for now... (I also added this to another post of "Richs'"

I listened to it and my opinion is unchanged. 

I heard either Jonathan or one of the guys on the call again say what Bob said above that he didn't understand where members where coming up with the idea that AR was endorsing the idea that by being the sponsor of a community they were endorsing the sponsor as an "expert" in that community.

Well, where we are coming up with this is the Localism site itself which on #2 of the sponsor a community page on Localism under "Why" sponsor a community does it says: "Establish yourself as the community expert. Provide increased market exposure through strategic search engine placement.

Again, AR's words, not mine.

Now, before you pass this off as nitpicking, keep in mind, I already owned my city, county and was pretty high in my state before this launch on AR and Localism and I still am so it is not a case of griping with no cause.

My major gripe is that now AR is playing off of scarcity to force us as contributing members to now pay or let some idiot in our market step up and be the expert, again, AR's words not mine, in the local market which I have worked Damn hard at.

Now, if we give in and pay the money, fine, what's next? Where does it end?  I remember going down a similar route when Realtor.com was sold and they started trying to use the same type scare tacticts to get everyone to get featured listings and such on Realtor.com

I just noticed this on the Klickitat County, WA Localism page. It shows "Top neighbors" Ben Kinney of Bellingham, WA. Belllingham is not in Klickitat County.  Also under "All neighbors in Klickitat County" Ben Kinney-Bellingham and Alexander Slocum-Vancouver, WA. are listed.  Vancouver is actually in Clark County, Wa. Just thought you might want to know this is incorrect.

Jonathan, I'm sure everything will be worked out. No matter what, my stuff ends up on my google alerts, and people are finding me....;-)  Active Rain is wonderful. ;-)

Brian,

You are correct, the sponsorship page does that say that and I think it is misleading. Sponsoring a community doesn't make you some kind of defacto expert. Expect the wording to be revised on that by the morning.

Bob, it's kinda warm down here in Texas.  You guys work magic, can you drop the temps about 10 degrees?  That would make a cool post.  ;0)  LOL.  We could use some rain too.

Good night.

Brian Rodgers- And that is exactly why Realtor.com does not ever get another penny out of us and never will, we have never lost a listing because we are not on there. But Active Rain is different than Realtor.com. AR leaders do care and they are willing to listen to our concerns as well as alternatives. They are open to suggestions. I think that if we watch how it unfolds and let's see what happens.

 

I'm with you about Realtor.com, it turned into a huge disaster.  As for AR being different, i just see too many similarities going on here as we speak.  I hope it is different, but I just am not so sure. 

Just by voicing my concerns on this thread I have had a founding member of AR insinuate that my level of participation is low so i know nothing of what is going on, yet I am number 1 in my city and county, my market which is why we all (well me at least) use AR and Localism to actually generate quality leads.

Then another member of AR and two other founding members all claiming that this new sponsorship thing is in no way AR endorsing an expert in any market which completely conflicts with their very own site which we all know good and well they know what is written on their own page where the new sponsorship sign up is located.

Then, there is this headline on that same page which also really bothers me.  If you have visited your local sponsor page you will have seen this headline:

"The Community land Rush Begins July 31st Stake Your Claim Before Someone Else Does"

Sounds to me like a scare tactic if i have ever seen one and I have seen a lot of them:)

This is EXACTLY how Homestore played their Featured Listings thing back when they took over Realtor.com and we all know how that turned out, at least for those of us that were successful and are still in the business today:)

I'm just saying, don't shoot me for trying to question this, it just looks very familiar to me.

Besides, by prolonging this thread we can all receive advertisements from AR Advertisers every time we get a new post notification, don't you just love those.  I have to hand it to AR on that one, finding a new way to get ads in front of us:)

Jonathan, Bob and Rich,

After reading through many comments and getting calls and emails about this, I see that most all of the concerns are being addressed and you are working diligently to take care of the issues that have to do with who is being listed, posts that are being accepted and all that.

The one major area that seems to keep coming up as the main contention is the sponsorship thing. IT does still bother many members here. I don't even think it really comes down to the money part of either. It comes down to being fair and recognizing those who contributed so much over the past year or more. And even more than that the neighborhood thing is going to need to be tweaked and customized more for the diversity in the geoness of our country.

