The latest US-based figures from Hitwise show Twitter is the fourth most popular online social network with a tiny market share of just over one percent.

According to the Hitwise statistics, Facebook is firmly established as the leading social website with a market share of 53 percent, followed by YouTube with 15 percent. Third place is currently occupied by MySpace, which has a 13 percent share of the market.

Yet despite its relatively small audience, a recent report from socialmediaexaminer.com shows online marketers still have a good deal of faith in Twitter. Amongst the almost 1,900 social media marketers surveyed, 88 percent use Twitter, while 87 percent are reaching out to their audience via Facebook.

LinkedIn is the third most popular online marketing channel, used by 78 percent of respondents. This is despite the fact that Hitwise’s figures place it 13th on the list of popular US social networks. 70 percent of the respondents said they use blogs for online marketing, while 46 percent use YouTube, and only 11 percent use MySpace.

So what conclusions can we draw from these contrasting findings? Clearly, Facebook still needs to be a priority for those marketing via social media. As for Twitter and LinkedIn, their smaller audiences sizes mean focus and planning are all the more important to create some level of return on your time investment. In other words, don’t waste your updates - tailor them to ensure you connect with your audience every time.

US real estate agents are leaning heavily on email and many are taking up the social media challenge, according to the National Association of Realtors’ latest survey.

The NAR says more than six in 10 of its members have a personal website, while 89 percent say their firm has an online presence. 94 percent use email daily or nearly every day, 91 percent use computers, and 56 percent use smart phones with wireless email and Internet capabilities.

Perhaps the most significant change in US agents’ online marketing habits found by the NAR is the increasing use of social media. The survey found that more than half of NAR members now use online social networks, up from 35 percent in 2009.

Do you fit the profile of the typical NAR agent? If so, check out these articles to help you with your online marketing strategies:

Essential Inclusions for Your Website

Email Newsletters: Awareness, Loyalty, Leads

Golden Rules for Social Media ROI

Top 10 Tips for Online Branding

The annual Webby Awards are on again and this year’s real estate nominees are hungry for your votes to land them the coveted People’s Voice award.

Before making your decision, you might want to consider some recent developments at the five nominated websites:

zillow.com: The US real estate marketplace has had plenty to crow about recently, with the release of its rentals search, Android application, and iPad app amongst its achievements. The website, which turned four in February, has also held on to second place in the US market for the past few months. With all these bases covered, does zillow.com deserve your vote?

trulia.com: As last year’s Webby Award winner, trulia.com comes to the competition with a standard to uphold. Like zillow.com, this real estate search engine also added rental listings recently, and while it’s not quite as strong in the marketplace, it is getting plenty of attention from potential investors. The question is, has trulia.com done enough lately to win the public vote in 2010?

hotpads.com: hotpads.com was last year’s People’s Voice winner, and says just being nominated again this year is a huge honour (before adding that, of course, it wants to win again). So far this year, the map-based real estate search engine has added an Android app to its offerings. With maps becoming such an important part of property search, could hotpads.com be set to take out the People’s Voice award two years running?

nytimes.com/realestate: The New York Times’ real estate search section was nominated for a Webby last year, but didn’t end up making the cut. A new set of user features – more search options and market data – have recently been added to the website. Could 2010 be the year nytimes.com/realestate comes out on top?

nakedapartments.com: Established in the competitive New York market in September 2009, nakedapartments.com is relying on more than just an attention-grabbing name to get noticed. It works by registering anonymous profiles for users, then allowing brokers and landlords send through listings that match users’ criteria. While the website says it isn’t trying to cut brokers out, its focus on consumers might just be enough to gather those all-important People’s Voice votes.

Online voting closes 29 April, so get along to webby.aol.com and let your voice be heard.

a la mode, the US-based company behind the TourNarrator iPhone app for home tours, is expanding its “SureDocs” e-signature system to offer a version designed specifically for real estate agents.

a la mode explains that many users of SureDocs are real estate agents who are using it for contracts and disclosures. “Making a dedicated agent version was a natural next step,” the company states.

The new version of SureDocs, which will be available in the second quarter of this year, will allow agents to “print” any type of document, regardless of industry or source, so it can be displayed on screen ready for signing or transmission.

a la mode says that as documents are printed to SureDocs, the program learns the formats and recognises them on subsequent uses. So a contract from a given board or a particular state disclosure form only has to be set up for signature tags once. The next time the same type of document is sent to SureDocs, the program knows where all the signature tags need to be.

The creation of SureDocs for agents comes after the Federal Housing Administration confirmed that it now considers e-signatures on third party non-lender documents to be just as valid as “wet ink” paper signatures.

“Many of the supposedly paperless loan files out there are full of scanned copies of traditional paper documents,” says a la mode chairman Dave Biggers. “That’s both environmentally and financially expensive. With SureDocs, signatures are applied on screen to purely digital documents, which don’t need to be printed unless the user needs it. It’s better all around.”

The current version of SureDocs for disclosure documents costs US$299 per year.

US online marketing service vFlyer has jumped on the Facebook bandwagon this week with the release of a new listings promotion application.

The application offers two configuration options. Both options display thumbnail images and summary information associated with the active listings in a vFlyer account. One also includes profile information about the business or individual:

vFlyer explains that the new application is available to any vFlyer member with a business subscription. Business subscriptions start at US$12.95 per month.

