Edit: the new weapons of business

I first want to say that I'm not contradicting my earlier post about the advantages of a brick-and-mortar foundation and all of the security and reliability it entails. What I mean to do is qualify what could be seen as a flippant disregard for the new modern business with an elaboration of the additional value of technology.

RIS Media, the "leader" of real estate information systems recently released an innovation guide demanding self-examination from any company wishing to not be scathingly labelled a "dinosaur" (http://rismedia.com/2009-07-05/become-the-real-estate-firm-of-the-future-today/) It touts the importance of new marketing on new medias: texting, blogging, and facebook, once the casual playtoys of savvy teenagers is now suddenly a very serious imperative for companies hoping to stay ahead of the curve, ride the wave of change, reconfigure their whole paradigm, etc.

The powers of this new media are undeniable. According to the statistics, reaching a market of 50 million people would take 38 years by radio, 13 years by television, four years on the Internet, and three on iPod-but only two years via Facebook. Popular real estate website Zillow.com reported over 67% year-over-year growth in the first half of 2009, showing just where our new generation of customers is shopping for houses. New weapons have just been thrown into the mix and those who don't exploit them in the never-ending business arms race will no doubt be destroyed.

There's no reason a well-founded brick-and-mortar establishment can't also maintain and thrive in the new web environment, which is what we at Century 21 Adobe have made a top priority. As it turns out, old seasoned veteran dogs can learn new tricks.