I see the new resolution of having the towns under 40,000 people not having to be split up. That is a good and fair start. I think it should be 60,000. Wellington has 55,000 but a lot of those people are seasonal so at least 20,000 are Equestrian residents who come here Dec to April for season. The other thing is that there is nothing but Wellington here. We are the PUD. I live in a subdivision called Sugar Pond, we have a couple of local parks that are owned by the Village of Wellington, and nothing else in our subdivision. We walk about the town, go to the recreation center in Wellington village We don't even have a police department. We are a bedroom community which we are trying to change that but that is 5 to7 years down the road. We have NO downtown. We have a mall. Our large parks and community parks are a part of Wellington not a part of any 'neighborhood'. People don't work here, they drive to West Palm Beach, Miami and Ft Lauderdale to work.

I speak from a point of knowing the difference because I have lived in many states and cities. This is not anything like Seattle, I lived in Lynnwood for 5 years so I can tell you that it is different. I lived in San Francisco where I can understand sponsoring Nob Hill, downtown, Chinatown, Height Ashbury, San Miguel, Fishermans Wharf, etc etc. I lived in Sacramento where I can see dividing up the master planned communities there because there is an infrastructure to support that.

Wellington does not have that type of infrastructure. We have to go to West Palm Beach for commercial things. We have a boys and girls club and a recreation center. That is where we get together as a community. We have a Wellington community garage sale once a year on the soccer fields outside of our rec center. We don't have restaurants inside of our subdivisions.

We have a subdivision that is an aero club that I blog about, there are only 280 homes in there, only 22 for sale and only 5 sold in the last year. That is not a good bang for my buck to have to sponsor it for the same amount of money of lets say the town of Palm Beach which is another town like Wellington but has no subdivision really at all.

I will write a post about the culture and set up of Wellington so you can see that this is a unique town that needs to be taken into consideration. Thanks.

I think it would be good to rethink some of the decisions that are evident with regard to sponsorships and to neighborhoods in the new Localism.

The vision to be sure is earnest, sincere, and well intentioned, and probably well directed in terms of SEO.

And I for one do not begrudge the income interests of Active Rain.

But putting exclusive sponsorships on neighborhoods up for grabs with a first come first serve scramble seems totally against everything I have come to like in the AR community. I am frankly shocked about it.

The top neighbor may sort out, but so far I do not understand the selection or the placement.

My suggested alternatives have been placed in two blog posts, without comment from AR staff. I take that to mean the suggestions are not very good.

I guess I'll try to be ready at the fire sale doors for opening time, with charge card in hand on the "get out of my way, that is my neighborhood" day. It just seems totally foreign to the AR culture, until now.

Richard

I have said it and several others on this thread and others have said it, "It ain't about the money" at least not to us as AR users.  i personally close around 200 transactions a year, 15 bucks isn't going to put a strain on my lifestyle, it's the principle.

Sponsoring neighborhoods will be impossible for many of us in rural areas.  My market area covers two entire counties, with many muicipalities, developments, communities, and towns in each one.

I think it might make more sense to allow agents to sponsor counties, rather than neighborhoods.  As I said before I am the only person in my market area who is actively and regularly blogging on AR, yet I can forsee one of the inactive members buying up all the "sponsorships" to become the "expert" because money is no object, but looking at the blogs this person has produced will make AR and Localism look positively USELESS.

Not to mention, ridiculous.

But hey, whatever.  I'd be perfectly willing to pay a monthly fee to participate in Localism, and allow the "sponsorships" and "neighbors" to be decided based on content produced, not depth of pockets and thickness of wallets.

 

It seems to me that the promotional hype was that the new localism was going to be an upgrade. I don't wish to be rude, but could someone please advise exactly what the upgrades are? What is "new and improved" about the site?

Originally, AR served agents and consumers. Now?

Thank you for clarifying so many questions.  I have a better understanding of how Localism is going to work.

Great Post thanks for sharing...Looks like everyone has found this info helpful!

 

QUESTION:  I am going into my blogs and removing my "footer" with some marketing information and I am then making them hyper-local by putting them into a neighborhood if it fits. How will this be updated or filter over to Localism. If they haven't been approved yet I know they will make it over - but what if they didn't make the cut and now they would how does that work? How do you "re-submit"  When I edit to add the neighborhood how does that filter over if they are already approved. I just want to get some stuff in the neighborhoods. Thanks!