“Businesses have been asking us for a simple way to promote their active listings on Facebook,” says Aaron Sperling, CEO and president of vFlyer. “This solution is a simple and effective way to create more exposure of real estate, auto, and general service listings.”

This release comes after roost.com’s free “social real estate” Facebook application launched last month. With Facebook’s popularity skyrocketing, it seems likely more companies in the online real estate sphere will soon follow suit.

If you’re not a US resident, but are still keen make Facebook part of your marketing plan, check out our articles on how to make the most of your Facebook fans, and our golden rules for social media return-on-investment.

Mobile’s momentum continues to build this month with the release of another search application and a collection of new app creation options emerging for smaller players.

Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate Executive, a real estate firm in Western Washington, is covering all bases with its new smartphone application. The app is available on standard cell phones and smartphones across all mobile carriers including the iPhone, BlackBerry devices, Android devices, and Palm Pre and Pixi. According to the company, that’s 95 percent of cell phones across all mobile carriers.

The app was created in partnership with Smarter Agent, a company that made a splash with the release of its Homes for Sale app back in May last year. As well as working with real estate firms, Smarter Agent does offer single agent accounts from US$49.95 per month. But what if you’re not keen to invest quite that much in a mobile application? Are there any cheaper options available?

We’ve talked before about free mobile website creation options, but when it comes to apps, things haven’t been quite so accessible. Luckily for app enthusiasts, it looks like that’s starting to change. A couple of startups at this year’s DEMO Spring 2010 event are attracting attention for their fresh approach to apps.

Let’s start with AppWhirl. This very new service – currently in invite-only mode – promises to let anyone make their own iPhone app for free in “about five minutes”. The creators told venturebeat.com they hope to make app creation “virtually free” for everyone.

Co-founder Richard Jordan went so far as to compare app creation now to website creation in the mid-1990s. Back then, only a skilled few could create websites, but now almost anyone can set one up in minutes. Jordan sees app development going down the same path.

AppWhirl isn’t the only company looking to make app building easier. SwebApps promises the ability to make an app in minutes, and hosts it for a monthly fee of $25. For an extra $10, SwebApps can also track data related to the usage of your app. AppMakr is another possibility, however their prices are higher. They charge $199 to publish your app for you, or $499 to let you publish under your own brand.

Those looking to try out app creation without paying anything to start with might consider BuildAnApp, which lets you build your own app for multiple platforms on a 30 day free trial.

Still wondering whether a mobile app is worth the trouble? clickz.com’s Rob Weber offers some compelling arguments for apps, explaining that iPhone and iPod touch users are engaged with their apps for an average of 79 to 80 minutes per day. Weber also points to the success of movie website Flixster, which more than doubled its mobile user base in 2009 through the use of mobile apps.

As always, we’re keen to hear from any agents who have experience creating their own app. Let us know what the challenges were, and whether the app brought in more business.

US company Digital Map Products, which lists redfin.com, zillow.com, and trulia.com amongst its clients, has released a new mapping tool that visualises how home prices change over time.

The product, dubbed SpatialStream, animates property price fluctuations as colours on a map, changing from green to red as prices fluctuate. The company says this is an easy way to show what would otherwise be thousands of separate data points on a spreadsheet.

This video shows SpatialStream in action, displaying sales prices in Southern California changing over a three year period:

The product is aimed at developers, and allows them to choose various pieces of code to create the kinds of visualisations they need. Trial accounts are available, however the website does not go into detail about the cost of a subscription.

John Reilly, CEO and publisher of realtown.com, had this to say about the future of the website:

“We’ve been working hard on a few large projects which we will be rolling out in the next few months. After building the agent infrastructure, we are shifting our efforts on bringing in consumers.

We’ll help out the consumer by giving them free, localised, information and advice. This means more interaction between the agent and the consumer, providing our members with the opportunity to build social capital. And, as a result, members will be more likely to get leads and referrals through realtown.com.”

realtown.com says its development dates back to 1995. Its features include an “ask the expert” section, a marketing and lead generation tools shop, and articles on the real estate business. Its members can also join various networking groups and communities to discuss professional concerns.

US foreclosure marketplace realtytrac.com has introduced a social media element to encourage discussion amongst users.

RealtyTrac Community, which is free to join, covers topics such as buying, selling, home values, investing, and realtytrac.com features.

realtytrac.com says visitors can seek out local real estate experts and ask questions on neighbourhoods, schools, market conditions, financing, and foreclosure activity.

“With over 80 percent of homebuyers and sellers turning to the Internet to help them buy and sell real estate, creating an open online community where our customers can get advice and share information is an important part of the realtytrac.com experience,” said James J. Saccacio, chief executive officer of realtytrac.com.

Members of the forum can choose to have email alerts sent to them when a location or issue they are interested in is mentioned. So far, 480 users have contributed to the forum on 168 threads.

realtytrac.com had a strong start to 2009, but dropped off the Hitwise top 20 list of US real estate websites in September and laid off 30 staff members in October.

The foreclosure marktetplace recently partnered with remax.com, and says it has access to 1.5 million foreclosure listings as well as foreclosure data from more than 2,200 counties covering more than 90 percent of US households.

Not only is this a great way to promote your listings to an international audience, it is also a great tool to differentiate yourself from your competitors when marketing to potential sellers.

If you would like to be a guinea pig and help us test the application for free, just go to www.listglobally.com and click the link on the home page to register for a free trial. Once we receive your request, we will be in touch via email with your login details.