I’ll be live blogging the REBarcamp in Sacramento today and testing a couple of new features in the Zeek Live Blog app, including posting updates without linking back to this post. In looking back on my stream from previous conferences, the link just gets in the way if the entire point can be made in 120 characters. So, we’ll see how the new features do out in the wild.
9:20 am: The crowd is beginning to gather. This wine bar makes an interesting location. We’ll see how it works out for the sessions
9:43 am: @Andykaufman talked me into leading a session with him on mobile… hard to lead and live blog, but I’ll try. 
iPhones, EVO’s & Droids, Oh My!
9:50 am: Andy asked how many iPhone users were thinking about switching phones. Vast majority of group is using the iPhone.
9:59 am: “I think the next gen iPhone is the perfect RE tool. The ability to edit video is a key” – @jerrykidd
10:07 am: “As a broker, creating content on the fly creates real opportunities for mistakes.” – @genariede
10:12 am: The crowd at the mobile session is highly participative.
10:13 am: @jerrykidd recommends “print n share” for the iPhone.
10:23 am: Interesting discussion about the relative value of testing vs talking on the phone, accuracy, conveying emotion, etc. I feel like the balance of the crowd is leaning toward higher levels of texting.
10:25 am: There are real dangers in the ubiquity of access to data via mobile technology. Andy asked how many have considered a communications policy to limit access. Interesting question.
10:26 am: How many have a communications policy to limit access?
Automated Social Media Marketing Systems via @pkitano
“My background is in developing media companies. So this is going to be a completely different approach to real estate social media.”
11:07 am: “First engage your community.”
11:08 am: “Local advertising doesn’t work because a cpm model doesn’t work.”
11:11 am: What works in local advertising? 1. Immediate discounts. 2. Making it easy to find a place to find a local service. “You need to become the local media for your community.”
11:14 am: “All local news will be user generated at some point.”
This is more about @pkitano’s product than an REBarcamp session, but he’s raising some interesting points.
11:22 am: Groupon – what makes it interesting is the deep discounts they can offer. They sell at deep discount and take 50% of the gross. They are now segmenting their market even smaller to access deeper local involvement. There are now at least 10 Groupon imitators in San Francisco alone.
11:24 am: Local ad power – “I rarely go to any restaurant without a coupon now.”
What Pat is suggesting is that real estate agents use an automated system to become a local media channel and create value for their community by creating local advertising outlets. Focus is on creating on a specific location and providing an aggregation point for user generated local content.
What is the need for a revenue model via advertising if the goal is to sell real estate? “It’s to create quid pro quo opportunities for the community.”
“From my experience, with over 4000 followers, I only average 40 clicks on any link on Twitter.” @jerrykidd
11:46 am: Pat is making a connection between automated local news Twitter streams and the 365 Things Facebook page ideas and the consistency of the content and ease of creation.
Twitter: Fad Or Effective Marketing Tool
If I were to base an opinion on what I’m hearing in this session, I’d say it’s was fad. I find that Twitter conversations that focus solely on broadcast tactics woefully miss the mark.
2:22 pm: Fad Or Business Tool?
2:32 pm: Relative to business, I think Twitter is one of the most misunderstood social sites.
2:49 pm: I do like the way this Twitter session has navigated… Lively conversation. Thanks @christellez
The End
3:05 pm: Tamara And Laura Close It Out