I agee, with my friends Karen and Katerina.As Karen stated, Sponsorships should be awarded by original content contributions not Fat wallets.

I think the original plan to charge a fee for the outside blogs or a yearly membership to AR would have been a much better way to go then the current plan. Those of us how have been around for a long time building content and contributing photos, should have some leverage in the sheme of things. Why not reward those members with first dibs and a free community?

Also the sales pitch is a turn off.... Creating a buying fever by the thought of missing out on something.....Ugh!

Ginger

sounds fascinating.........what is this localism?

Jonathan and Rich:    I understand the new table width on Localism will not be html friendly, and keeping that in mind I wrote an article yesterday using text only and adding photos.  (Small photos).  It was up on Localism today and still didn't wrap correctly.  (I'm not sure wrap is the correct phrase to use..bear with me please.) 

This morning I edited it 4 times and it still shows the original messy way...

What is your suggestion to those of us who are a bit particular about how they want their articles to look? (other than don't use html, which I didn't, I used the recommended text only method.)  I don't have time to go back and re-edit all of my previous articles, but I would like the new ones to have correct formatting from the get-go so that I'm not spinning my wheels in trying to make something look nice.

I am waiting for my posts on the central Florida area to pop up in Localism.... patience is a virtue they say....

We will see what we will see.....

=-)

I don't have a lot of interest in listening to Brian Brady's interview of Jonathan and Bob.... 40 minutes??? but in some of the hype for the hype of the hype about Localism it says ActiveRain is selling sponsorships in communities of 40,000 or greater??? 

I thought of that reading Karen Rice's question about her rural communities.  And I see Katerina addressing it.  Each of our areas is unique and as much as I'd like to whine here about Central Ohio.... I won't. Not that I am saying ANYONE is whining.   I whined on Twitter about not being a neighbor and Jonathan helped me.  Thanks.

I keep going back and forth over:

I'll be damned if I'd pay a penny to buy a neighborhood...with content I've created.

or

ActiveRain needs a stream of revenue how can I begrudge them $?

I wish ActiveRain had come up with something more creative rather than the same old, same old "hey Realtor let me sell you exclusivity, the title of neighborhood expert, your contact info  sponsorhip of neighborhoods you already work in. Or in this case, the content that you have created.

I am disappointed after all the waiting and  all the hype that it is the same old, same old.  I expected something new and creative after the long wait.

Thanks for the additional Q & A's.  What does Private Beta mean, I saw a comment from Rich J and he mentioned that too. 

Now...If I can just figure out a way to stay up 23 hours out of 24 to get this done...we are a;; grateful for this outstanding opportunity ! Thank You !

Hey Matt, Here's an article that will define "Private Beta"   It's quite interesting. Hope it helps.

Thanks for clarifying some of my questions -- change is never easy.

wow it looks like it is still a work in progress but looking forward to the new localism! 

I often use tables if I set my table to the column width will it still affect it. Assuming it does not can you tell me what width table will fit and I will adjust accordingly

Has anybody seen Brian Rodgers around?  I'd love to hear his thoughts on the new Localism. :-)

I appreciate the fact that Localism is a work in process and it's being developed by a group of people that have demonstrated creativity and willingness to listen and respond to their user base.

That said, I have some initial questions about the overall design (some of which has been stated in different ways, but I still want to voice my agreement/support where that is the case).

1.  I too have concerns about paying for communities in my area (South Jersey).  We have many communities identified in Localism.com (sub-divisions/developments that are also categorized that way in our MLS, etc) which may at most have 1 or two sales a year, if at all.  There is no way I can justify paying for them, even in many of our "cities" that may have more than 60,000 residents.  (This is very different from what I term Metropolitan areas, such as Philadelphia and New York, sponsoring communities there make sense to me.)   What is your current official thinking on this?

2. I often have posts that are relevant to several towns and sometimes two or more counties...  what is being done to address this, or do I have to duplicate content just to have it appear in the proper location?    My only choice now is to place it at the County or State level or duplicate it.  Are there any other options?

3. Often I have posts that are for South Jersey (which is different than North Jersey).  Something that is appropriate for "South Jersey" may not be relevant for all "New Jersey", but that is my only choice...  Anything being done about this?

