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The tape recorders will be rolling, the camcorders will be
recording and the blogs will be flowing at the National Association of Realtors
conference in San Francisco this October, as an independent "blog squad" reports on the
proceedings.
"We'll get behind the scenes with our laptops, cameras
and camcorders and put together a daily consortium of comments," said
Frances Flynn Thorsen. Thorsen, a Bethlehem, Pa.,
Realtor and blogger, is coordinating the effort at the NAR Realtors Conference
& Expo Oct. 28-31. The blog site is Realestateblogsquad.com.
Mike Campbell, an associate broker and anchor of WWJ
Newsradio, a CBS affiliate in Michigan, Craig Newmark, founder of the
well-known craigslist classified ad and discussion site, and Hanan Levin,
Realtor, blogger and co-owner of The Champion Co. in Riverside, Calif., are
three of the 14 bloggers signed up so far for the squad, Thorsen said.
Most of the people
on the blog squad are Realtors, she said, but anyone who is interested can
participate. The blog will
launch in mid- to late August, and anyone who would like totake part
can notify Thorsen atinfo@RealEstateBlogSquad.com.
"It's an exercise in citizen journalism," said
Thorsen, who in prior incarnations worked as a reporter in New Jersey and
covered conventions for a print trade publication, Paper Age Convention
Daily. "It's an open forum. I don't think there is an open forum in
the real estate industry now, and the blog format lends itself to that."
Thorsen, who
established her RealtyGram
Blogger,
a separate entity from the upcoming conference blog, in January, emphasized
that the convention blog will contain no commercial messages and none of the
bloggers will be paid. She said bloggers don't have to attend the convention,
but can post from afar.
"They can
blog about their thoughts and reactions" to convention events, she said. "People
don't have to be in San Francisco physically to talk about items of import.
They can do that from anywhere in the country."
The Realtor said
she contacted the NAR about the blog effort and the organization gave its
permission for the bloggers to attend the press briefings. "So far, I don't
know if we'll be able to get press badges or use the press room. I'm hoping we
can get press credentials," Thorseon said.
A NAR spokesman
said only credentialed reporters will be issued press passes for the
convention.
"Anyone who
is a credentialed reporter can register as a member of the press with us,"
said Lucien Salvant, an NAR spokesman. "You would have to be employed by a
newspaper, magazine, online publication, TV station or radio station."
Salvant said, "If
they are NAR members they will be attending the convention anyway."
Salvant noted that
the NAR's internal news service, a weekly e-mail that goes out to state and
local board presidents and executive directors, will report on convention
events daily during the event.
The NAR had itsown blog for its 2004 convention, but Salvant said the organization will not
have one for this year's convention, held in San Francisco.
Asked if his
organization welcomed the bloggers, he said, "I really don't have a
comment. They can do what they want."
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