I found this blog through the Charlottesville Company of Friends’ listserve
I think a new divide has opened up, one that is based far more on choice than on circumstance. Several million people (and the number is growing, daily) have chosen to become the haves of the Internet, and at the same time that their number is growing, so are their skills.
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As a result, your most-connected, most influential customers are part of the digerati. They can make or break your product, your service or even your religion’s new policies. Because the Net is now a broadcast (and a narrowcast) medium, the digerati can spread ideas.
The second thing to keep in mind is that the digerati are using the learning tools built into the Net to get smarter, faster. A new Net tool can propogate to millions in just a week or two. Unlike the old digital divide, this means that the divide between the digerati and the rest of the world is accelerating.
We have seen this lifecycle in the real estate world for the past several years. It used to be that property listings were in books, then some knew about websites … now virtually every consumer uses the internet to search and those who don’t use the web at least know about it; they ask in listing proposals whether we use it.
Trying to be on the leading edge of technology advances is important in most businesses. In the uber-competitive realm of real estate, leading is far better than following. Relying on the advances of others will lead to failure while the leaders will prosper, or at least survive.
Which are you? Digital native? Digital immigrant? Analog?
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I have been been representing buyers and sellers in Charlottesville, Albemarle, and Central Virginia since 2001. Get local insight born of experience.
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