Thanks… I do agree that the realtors have a motivation to get their name out there besides just being realtors. But I think whatever the motivation, if the content is “pure” and “non-real estate” it’s still a good thing and will help them and us. They do know the neighborhood and what’s going on. Our fear was that someone would write… “The fair was a huge success, right next to nice three bedroom house that’s just come on the market.” But we haven’t seen it… at least the first five days.

That being said…

We also have many realtors (near 100) getting ready to blog for us about neighborhood events and news. They are not allowed to write about real estate. All of them, wanted to do it because they too are passionate about their community. (for those reading this, thank you!)

Let’s not kid ourselves here. They may indeed be passionate about their respective communities, but I’d bet cash money that a large part of their motivation for blogging is to generate referrals. Heck, I attended REBarCamp Seattle in February (and I’ve got the t-shirt to prove it), and one of the talks someone put on was specifically about how real estate agents can blog about their local community to generate referrals and grow their business.

Hey, if they’re producing quality content, more power to them, but why pretend they are motivated by pure civic passion?

Let me try to explain our perspective: we have over 300+ people in Seattle that are employed at Fisher. We all live in the neighborhoods we cover. Our company has been in business in Seattle for 100 years. We inform people everyday about local stories whether online or tv. In addition, we raise money for this community every year and sponsor events all over the Puget Sound. I believe our track record is pretty good and we are proud of our contributions.

As for the new neighborhood sites, what we are attempting to do is make it easy for people to find our KOMO content when we are in their neighborhood and also create a community blog. We would love to partner with bloggers, link to their sites and help grow their traffic too. We have hired staff members and bought 80+ iphones for radio/tv reporters and photographers so they can post content to these sites much sooner.

Having multiple voices in a community is not a bad thing. We may be a large company but that doesn’t mean the people who work there are not your neighbors and passionate about their community.

We also have many realtors (near 100) getting ready to blog for us about neighborhood events and news. They are not allowed to write about real estate. All of them, wanted to do it because they too are passionate about their community. (for those reading this, thank you!)

We will make some mistakes but we will learn from them and get better. We’ll see where this goes, but I am looking forward to seeing how many new voices we can get out in the blogging world. Thanks.

Troy McGuire
VP/GM Fisher Interactive Network

I’m so sorry. I sent Jillyanne an e-mail because that was a shock. You on the other hand may be able to benefit more because your business deals directly for consumers.
Best of Luck.

You have a nice web site and exactly how I think a front page should look.

What’s wrong with the dozens of neighborhood blogs that already exist?

They don’t bring in advertising revenue for an increasingly irrelevant KOMO.

I have seen the KOMO commercials about their blogs and have already had about 15 sales calls from them trying to get sponsorships from me and my agents. It is annoying. I think I will stick with Localism:)

I certainly don’t begrudge them the chance to try to make money, but I still don’t see what they’re offering that local blogs are not… KOMO says they’re not attempting to compete with these sites, but in reality I doubt there are really two separate markets in the neighborhood blogging scene—one for authentic, community-driven blogs, and another for template-ized, corporate profit vehicles.

These guys come and go not because they don’t understand what matters. They’ve probably staffed 1-2 people, maybe less, controlling and monitoring these new blogs. The space is massive and the content generated is too weak. Sure you have dedicated contributors, but they’re just doing a job.

It’s the people who truly care about the community, who simply want to give back succeed the most. myballard, westseattle, issaquahundressed… these community blogs all exist because someone cares. The content is king, the advertisement is a following.

If Komo can realize, advertising isn’t the important portion and focus on generating quality content, I think they can do well.

http://gigharborundressed.neighborhoodsundressed.com/

My favorite was the Open House News Tribune Blog. I was bashed incessantly by Agents and their families. It was very therapeutic and unfortunately it went the way of the “Wild Ass.”

http://www.animalport.com/extinct-animals/Wild-Ass.html

I’ve seen these websites disappear as fast as they’re created too, when its mostly the townhall type meeting populist bubble heads controling the blogs, they don’t last long :-)

Other MSM websites simply don’t allow general blogging [or have a coporate lapdog moderator block general freedom of speech; same thing]….LOL