Our first Lake County Tweetup will be held on November 11, 2009 from 5:30-7:30pm. The Hotel Indigo Chicago/Vernon Hills has graciously agreed to be our host for this event.

Who’s invited?

Anyone is welcome.  Dont’ let the word “Tweetup” frighten you. It’s a gathering of Twitter users, or Tweeps, that get together. You don’t have to be on Twitter, or even know what Twitter is, but you will get to meet local Lake County people, have a good time and most likely sign up for a Twitter account before you leave! REGISTER

Where’s it at?

The Hotel Indigo Chicago/Vernon Hills is located at 450 N. Milwaukee Ave., Vernon Hills, IL  60061

View Larger Map

How much does it cost?

Nothing, zip, free! Bring yourself and some money to spend at the beautiful Indigo bar and lounge. It’s a cash bar and they have a Indigo Martini special for $5.99!

We hope to see you there! Please register to let us know if you are attending. We have limited space and need to make other arrangements if we have enough interest.

10/28/2009 Update-

We would like to thank @garrettpopcorn and @elischeesecake for making our first Tweetup  a little more special!

Looks who’s coming so far:

Yes (9)

@chemgk
@ChildrenParties
@DaisyKnez
@ewaresocial
@farrah77
@hlesztriblocal
@kstoudt
@northeastclng
@tamcdonald

Maybe (3)

@djshelly
@FellerBus
@warnerthuston

Are you interested in sponsoring our event?  Just let me know!

Zoom Real Estate has been on Facebook for a while. But candidly, until the posts started, there wasn’t much new content. Now that the blog is going, and we can provide fresh, relevant content, I’m asking you to become a fan of Zoom Real Estate on Facebook. All you need to do is click here. Then, take a simple 2 question survey on the Zoom Real Estate fan page or by clicking here http://www.zoomerang.com/Survey/?p=WEB229RJK7UUUA

Every person who becomes a fan 0f Zoom Real Estate on Facebook AND completes the survey will be entered to win a copy of Reality Check by Guy Kowasaki. I’ll even give the winner the choice of getting a brand new, never read copy, or the copy I did read in Cancun last winter. Still in very good shape and with a slight tan!

Drawing will be held once I reach 100 fans or November 5, 2009, whichever happens sooner. Winner will be selected at random and all decisions are final. In full disclosure, I paid for both of these books (and receive no commissions if you decide to buy a copy yourself) and I will be the judge, jury and final decision maker. In other words, if you don’t like it, tough. But I’m sure you will!

I look forward to sharing the results of the survey with everyone in an upcoming post. Don’t be shy, tell it like it is and leave a comment.

When it comes to Realtors using Facebook for business, there are varying thoughts on how to do it. Personal profile, groups, and fan “business” pages are all available options. About a week ago, I became aware of a new app from Realtor.com that allows Realtors to have their listings added to their Facebook profile for free by using the See My Listings application. It seems like a great idea with a very simply setup process.

Facebook Terms of Service 4.2

So why do I think it’s not a good idea to use it?

First and foremost, per Facebook’s Terms of Service (TOS) 4.2 “You will not use your personal profile for your own commercial gain (such as selling your status update to an advertiser).” There have been cases of people getting their accounts disabled for using their personal profile for business.

Additionally, how many of your friends on Facebook want to see ads for homes that feel like spam?

How can this great idea be made to work and not violate Facebook’s TOS or negatively impact your friends?

1. Create business page on Facebook.

2. Have Realtor.com make the “See My Listings” app post to your business page.

What do you think? Are you a Realtor and have opposing views? If you’re not a Realtor, how do you feel about seeing home listings on one of your Realtor friend’s walls? Don’t be shy, comment below.

A special thanks to Heather Elias and Jim Cronin for putting on a great Facebook for Real Estate webinar (next one on October 9) where I learned about the Facebook TOS. And also to Matt Wilkins @mattwilkins who inspired me to write this on Twitter last night.

Started in 1995 Talk Like a Pirate Day has become increasingly popular. Not sure how to talk like a pirate? Here's a handy translator for you to use. http://budurl.com/k2v9

Now what be you waitin' for? Get out and start talkin' like a pirate!

Posted via email from tamcdonald’s posterous

Posted via email from tamcdonald’s posterous

Just wanted to share some exciting news I received from the fine folks at FourSquare. Lot’s of good news for iPhone users and Android now as well. Blackberry coming soon. And I’ve read the Pre won’t be left in the dark for too long either.

Great seeing the who else is here feature and I’m sure most will love you can now control who sees your phone and email address. No longer fear sharing personal information in order to participate.

Here’s the email I just received.

Hello foursquare users!

It’s been over a month since we sent out our last update so we’ve got plenty of new stuff to talk about.  You ready?

+ IPHONE VERSION 1.4!

We just got the heads up from Apple that the latest version of our iPhone app should be in the iTunes Store today!  We crammed a lot of new features into this one – calling out mayors, new venue promos, better maps – but the thing we’re most excited about is the ability to see “Who Else is Here” whenever you check-in.  We’re already seeing how this is helping foursquare users connect with new people as they check-in around the city.

Download here: http://itunes.com/app/foursquare

And while we’re excited for these new social features, we do realize some people do not want to be found so easily. To balance this out, we added some new privacy settings.  You can opt-out of this “Who’s Here” feature, and we’ve also added a way to opt-out of sharing your phone number & email address with friends (a long requested feature).

Adjust your privacy settings: http://foursquare.com/settings

We’re super excited for this new version and look forward to all your feedback.  In this email, we’re glossing over all the bells & whistles we’ve added, but for a great preview of what to expect in 1.4, check out the write-up the folks at TechCrunch put together:

TechCrunch Preview: http://bit.ly/TCrunch4SQ

+ FOURSQUARE FOR ANDROID!

We’re also extremely excited to announce the first version of our Android app!  But don’t thank us, thank them:  our open-source Android app was developed by a handful of passionate users over the last few months using the foursquare API.  And it’s amazing.

Learn more here: http://foursquare.com/android

+ FOURSQUARE FOR BLACKBERRY!

We’re getting closer!  We know you BlackBerry users still feel left out, but a BlackBerry version of foursquare is officially in the works.  And with any luck, the next big email you get from us will be announcing it.  :)

For now, get on the waiting list: http://foursquare.com/mobile_beta

+ VANCOUVER (AND EXPANDING BEYOND…)

Our #1 feature request is to add more cities… and we’re listening!  Last week we launched Vancouver – our first Canadian city (and 2nd city outside the US).  We have aggressive plans to launch foursquare in places all over the world.  It may be a one-city-at-a-time story, but we’re getting there.

Request your city as a foursquare city: http://foursquare.com/cities

+ SEED FUNDING

And last-by-not-least, we recently raised a seed round of financing that will allow us to hire a few more folks to build the things we’ve been promising all summer.  That means foursquare in more cities, a Blackberry version, new badges, fewer cheaters, more venue promos, better leaderboards… and on-and-on-and-on.  You also may have noticed our first big upgrade: the switch to http://foursquare.com

More about our financing and roadmap here: http://bit.ly/4sqSeed

And that’s about it for this round of updates.  The next few months should be very exciting for us and there’s lots more coming soon, so stay tuned.  Thanks again for all your interest, support and patience and we’re psyched to be building this stuff for you all.

- Team foursquare  (aka @dens, @naveen, @harryh)

http://foursquare.com/