4. As long as you have a "Neighborhood Sponsor" of community that is equally identifiable (similar visual priority) as the "Top Neighbor" entry, I'm comfortable with that a long as "Neighborhood Sponsor" is NOT explicitly identified anywhere as the "Expert"  (content should be the implicit indicator).

5. Is Localism.com now going to be seen conceptually as something separate from AR (include AR outside) blogs with regard to format/style or will there be a consistent blog format  (display size, etc.) throughout AR and Localism?

Thank you for your efforts.

Adam,  ROFL.  I wonder.

LOL, I wonder as well

this seems to be very good information..the only thing that bugs me is the fact that there is a human judging whether or not my post is interesting enough for readers.

1. it leaves too much room for bias and the "this is my friend or i like this person so i will approve" approach

2. who says that what's interesting to one person may not be interesting and/or even helpful to another?

I do agree that posts should be scanned for improper content i.e. spam...but other than that, if i want to write a post about things that are real estate related, i dont agree that a human should say yes or no based on their own opinion. where is the fairness in that?

As a new community member in ActiveRain, I was starting to find a place that offered excellent feedback on the status of the real estate markets as well as introductions to new friends. I look forward to posting on my blogs and sharing things from a different perspective.

I see localism.com being focused primarily on Realtors and not the other facets of the industry. 

I logged under my profile in localism.com and took a look at my neighbors.  I did not see one title company listed.  Is there another way to search this?

How is a title company going to participate in this community? Paid advertisements?  Is activerain.com still going to be around or is all the content being phased over to Localism?

Ok - now I am convinced A|R turned me into a geek because I just read the blog that Broker Bryant posted on private-Beta. That and I can't get the monkey code theme song out of my head.

I agree that changes needed to be made to Localism and expected paid ads eventually.  Hopefully current glitches will be quickly repaired.

 

just to ask, why Black???   that's not a great color for any internet site.

Dave- Welcome to Active Rain! This is the best real estate online community. There are tons of helpful blogs for you to read and learn. We look forward to your input and adding to the community.

You have an excellent idea; title companies should sponsor these positions along with other related businesses like painters, home repair, home warranty companies. etc.. let them foot the bill for a while!

Gary,  i'm seeing a lot of websites start using black.  I'm thinking it's a statistic thing....the people that they expect to most be attracted to the site.  I'm thinking there is a reason.

Can you please consider notifying us when a post makes it through the editors to the area we designate?  Maybe on our stats page if email if too troublesome.  Instead of "Featured" maybe "Community Post" or something...the waiting to see if I am approved is killing me :)

I am a community neighbor in Orlando Florida..... NOT featured, but what the hey.....

I am there!!

=-)

So for example, in Newport RI, when I go to look for content, it shows two california realtors as the TOP NEIGHBORS... the town is Newport, but in RI, not Newport Beach California... Also, for Rhode Island, the top blog postings are repeated from one guy...

I assume that all this is just bugs... at least I hope so...

By the way, this strikes me as a carbon copy of the same system in the Point2 Neoghborhoods, even in so far as the terminolgy used... just a bit cheaper...

Hope it actually makes sense, but we wont be sponsoring any communities any time soon... not as it is now.

I am glad to finally see some updating in Lane Co OR. Everything was months old, but that is changing now. Thanks

Wow, what a comprehensive post.  I can't think of a single thing that hasn't already been addressed.  Thanks!

Hello Jonathan, This is some wonderful and essential information and they way you constructed is is excellent. It answered many of my questions and I am pleased and congratulate you and the entire tea  for such a superb effort on our behalf.

Part of growing pains is the amount of confusion that was generated by others the mis information category and thank you so much for straightened most of it out.

