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Sometimes, the simplest technologies are the most useful. While Back At You Media focuses solely on Facebook marketing for real estate agents, we like to keep our fingers on the pulse of the latest advances in social media and how they might affect the real estate industry. Recently, Twitter released an app called Periscope that is based on a fairly simple idea, but it allows for endless possibilities.

Here’s the idea: Point your phone at anything, start broadcasting, and allow anyone in the world to tune in and watch. Much like Facetime, if you’re familiar, except multiple people can all tune in at once.

Not a big deal, right? Well, consider for a moment the following scenario…

You’ve acquired a new listing, so you’ll probably schedule an open house. What if the perfect buyer is busy during the open house? What if the buyer is in another state and doesn’t have time to visit more than once? A virtual tour is good, but it’s not great. Instead, you could use Periscope to start broadcasting from your phone at the front door and give a tour of the entire house with potential buyers watching from their phones, wherever they are. They can ask questions as you show off the amazing kitchen and you can easily answer. If interested parties aren’t able to tune in real-time, you have the option to make a recorded version of the broadcast available to users, as well.

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 Example Periscope broadcast. Someone filming the sunset while viewers participate.

Before we get ahead of ourselves, Periscope is not perfect for real estate agents just yet. In order to view these live broadcasts, potential buyers would need Periscope installed on their phone, as well as a Twitter account because users log in to Periscope with their Twitter credentials. That said, if Periscope’s user base grows, it absolutely has the potential to be a powerful tool for agents worldwide. Looking forward to seeing how Periscope grows and whether or not real estate agents can utilize its power!