Developers Using Social Media to Fight Opponents

The commercial real estate industry is sitting up and taking notice of social media sites that, so far, haven’t given owners and developers any reason to be concerned. But now, opponents of several building developments across the country have enlisted Facebook and other social media sites to bolster their cause - a move that seems to be working. They’ve chosen to get the word out and organize protests using social media partly because they don’t even need to be in front of a computer to do so.

A group in Chicago’s famous Wrigleyville neighborhood is fighting commercial development through Facebook. “We can access Facebook via phone to drop messages when we need protestors at town hall that night for a protest,” said one demonstrator, who noted that the site helps organize groups much more quickly. However, some development opponents have created their own social media sites to trumpet their cause and gather like-minded neighbors. In Richmond, Va., residents have established a “Don’t Big Box Carytown” site to fight the conversion of a two-story office building into a retail center there.

“Without a doubt, it’s the wave of the future; it’s something you need to embrace,” said developer David Blumenfeld, the builder of an 800,000-square-foot Long Island, N.Y., shopping center called The Arches, as well as a huge retail development on Manhattan’s Upper East Side. “Every post you put on Facebook has to be an attention-grabber, something visual that attracts people to bring them over to your side,” he said.

Now, the industry is debating whether to use social media to fight future “not-in-my-backyard” opposition. “Real estate developers are realizing that they have to be geared up and ready to respond,” Blumenfeld pointed out. But, the flurry of on-line opposition to commercial development is worrisome, said developers, who noted that recent events highlight the fact that social media sites allow for a wide distribution of any kind of information even if it has not been factually checked.

“The people in these social mediums can basically say whatever they want,” noted developer Mitchell D. Rechler, who also said that not everyone in the industry is convinced that firing back is a good strategy. “The good news is that you can get the facts out, but what we’ve also seen is that the facts can continually get buried with misinformation,” he pointed out. Rechler said that he personally doesn’t think that responding to every single comment posted online is the best way to dedicate time and money.