Social Media
Social media seems to have become a battle among the giants of Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and a couple unique platforms.
You may think the newness has worn off or there can't possibly be an application worth your time. But the numbers are staggering. Take, for example, the live feature on Facebook. {Read about the benefits to the real estate industry in this News Funnel article.} According to MediaKix:
Facebook recently began measuring video consumption in "hours" rather than "total videos viewed" to give interested parties a more accurate comparison between Facebook and its largest video rival, YouTube. Facebook video statistics put the amount of Facebook videos watched at 100M hours per day (Recode), while Business Insider reports that YouTube earns roughly 6 times that amount (650M hours).As one of the most important engagement metrics, time spent is a strong indication of what's important and valuable to Facebook's 1.7 billion users. And, Facebook Live videos are by statistic viewed 3x longer than other videos.
The other change coming into 2017 is the acceptance of business use of Facebook. May be a result of X'ers growing up with Facebook and now taking positions of management, or the Facebook has worked on becoming more business friendly, but the net result is there is business leverage there.
Vehicles
Electric car options is changing the conversation around passenger cars.
If you are trying to impress clients, as described in Realtor Mag's Impress Eco-Conscious Clients with Your Car, or you are concerned with adding a charging station for your tenants - the advent of electric cars is changing tenant demands. Especially as a concern if you include utilities in your leases.
Self driving vehicles has been in the news all of 2016 about the potential impact on urban planning, parking lots requirements could reduce by 1 self driving car 12 spots today (Mother Jones), and change public transportation policies nationally (Traffic Safety Store).
Both electric cars, self driving vehicles and drones are all converging into 2017 for significant change in the commercial real estate sector.
Software and Apps
This is a double win for commercial real estate.
Successful software developers are starting to emerge from incubators with a need to devour cool office space. And there are companies that have already made the transition to become big businesses. Take Ameritrade. Take Hudl. Take BuilderTrend. Take Hayneedle. Success stories with brick-and-mortar needs from converting cool, old abandoned buildings to taking over office space and warehouse.
Second win for commercial real estate is software and apps designed to make the industry meet technology. So far beyond ACT, Outlook and Linked In that most agents use. Commercial real estate agents are not embracing all of the online listing tools, property management tools and meet-and-greet tools. Commercial real estate will have to move into the new realm. {For a comprehensive list of software production products and apps designed for the commercial real estate industry, check out Pierce's report at CRE//Tech Intersect.}
IoT (Internet of Things)
The conversation into 2017 is how quickly can these products mainline into multifamily housing? Affordability? Compatibility? What are the commercial building applications? Hospitality? Healthcare? Every sector will be challenging building owners and property managers for more integrated functionality, and their internet providers for more bandwidth on their internet capacity. This challenge could prove the differentiation of leasing at one building over another. Paying higher rents. Renewing leases.
Technology Horizon
