Real estate blogging has been a boon to consumers by describing the local housing markets in far greater detail than any news organization. The challenge in blogging has been in consistently maintaining market commentary with a journalistic discipline. I've been discussing the "breaking news" paradigm as the most time efficient way for blocs of agents, whether within a brokerage company or created via social networks, to maintain "ticker tape" market commentary to complement blogging. We're moving into the age of the "Real Time" Web.

The point is both blogging and micro-blogging have different communication purposes, but adds "dimension" to the writer:

• Blogging provides in-depth research, analysis and demonstrates domain expertise.
• Micro-blogging alerts and validates analysis, and demonstrates commitment to market commentary.
• Both enable conversations to happen.

Micro-blogging "breaking news" compels consumers ready to make a transaction compelled to "time" the transaction similar to how consumers watch Marketwatch.com to make stock buying decisions. No smart consumer is going to buy GM stock today without watching breaking news. Once the consumer is hooked on the breaking news, the consumer confirms their decision to "follow" the micro-blogger by examining their blog content for evidence of expertise. For real estate marketing, a micro-blogging and a blogging presence are very complementary to capture attention, and then validate expertise, respectively. All this consumer analysis is done without the bloggers' knowledge, making it even more important for the blogger/micro-blogger to focus on delivering useful content.