Michael Wurzer Every so often I get an e-mail from the MLSInformation group hosted by Internet Crusade. Lately, it feels like the bias of the editors is getting a bit much, especially when the affiliations aren’t disclosed clearly. Here’s part of an e-mail I received today:
Doris Bennett asks:
Does anyone know of any web programmers who know how to create XML feeds. Creating an XML feed involves building a script that automatically creates a file for your company’s listings. Our MLS cannot provide this for the source we need.
Rather than speaking with web programmers, why dont you talk to the folks at Point2Agent? P2A is syndicating real estate listing content to numerous real estate web portals and they probably have a good handle on this. That will also give you the opportunity to broaden your brokers marketing reach substantially. Forward thinking MLSs are taking this route. Look at Houston, for goodness sake! Why there is not a MAD RUSH to use this technology astounds me!
The change in seasons was evident at the NAR meeting in Las Vegas:
Warmest regards,
Frances Flynn Thorsen, e-PRO, SRS, ACREâ„¢, Certified e-PRO Trainer
Managing Editor
RealTown.com
I think this editor should have disclosed that her boss, Saul Klein, is now the CEO of Point2 Agent, the company she is advocating. I know that Saul announced this himself to the MLSinformation community a few weeks ago, but I still think these kinds of promotions should always be qualified when presented in a community forum seeking less biased advice.
From writing the FBS Blog (which is a vendor blog subject to my own biases) over the last nine months or so, I know that drawing the line between advertising and information is difficult. At the same time, posts like the one above seem not to care about such distinctions at all but rather seem intent on blurring the line completely, which makes it seem more like disinformation than MLSInformation.