Egos and the Group Real Estate Blog

The crew over at Sellsius had an excellent post entitled "The Lights Of Blogway: Deconstructing the Group Blog" regarding the seldom discussed topic of group blogs and their internal dynamics. (For a definition of a "group blog", please check out Sellsius.) They discuss the pros and cons of group blogs, but one issue that wasn't really touched upon was egos and how they may effect the group.

As with any team or group in business, there will always be one person who ends up being the "rain maker". The same is true of a group real estate blog. One person will get more hits or comments on their posts than others. That person will in turn receive more inquiries and "leads" and ultimately make more commissions than the others. Even if the "rain maker's" ego does not become inflated, the egos of others may become affected.

So what does the inflated ego of the rain maker and/or the bruised egos of the others do to the internal dynamics of a group blog? And how does that effect readers?

Here are some of our thoughts:

• the non-"rain makers" will start to become disheartened by their perceived "lower success"
• animosity will start to run rampant - the greater the ego of the rain maker and the more bruised the egos of others are, the worst it will be
• the quality and quantity of posts by the non-"rain makers" will decrease
• the benefits of having different points of view through a variety of bloggers will decrease
• the overall quality of the blog will start to diminish
• readers will notice the decrease in quantity and quality of posts and the number of readers will start to dwindle
• readers will look elsewhere for information and discussion and may question whether any good blogs can last
• hits, comments and search engine placement will decrease
• the number of inquires and "leads" that the blog produces will decrease
• due to the lower number of inquires and leads, production and income will decrease for everyone
• the rain maker may blame the others for the decrease in exposure, leads and ultimately, income
• the once team oriented and high spirited group of bloggers will grow apart
• if the bloggers are all on the same real estate team or work in the same office, the negativity will effect the entire company or office

With all these possible pitfalls, is a successful group blog sustainable? Is it such a detrimment to the team and office that it actually decreases overall production? Will the other agents/bloggers on the team become so negative that it shows through in their dealings with their clients?

With blogs on the rise, but time and energy remaining constant, group blogs may be the only viable option for some. But, if they're anything like us, they'll want to have at least a basic idea of what they're getting themselves into before they jump in. So let's hear from others on this topic, especially those who have experience with group blogs reagardless of which industry they may be in.

Comments

[jf.sellsius]

Excellent post. I never considered this aspect of the group blog dynamic. I'll add this post as "Further Reading".

[Danilo Bogdanovic]

Thank you.

[Brian Brady]

I like the national exposure a group webblog affords. I still think it is important to maintain a personal business weblog.

[Lucy]

Some people are predicting that blogs are a fad and will pass soon. I don’t think so. Not in real estate anyway. I have few favorite real estate blogs, ActiveRain, BloodHound and RealBlogging and they all seem to be doing just fine.