In one the questions above it was asked about pricing and the only things that remains a question was in the material about the land rush, it seemed to encourage one to sponsor as many communities as one could. Somewhat like the groups that were formed, it would seem to me to that limiting the number of communities anyone could serve would be logical. If you founded a group, anyone that has one knows it takes a good bit of effort to keep it working smoothly and verify that the posts found there actually belong there. Plus the encouragement and effort to keep other involved in the group requires some effort on the part of the founder or the moderators of the group. Someone buying up communities and not actually working them seems not be encouraging the best efforts for the best over value for consumers. It will be the consumers that cause this site to ultimately be successful at least as much as the participants. If the consumers don't come, who would care what's there. So who sponsors the community and how many of them would seem much less important to me If this were my undertaking, than the quality of the result. In other words, buying the community is conditional on servicing the community with content. Which would seem at a minimum of at least one or two posts weekly. If it drops below, then the community is up for re-sponsorship. The sponsor of the community would or should also be responsible that the posts are community or consumer related. In other words, articles that are political or have a religious context could be flagged for review. Not a lot of effort required but at least some to see that the community stays vital in the context of localism. That would then be self limiting as to the number of the communities that one could properly work both as a real estate professional and as community sponsor. I may not have said this exactly right as it is just coming off the top of my head without finessing this. But it is just an idea that could be explored. Part of this could idea may be useful or all of it or none of it, it is just an idea. So I hope no one wants to kill the messenger. I am sure most of us wants what makes this the most sought after site on the internet by consumers. Imagine the lead generation it would create if it were.

All this will most likely be addressed over time I would guess but the more important part is that Localism and the uniqueness of it is now underway and there would likely be no real competition on the internet quite like it and that is very exciting to be a part of something this innovative. Well done and I am excited to be even a small part of all this.

Thanks...this helps clear things up some. It seems like a great idea...lets see how it plays out.

Thanks for the Q & A. I'll be saving this  and I am looking forward to being part of localism. I tried to register and was put on a waiting list with my email to be told when I can join.

Is this correct?

 

Thank You Claire!

I'm sitting here saying these sites are like "sister-sites" maybe the same procedure.. and it worked. Coupel minutes later I get help from Claire as well.

Thanks much

Enjoy your weekend!

whew - I think people have a few thought on this one.

I've got dibs on sponsoring Austin and Long Island. Anyone else want a piece of this?

Which Long Island would that be?

I just hacked in to the AR system and sponsored 5 communities.  Choosing what others I want.

And Helsinki.Helsinki is mine. If someone beats me to my neighborhoods, I am willing to pay additional fees for the title of "Grand Poohbah.". That should trump the interloper, I hope. I see secondary market potential in sponsorship actually. Put me down for all of the West Coast. Bet I can sublet neighborhoods for like 25 bucks a pop.

Just kidding.  ;0)  LOL.

I'm thinking Scottsadale AZ next.

Stephanie and Paul - step away from the bar!!! :)

I will break you, Stephanie.  I just changed all of my tags to optimize "Woodlands Real Estate."  I may go bankrupt, but I will win.

Thank you for this very thorough explanation.

Jo, but the band just started playing my favorite song! :)

Paul,  that's ok.  No argument here.  When you go bankrupt I'll pick up the communities on bankruptcy sale.  In the mean time, I'll pay a referral.  My sites are not optimized for The Woodlands. ;0)

Great information. Thank you

 

I want Bellevue too.

I got dibs ob Blackhawk, Ca!

if Paul even thinks about NOLA i'm breaking out the bouncer

Lisa, LOL. 

Paul, you better watch out.

Wow, that's a lot of Q & A....thanks.

Thanks for the answers Jonathan. Sounds like the sponsors are going to get some good juice.

Jon,

Great work! It looks like it's going to be AWESOME, once launch time comes. I printed out a flyer showing the date of the launch so I'm SUPER EXCITED! Again, great work to you and your TEAM.

My My the natives are restless .... I think I will wait for you to finish with the issues then see what I need to do to maintain my current status.

I have faith in you guys for making it right.  I know you are working out all the kinks as I write this,.... I just want to learn as you write, so I am going to park myself here for the  rest of the comments

Ok, I have a question that had probably been answered somewhere...but can't find it. 

Content submitted to Localism.  I guess we know that it was 'accepted' when it shows up on the page for the area that we posted it to?

Even if it is not put on the city, community, etc. will it still show up on our profile there?

Just wondering.  I posted something this evening that I didn't know whether or not it would be accepted because it is directed to builders and developers...curious.

Is it still too early to know?  If so, just tell me to shut up or something.  ;0)

I don't need all of NOLA.  Just the West Bank.

I'll give you Waggaman.

I don't want your crumbs, Lisa.  I want the king cake.  You better have your running shoes on because I'll be ready for the starter's gun!

Steph:  Once we get caught up reveiwing and importing the rest of the content, the process should be fairly quick between the time you publish, and the time it's approved. I believe they're working on a mechanism to give you some kind of email or system alert to that effect. And yes, all of your content, regardless, will show up on your profile.

