There was a blog post over on Six Pixels of Separation last week, a must-read digital marketing blog, that really resonated with me. The post discussed how social media has created a plethora false experts:

If an individual with no followers on Twitter has decades of real-life work experience and the individual with hundreds of thousands of followers only pontificates, plagiarizes and hasn’t proven themselves in-market, what is the consumer supposed to do? It’s not all that hard to establish some kind of Social Media beachfront and – with a few tactical moves – quickly gain notoriety and respect in a digital kind of way, but you can’t fake a portfolio.

If you’re not sure if you’re getting expert advice, ask to see a portfolio, ask to see results and ask to speak to past clients. Social Media goes both ways. If you think someone is a fraud, why not leverage Social Media to figure it out.

“You can’t fake a portfolio.” – As a young person with very little professional experience in real estate and who has had some success with social media, I thought I’d discuss how I use web 2.0 tools:

For me, social media has been a way to supplement my learning by delving deeper into market trends, investment metrics, emerging technologies, and other topics of interest. I’ve also used it to flush out random thoughts and ideas.

I’ve used social media as a networking tool.  I’ve met so many interesting and driven people that I otherwise wouldn’t have. I’ve also used my blog as an excuse to reach out to people I have no business speaking with.

And as has been my goal from the beginning, through this blog I hope to create a brand and one day launch it into a company.

In no way do I ever try to give off a false persona to seem larger, more experienced, or more successful than I am, rather I want to seem driven and passionate towards real estate in a way that inspires others and makes me more marketable as a real estate professional. The only way to gain experience is by making mistakes. One day, when I go off own my own and build a track record, I’ll use the blog to augment my client and professional work.

What do you think?