Originally Posted by
Dom D'Agostino
I have to say that if the
Inspection Radio system requires a download (Toolbar) than many people won't ever hear it. I won't install this toolbar on my PC just to use this service.
Why not just make the system available without downloaded software? Can't we just go to the site, find a topic, and listen or view it?
Dom.
As with any new technology, it will take some time for people to understand it and learn how to use it in their personal or professional lives. I think I must have talked to Brian about 8-10 times before he finally downloaded the toolbar and installed it. But when he did and I gave him a personal tour of what the toolbar can do, it didn't take long for us to get this project started.
As for putting information on the InspectionRadio.com website, we will do that, but it will not be immediate. In fact, it may take days or even weeks for information you find on the toolbar to be placed on the website. Why? Because we may not have the rights to re-publish the content or don't have the time or resources to create completely exclusive content to cover the same subject matter. In addition, the longer you wait, you run a greater risk of putting information up there that will be outdated or no longer useful. The toolbar has much more value in providing instant access to information that is already out there on the Internet. Search engines are great, but few people will go beyond the first 3, 5 or 10 pages of results. Some of the best information will never be found because no one knows that they exist. That will all change because of social media.
The time it takes for someone to post an interesting link or topic on a discussion board and wait for other people to respond to it is just enough time for someone else to post it on a blog, have it digged, tagged and clipped by other blogs and news aggregation services and distributed to hundreds if not thousands of people. That is the difference between waiting for information to be posted on a website and watching the information go viral within a matter of hours.
With the older demographic of most home inspectors and the stubborn and independent mentality that drove most of them to work for themselves, I understand that it may take some time for home inspectors to adopt this service. But the ones that do will be the first to know about anything positive or negative that can affect their business.
When I left ASHI 3 1/2 years ago, I knew that I wanted to learn more about the Internet and emerging technologies. I've gone to the top Internet marketing conferences and met some of the most influential marketers handling brands like Microsoft XBOX, AOL AIM Pages and so forth. The things that are coming down the pipeline within the next 6-12 months are simply amazing. If you have any teenagers or college kids that use social networking sites like MySpace or Facebook, teach them an early lesson about recognizing trends and simple opportunities that may already exist, but remain unnoticed around them. The kids that learn how to make money from, not simply use, social media will be more valuable in the marketplace than someone with a college degree.