Now shut up, okay?...hehehe

Did I mention Silverdale yet?  That baby's mine!

Hi Jack!  Are you all still carving up the country?

Go for it, Paul!....

I am listening to the looooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooong interview that Brian Brady...did now...  I am where they are discussing this...


Question: Should I be reposting all of my old content?

Answer: Yes, under two circumstances: 1) If you had some excellent and timeless posts older than six months, and 2) If you have a bunch of ugly or self-serving marketing material on the bottom of your posts and are open to removing it.

My questions is do you remove the old post when you repost it?

 

Maureen,  all of my old posts were up there...just thought I'd share that.  I don't have to repost, you may want to check your localism profile..

Thanks Rich,  Let me know if I misuderstand what' going on by replying to Maureen above... 

With my question I was really curious about what content you guys will accept...(which I know you all have more important things to worry about right now) I know that when you are caught up it will be as fast as humanly possible, no worries.  :)

I'll shut up now.

Ok, I lied.  Something I would consider sponsoring is a 'Green Community'  Ex.  Houston's Green Community  That's not something that is really tangible- I mean, you can't really drive around and see that and it is not specific to one neighborhood or another...but the direction that you all are taking it, that would be cool.

For the Niche marketers that we are starting to see more of...

Ok, I might shut up now.

So much to learn about all this it makes my head hurt. But thanks for the information.

Stephanie wrote "Maureen,  all of my old posts were up there...just thought I'd share that.  I don't have to repost, you may want to check your localism profile.."

My stuff is there if I look at my stuff on Localism (my Localism profile???)  but it is not populating to Localism. Or did not make the cut. For example for Worthington Ohio, nothing that I have written made the cut, it's on my Localism page but is not included in the Localism on Worthington.  I stopped posting to Localism at some point.  Jonathan says "

Question: Should I be reposting all of my old content?

Answer: Yes, under two circumstances: 1) If you had some excellent and timeless posts older than six months, and 2) If you have a bunch of ugly or self-serving marketing material on the bottom of your posts and are open to removing it.

I think some are "excellent and timeless" and they are older than 6 months old.

 

Still waiting on the answer to:  Do we delete older than 6 month posts when we repost them to localism so they show up as new or can we just edit them?

Lisa's questions  I think that is my main question too... yes it is because if we delete them all the comments will be gone...If we edicted they would not get a new post date would they?

Bob (?) I think it was Bob talking said something about people being concerned about point grabs if we repost.  If we are deleteing the old post the points should net the same aproximately  but the comment posts will be lost. If someone has linked to an old post when we delete there is going to be a dead link...

Thank you so much for clarifying this for me!

Jonathan,

1)  Thank you for AR and Localism!

2)  Congratulations on the awesome REALTOR article about AR!

3)  You should definitely get money for what you provide for us.  If we all kicked in a few bucks every month you guys would be rich and you deserve it.

4)  I don't like the sponsorships because the consumer looking for good info should come to that conclusion.  I'd like you to get paid some other way because you certainly deserve it.

5)  Don't like the old articles getting tossed out.

7) Would a banner be a company logo that should be deleted?  I want to correct anything wrong.

8)  Is your company and contact info self serving and should it be deleted?  I want to follow the rules...

9)  I like the "censoring" or "approving" kind of.  The top 2 people in my area just post other people's listings to rack up their points, etc.  A little policing is good.

Thank you for E-V--E-R-Y-T-H-I-N-G-!-!-!-!

With gratitude,"
Maya

Brad sent me.  Question #1

Regarding the phone numbers - is it possible to move the office phone # up under the office name, and have a new field for cell phone under the email?  Many times there is nobody manning the office phone, and callers will be disappointed to get an answering machine.  I think this applies to many of us.  This is Localism.  As for the OB (outside blog) - that's a whole 'nother issue.

(btw - did you know that in IE, if you don't put a title and description, the picture won't load in the comment section?)

THANK YOU

Question #2

Will the squashed picture syndrome be fixed soon?  I am embarassed to email the link to the New Localism to anyone at this point.

Question #3

Are you fed up with the whining?  haha

THANK YOU AGAIN

Question #4

Why didn't I notice that link to the new guy?  I'm going to whine at Jorgen now.  Never mind.

