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TECH WATCH
Real estate technology news analysis
Mike Antoniak is a freelance journalist, who writes frequently on technology.
| E-mail in progress
Zap Your E-mail with New Capabilities
New e-mail offering allows for dynamic interaction without generating a long string of replies. | BY MICHAEL ANTONIAK Although it's easy to drag and drop messages into folders or search for old e-mail based on subject heading, these are less than perfect solutions. And, it can still be a matter of opening and closing several messages to find the information you need.
A newly announced set of online tools gets around such problems while delivering more functionality to your existing e-mail. Called Zaplets, the tools are the initial offerings from an Internet startup called FireDrop. The company ambitiously describes its Zaplets as "the new way to communicate," combining the power of the Web, e-mail, and instant messaging.
"Zaplets are a smart form of e-mail, because they have the capability for live interaction,” explains Julie Welch, vice president of marketing for FireDrop.
Sample Zaplets now available allow users to create and send photo sets (up to six images); manage projects and schedules; correspond with all members of a work group; even conduct informal polls. What most distinguishes the Zaplet from traditional e-mail is that it creates a dynamic message, like a Web page. Your comments and the messages recipients want to add become part of the Zaplet.
Suppose you've got a listing you think might interest a certain couple. You can e-mail them a picture tour (upload the images to the FireDrop server and then those images, or links to them, become part of the Zaplet) of the home, and then invite them to pose any questions within the Zaplet. Their queries, and your responses, even additional photos, can all become part of the content of that message. So you don't have a bunch of different messages—just one Zaplet. You or the buyers can be alerted by e-mail every time something is added to the content.
That automatic updating capability makes the Zaplet especially valuable when working on a project or with a work group. Once the Zaplet is set up and distributed, recipients can freely exchange ideas and opinions. As a project is revised, or milestones achieved, this information can be entered in the Zaplet window, creating a permanent record.
"One of the most exciting things about Zaplets is that they let you create a highly viral product,” according to Welch. “Someone who receives a Zaplet can forward it to someone else they know, so information on something like a home for sale can spread pretty quickly.”
What's especially appealing about Zaplets is that they're comparatively easy to set up, and the service is free. Another advantage is that all Zaplets reside on the FireDrop servers, so the messages you send, even those containing images, are comparatively small and load quickly.
To fully comprehend how you might be able to put Zaplets to use, visit FireDrop's Web site, where you'll find examples of different types of Zaplets, and step-by-step instructions for creating six working Zaplets. There's a working test version at the site. The company expects its official version 1.0 to be online by the end of the second quarter. |
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