Zillow is a Big Fat Troll Blocking Success3790
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Frisco, Texas |
Metroplex360 private msg quote post Address this user | |
| Hi All - In 2015, Zillow was featuring Matterport Tours.  Now they are not and are instead offering adhoc amateur video walk-throughs to the disservice of Realtors, buyers and MSPs. This article shows how Matterport Tours were appearing. http://www.inman.com/2015/05/29/its-happened-zillow-now-serving-up-3-d-models-on-listings/ It is my guess that Zillow believes that Matterport need to bow to their financial terms and perhaps feel that Matterport should pay them. I believe that smart ILS companies such as Apartments.com, Sotheby's, Realestate.com.au and Redfin see the value that Matterport adds to their services. Remember when Google started to pay ISPs to be their portal? For years, Yahoo! had charged ISPs for their services, but Google realized they could steal Yahoo's market share of usage by flipping the agreement around and PAYING ISPs to use them. Google in turn monetized this from increased advertising revenue and snuffed out competition. I do not see this as a similar opportunity for Zillow. I do not think that Matterport should pay Zillow any money for integration. YouTube videos are used ubiquitously over the Internet for streaming video and they do not pay to be integrated into websites. Facebook and Twitter do not pay when websites embed a tweet or a like box. The Internet thrives on integration of 3rd party services that are seen as a win-win situation. Matterport has already created a win-win method for 3D Content to be easily shared on any website and deserves to be accepted as a ubiquitous media format. -- Matterport has three initiatives concerning ILS (Internet Listing Services) like Zillow: 1. Ensure that the Matterport 3D experience is even easier to deploy on ILSs 2. Enable ILSs to display Spaces in a highly integrated fashion (e.g. front and center) 3. Simplify the process of populating Spaces onto listings at scale - Matterport-Bill (Nov 10, 2016) --- Matterport has indicated that the Quickstart parameter was created in order to increase adoption on ILS services: Nov 11, 2016 -- "Today we announced Quickstart (see here). Since much of ILS traffic is from Google, it is very important for them that models load extremely fast even when on mobile (e.g. LTE) such that their visitors don’t bounce off the page. Also, long load times impact SEO ranking and Google Quality Score. Our team was able to pull that load time down dramatically by completely re-configuring the way models load in the showcase. This also makes it MUCH more feasible to automatically load a Matterport model right on the landing page (without requiring a click). So not only did we remove a barrier for ILSs but we also made it a lot more feasible to make your Matterport Spaces prominent on the listing page. ..." As a huge fan of Matterport's work, I have made analyzing the code for Showcase a hobby of mine. I had the pleasure of watching the intense amount of work take shape that went into providing features like Quickstart and moving from cube faces to tiling for both optimization and being able to add features like the zoom feature. Based on my assumptions -- the development and testing period of the quickstart feature was a long and VERY important initiative for Matterport. I have NO doubt that they are bending over backwards to remove any barriers that their product might have in being integrated with ILS systems. In this case scenario -- perhaps company XYZ may have stated that inclusion of Matterport tours was increasing pageload time, which would have a negative effect on their Google SEO. Perhaps they had a consultation directly from Google and they received benchmarks that they needed to reach at any cost. -- When asked about Zillow specifically, Matterport has stated: "While we are unable to disclose and comment on specific ILS relationships or specific product features coming, you will see many new developments in coming days/weeks/months. ILSs are enthusiastic about the Matterport experience and will be moving quickly to more deeply integrate Matterport." -- It is my belief that Matterport is doing everything in their power short of compromising their business strategy for revenue and growth. It is my belief that Zillow is a big fat troll that is standing in the way of: #1) Realtors leveraging technology to SUCCEED FASTER. #2) Matterport enabling technology to innovate real estate. #3) MSPs and photographers from helping Realtors. -- I believe that public Matterport forums like WGA are the perfect place to build consumer advocacy in matters like this. I'd welcome anyone who believes that Zillow is standing in the way of innovation and not acting in the best interest of realtors. |
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Las Vegas |
DaveFahrny private msg quote post Address this user | |
| I absolutely agree. Thank You | ||
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Rootsyloops private msg quote post Address this user | |
| Totally agree! Zillow walk-through videos are an awful way to represent a property. I actually shot a full-production video and then shot my screen with the Zillow app on my iPad to simulate a walk-through tour. It turned out great. I uploaded it and it didn't go live for a few days, so I called my Zillow rep. He said the "moderators" had removed it because it didn't adhere to the Zillow walk-through rules - which must state that the video has to look totally pathetic to get posted! | ||
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 WGANStandard Member Bon Secour, Alabama |
Chemistrydoc private msg quote post Address this user | |
| Couldn't agree more . I can't even get my clients to let me do these for free for them. Even w a 3 axis gimbal to hold the phone and a good quality wide angle lens, these videos look like something out of the Blair Witch Project. Wouldn't a Video of a Matterport walk through be the best solution ? | ||
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Mikesobay private msg quote post Address this user | |
| Zillow makes its cash by selling agents' work products back to them and then making demands of how they can use their own product. The Zillow walk throughs are unacceptable-quality amateur videos that do nothing to enhance the properties or make them appealing to buyers. | ||
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IanRothStudios private msg quote post Address this user | |
Quote:Originally Posted by Rootsyloops A full production video doesn't seem to be what the walkthrough videos are trying to accomplish. The goal of the walkthroughs - judging by what my contacts at Zillow have told me - is to connect the photos to the floor plan of the home. I feel like most production videos don't serve that purpose as often, but more so just show more of the home without connecting the spaces. My clients have loved the video walkthroughs so far and I haven't had a problem with them not being accepted. Have you watched some of the ones on Zillow to see how they are shot? |
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BobbyG private msg quote post Address this user | |
| I think that zillow app is just video with a post production stabilizer. | ||
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Rootsyloops private msg quote post Address this user | |
| I was actually pretty excited about it at first. Talked to the Zillow rep - joined the e-seminar and training. Got the recommended wide angle, clip-on lens and and stabilizer. Shot my first few and was reminded how unsuited for interior video a smartphone really is. As a broker, I would never even consider using these videos on my listings. It's similar to taking iPhones photos and posting them on a listing - dark, poor color balance, converging verticals; all give an extremely poor first impression. As media providers for realtors, I think we need to realize our main purpose is to get the agent phone calls - not necessarily give prospective buyers ALL the visual info. Zillow, as a buyer driven business (leveraged into extorting realtors to pay for phone calls on their own listings - sorry, I digress) is more interested in giving a buyer the complete picture. That's not a bad thing, but not a great thing for realtors. I even have some concerns that Matterport is a little too much info in the initial stages, but the presentation is so good that I think it's a net positive. | ||
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 WGAN StandardMember Las Vegas |
VTLV private msg quote post Address this user | |
| Like @Rootsyloops, I gave it a shot - joined the Zillow Preferred Photographer training, quickly got unimpressed over the quality. Chatted with Zillow about the quality of the product and changed my direction into another agent service offering over a quality offering. I've added the Zillow Walk Through service as an add on or sometimes a package to help agents get bumped up viewer standings by getting their listing clicked on with a video. I offer it more as an agent ranking service on a heavily traveled site over being a high tech film piece. We all love Matterport knowing in puts slide shows of the picture galleries to shame knowing buyers click off the page faster once they realize these are the same pics they already saw with No Virtual Offering. I'm getting exhausted fighting with people about products and beliefs. I hope you guys can find a positive way to share the use of it or offer something better as big business does their best to bend over the little guys and scrape us for all we got. If anything, it's another tool to get agents to talk about their great photographer in hopes for another referral over the slide shows. |
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