I am really looking forward to how this all shakes out in the end.

Man, this still doesn't work well...I'm not sending the links out either - I can't find anything yet and lots of 500 errors...thanks for working on it guys. I'm seeing improvements.

But you should know, I can still get in the admin section...want some help approving posts????

 

Well, I guess like all else that is new, I'll have to let all the smoke clear before I can make an informed comment.  Right now I'm the top neighbor in my area but I'm also the only one producing the blogs for the communities. IF someone winds up "paying" for a position that knocks me out with 20 blogs versis their 2 then I'll be history as to future postings though.

I love the concept of the "neighborhood" and don't attempt to "hog" the city...just the areas I specialize in and even have several dedicated "websites" with tons of specific neighborhood data and have a link to the localism blog.

I've subscribed to this Q&A blog with seems to be an excellent source for staying informed.

Recently, I posted a blog about the local community theater's upcoming performance on the Localism. I realize that it is not there yet, although it was posted on July 11th. How long does it take for this or any other post to show up on localism. I apologize in advance if it is in the wrong comment section.

Hi Jonathan,

I love the "localism" you guys have created and put out on "the net".  THANKS!!

I like the new look...great job to you guys on all the hard work...

---Georgia Real Estate Directory---

I have started reposting OLD loccal content to Localism... I've asked questions about whether to go back in and delete the original thus losing the links and any comments.  No response. I have listened to loooong and really kinds boring podcasts ( I am not that good a listener...) about the new Localism to see if the answers are there... if they are I've missed them... Bob in one does say something about it but not what to do.... maybe I could listen to the long boring hype again but I am not a good listener. I used the Contact ActiveRain, to ask the same quesstion.  No response.  I waited a couple of days.

I could wait another week or two for some direction but I decided to just "do something" instead. Now I know Ohio is not an important state and there really is not that much local content there.  If the other local members start whining "no fair" re; reposting entries from 2006 and 2007, tough, 

Gee I hope it's not here in the comments or I'll really look dumbb...

I wish all the links you listed  ( Thank you much,  it really answered a lot of question).

Because of so many  post and so much information I missed this.  I remember that I bookmarked it..then forgot.   Just a thought...but if a temporary  New Localism information group was created,  where all the expalanations and tutorials were in one spot,  I bet there would be less frustration and less questions.

The questions have been answered ....sometimes they get lost in distractions of so many blogs and post

 Thanks again much appreciated......I am clicking every link...then the search is on for more...

Thanks for this info Jonathan.  It answers many of the questions I had. I would urge that the guidelines that editors will be using to determine whether to approve posts be made public as soon as possible. I think that is a key document.  I won't be posting too much to localism.com until that document is made public.

I ditto Andrew Kyles remarks. I too would like to know exactly what the guidelines are going to be...as the ones that are now showing up in my area are the usual poster's of info...they don't all look that great.

Great Q&A, this helps me alot. I guess I will need to work on some good post! Thanks :)

I notice that the post written within AR, posts differently and does not align the same on the outside post - which can cause problems. But I am also noticing that these same posts really are skewed on Localism and the article looks NOTHING like what you thought you posted.  Punctuation, pics are all out of alignment. Is it possible to format all three of these so you know what it will look like when you "put it out there?"

Thanks,

Janice Slaven, Prudential GA Realty
Suwanee GA Real Estate

Hi Jonathon- Wow- 249 comments.  Not sure if I missed it, but are you not accepting any new photo's to localism at this time?  If you are, how do you go about posting them?  Sorry if you already answered this one.

Jon, will the issues with photos not moving over from AR to Localism be fixed before the public launch?

Thanks for the Q+A...I'm sure the bugs will get worked out

Registering for a community:

• 
  I clicked on "Land Rush Starts Now"
  I logged in with user name/password
  My ONLY state choice is WA; there are no city/county choices available to me
  At the credit card info there is no "submit"

I've logged out and gone back in and get the same thing.

 

Janice Slaven

could not figure out where to go and how to sponsor a community. tried logging in off the log-in link above Deb Bruns page that you linked us to here. and only got the state of washington as a choice.

went to South Lake Tahoe localism, saw us there, tried again, and only got the state of washington as a choice.

tried to see my "account", though have no credit card on file, which it says, but there is no place to go from there to put one on file.

will continue on reading from Rich's list...

