A word of advice to Real Estate Agents who Blog, the power of social networking can be a “double-edged sword”

In what can only be described as an amazing commentary on the true power of Social Networking, one incredibly ignorant RedFin representative, Carol Hian, wrote a scathing Blog post on her RedFin Blog about a fellow “Twitterer” and Facebook friend, Kris Berg and her husband Steve. In which she not only referes to them as “Barbie & Ken”, but oversteps the bounds of Blogging and good taste, by utilizing her privilege to complete a personal agenda of bashing through jealousy.

Miss Hian certainly found out the power of social networking and the closeness of a Social Networking community in which the Berg’s and many others belong. Within hours, nary minutes, of the Blog post becoming known to the Twitter and Facebook families the Bergs belong to, the post had 25+ comments scolding Miss Hian for her miss-use of the medium. It was truly amazing to see, and warmed my heart that even a consumer, who had read the blog post because he was researching RedFin to possibly use their services, chimed in with this diddy…

Jon said:

I am not a real estate agent, as most commenters here appear to be. I’m just a soon to be homeowner interested in real estate in San Diego.

But I do find this post not only childish, but insulting.

“Everyone ends up with a bad taste, longing for a barf bag and mouthwash.”

You’re right. That describes me to a T after reading this drivel.

I am considering using Redfin as my agency, but I wouldn’t ever consider using Ms. Hian as my agent.

“Biting back” at Ms. Berg is one thing, but you bit back at everyone that contributed to that food drive. How is that appropriate?”

Every comment was of the same ilk, except one, from Glenn Kelman President & CEO of Redfin, he wrote…

Glenn Kelman said:

This post makes me physically ill. It is not consistent with how those of us at Redfin who have met Kris Berg feel about her or her charitable activity. Kris is a wonderful human being and a credit to our profession.

We have a clear policy that the contractors who contribute local posts about the real estate market should focus only on the real estate market, not on competitors. We are clear with everyone with whom we work that Redfin works as a partner with other real estate brokers, not as an antagonist.

Had we known that Ms. Hian felt this way about Realtors, we would not have commissioned her to write for Redfin at all.

As much as we would like to, we cannot take the post down because it would be sneaky to do so. But we will take steps to ensure something like this never happens again.

I apologize on behalf of Redfin for this post, both to Kris Berg and to the real estate profession.
Regards, Glenn”

Kudos to Glenn, not only for his quick response in defense of Kris & Steve, but also for his eloquently stated apology. I am now a Glenn Kelman fan!

Be careful with this medium Bloggers, we should all be proud of what we do, not embarrassed by it.

The Coach