Top 3 Latest & Greatest Products from Google
Greetings FOREM readers!
I am really excited to be a featured writer on FOREM’s blog. I have been a reader and admirer of this blog for some time and am thrilled with the opportunity to contribute! It is an honor to write along side Joel Burslem. I am equally as excited about my new position as marketing manager with Inman News. I look forward to bringing a fresh and new perspective to our readers and fans!
To read more about me click here!
So for my 1st blog post, I am going to talk about one of my favorite subjects – Google.
Let’s face it, we are living in a Google world. But, as you all know Google has become so much more than just a search engine.
There are tons of experiments going on with Google – but I thought I’d take this opportunity to give you the 3 latest (and in my opinion most exciting) things happening with Google that will impact you and your business.
1. Google Living Stories – This looks like it could be the next “big thing” for Google and potentially down the line for real estate. Google Living Stories takes newspaper reading to the next level.
Newspapers? Yes. Stick with me here. This is where it gets good.
It’s not surprising to anyone that the newspaper industry is dying but breaking news and the hunger for news continues to grow at an exponential rate.
Google Living Stories is in beta form right now, and is very “Wikipedia” looking. So far, Google Living Stories has partnered with The New York Times and The Washington Post. When you go to Google Living Stories and click on a story, you are brought to a page with 1-2 paragraphs of text, photos, graphs, timelines, related links, and related stories.
I love this.
If Living Stories takes off this could be HUGE for the real estate world. Imagine a client searching for “New York Real Estate” – when they click ‘search’ they then may come to a page with listings, photos, neighborhood info, school info, timelines, video, and so much more.
Living Stories still has a ways to come but it has a lot of potential!
News organizations produce a wealth of information that we all value; access to this information should be as great as the online medium allows.
2. Google Chrome – This free web browser is literally taking the web world by storm. Just 2 days ago, at the Googelplex in Mountain View, over 500 new Google Chrome Extensions were unveiled.
Why Chrome? Speed, simplicity and style – but the best part is the speed. It is lightening fast! Already have Chrome? Check out these experiments from Google to play around with! Also announced today on Google’s blog is the launch of Mac and Linux extensions for Chrome.
3 . Google Goggles – Take a picture of a book, a store, a landmark and that picture translates into a search for that object. It is still in its infancy and only available on the Android (but the rumor is that it will available soon on Google Chrome) but think about the possibilities for real estate search. What if this worked with homes on the market? You could snap a photo and instantly see how long it had been on the market, details about the home, listing agent, virtual tours, and more. I think there are lots of possibilities for this – plus I love the “cool” factor.
What’s next for Google? Stay tuned – the possibilities are wide open!
Posted by Katie Lance, Marketing Manager, Inman News
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Tara-Nicholle Nelson | Dec 11, 2009 | Reply
Living Stories is amazing – and I agree, could be a very rich resource for real estate pros AND consumers.
My niche is women homebuyers (wrelda.com), and they in particular are looking for data to support a vidsion of the AFTER picture of their life post-purchase of a new home. Living Stories creates that lifestyle showroom feel for a neighborhood or even an architectural style.
Thanks for the heads up, Katie, and congrats on your new position!
Tara-Nicholle Nelson | Dec 11, 2009 | Reply
Actually, Living Stories would also be great to track the evolution of a piece of legislation that impacts buyers, sellers or homeowners. Because it updates stories you’ve already read and distinguishes them from the new stories, changes to things like tax credits, the short sale debt forgiveness exemption, etc. as they work their way through Congress might be more reliably tracked with this tool than through the tools we have now.
Eric Robbins | Dec 12, 2009 | Reply
Living Stories must have taken a cue from Vook. Will there be more interactivity built into the stories? Widgets?
One other nice benefit to Chrome is its architectural similarities to Firefox, the #1 (or #2 depending on who you ask) most used browser on the Internet. It is my understanding that there is very little additional development needed for a website to be fully functional on both browsers. A penny saved…
Good stuff Katie!
Chris Dowell | Dec 12, 2009 | Reply
I like your blog post and would like to take it to the next level. Google will enter more into the real estate syndication stage. It is best to understand where Google is going and try to be there.
I think Google will release a few great real estate products that they have been testing to the public in 2010.
Jay Zenner | Dec 12, 2009 | Reply
I’m surprised that you didn’t include Google Wave in the top three Google Aps that could affect real estate. It’s impact on marketing may be indirect but it’s potential for managing the collaboration that is usually required in a real estate transaction are game changing, especially for companies who have their own products for doing the same thing.
Jay Zenner
4PsRE.com
Katie Lance | Dec 12, 2009 | Reply
Tara – Thank you for your kind words! I like what you said about Living Stories – it does have a huge potential to “paint a lifestyle” picture for people by telling the whole story. I also really like the idea about the updated tax credit – with so much conflicting and updated info it would be great to have it in a Living Stories format.
Eric – Yes LS is very “Vook”-looking! Good observation! You are correct about Chrome & Firefox -I actually think Chrome is more compatible with more sites than Firefox seems to be – in my opinion.
Chris – I’m looking forward to seeing what Google rolls out specifically to the RE audience later next year. Syndication is a huge opp for Google.
Jay – Good point about Wave – there has been so much blogging about Wave that I decided to leave it out of this post. But I agree it has “game changing” possibilities
Rick Bosl www.ArlingtonCondo.com | Dec 17, 2009 | Reply
Google living stories is bound to change the real estate world in a positive way, what a great tool for consumers. Google keeps on coming out with better and better tools for consumers.
craigslist winnipeg | Jan 17, 2010 | Reply
You have discussed the features of the Google search engine .I think these are very knowledgeable for every body .You talk about the Google chrome .Google is popular due to its presentation in the form of live stories and the role of the Google in the search engines is great.Google advertisement and payment issues.Google is serving both in knowledge and money are also admirable .Thanks for a nice blog