The article I wrote: "The Short and Tall of It! Short Sales...What You Need to Know" I posted to Georgia, Gwinnett. I did see it in there, but now it is gone??? I don't see it anywhere.

I also notice posts I have marked for "SUWANEE" are under Gwinnett?????

Janice Slaven, Realtor/Prudential GA Realty

Help - I have some really great photos of my local area that I would love to post to Localism...but I cannot figure out how to do this...anyone???  Thanks for any assistance...Kristi

Hi Jonathan,

Thanks BTW for the Twitter follow :-)  sorry I have not been as active on there as I would like lately...crazy busy with customers...most of which I believe find me through AR and my blog posts.

I have a quickie questions for you....Ok maybe not so quickie... :-)

 I have been putting up market reports about our local communities here and get awesome feedback and business from my customers about it.  It even gets picked up everytime by google I notice...but I see it appear on localism and then the next day it is gone.  Is there something wrong with my localism posts...does AT not like them :-(  I do  know that they are a hit with customers....and I love to see them on localism.  If I am doing something wrong to make the AR editors not like my posts...please give me a heads up...I think that AR is an awesome community and I believe is such a huge part of my success over the last 6 months with customers....I am a huge fan or AR and would like any advice or suggestions about how I can create better content for your benefit and mine...I am sad that my post keep disappearing from localism...help????

To Jon & Bob...Thank you for answering my questions so promptly...looks like the information was under my nose all the time D'of...me bad, lazy   Super Busy,  AR fan...you can read it here in a great post by Rich...

http://activerain.com/blogsview/595254/What-Constitutes-Approved-Content

Thanks again...Kristi

I gave up on trying to get an answer to my questions about #1 and it is pretty much a moot point for me now... I went ahead and am addiing new content

What about number 2?  Where does the Newest Localsim without an editor stand on the ugly and /or self-serving marketing materials on the bottom of posts?

from this post:

"Question: Should I be reposting all of my old content?

Answer: Yes, under two circumstances: 1) If you had some excellent and timeless posts older than six months, and 2) If you have a bunch of ugly or self-serving marketing material on the bottom of your posts and are open to removing it."

 

Maureen: I wish that there were a simple and easy answer to that one. RE professionals are such creators of habit. Old habits are deeply engrained. They have a hard time letting go of old marketing methods and practices. They tend to mimic what others are doing. And such is the case here. Regardless of how many links and profiles we provide, some feel it necessary to add additional blatant self promotion to clutter their content. All that we can do at this point is to simply lead by example, and post articles to encourage them to do otherwise.

Hi Rich, while you are here :).....I've changed my AR signature to just my name, with a very short copyright notice that includes a text link to my site.  That's it.  Does that meet the guidelines for what ya'll are looking for?

Or maybe those of us who don't spam ourselves on our post  will decide if you can't beat them, why not join them?

Maureen:  Now there's an idea that makes a lot of sense. Simply add to the madness? What would you propose would be a realistic resovle?

Lisa:  Less is definitely more. Today's consumers are tired of being bombarded with incessant self-serving promotion. They want valuable information that helps to inform their decisions. AR provides more than enough adequate contact links for consumers to find you.

Maureen:  Now there's an idea that makes a lot of sense. Simply add to the madness? What would you propose would be a realistic resovle?

Lisa:  Less is definitely more. Today's consumers are tired of being bombarded with incessant self-serving promotion. They want valuable information that helps to inform their decisions. AR provides more than enough adequate contact links for consumers to find you.

Rich says "What would you propose would be a realistic resovle?"

Hire Joe Zekas to kick butt?  Where is Joe Zekas when you need him?

No that would be editing...  I quote Rich talking about Joe Zekas:

"One of the points he made in an article entitled, "Ten Things You should IMMEDIATELY Stop doing on Your Blog," was to stop disrespecting your readers by cluttering your posts and comments with your name, logo, and contact info. He further illuminated on the same topic in another post, "Miss Manners says it's like talking about your underwear."

His point in both articles was the meaningless, and rather egotistical redundancy of enclosing all of your contact info, company name, website, phone numbers, logos, etc.. within the body of your blog posts. It was his opinion that such things tended to 'clutter' the writer's article with unnecessary self-promotion. Especially, given the fact that our profiles show up quite predominantly to the side of each of our articles here on ActiveRain."