Hi David -

My goal with AR is reaching potential clients who can "find me" and see information that they believe is valuable and then want to contact me.  

Checking in, commenting and posting brings in points but also a sense of community that has been a unexpected benefit for me on this forum,  I doubt potential customers even know or understand points and ranking.

As far as the Leave it to Beaver-type questions, I think this section may have gone off focus but that's okay and when I have participated with asking questions, I typically put them in the members only class as they are meant for fun -- and fun should be a part of any social media presence in my opinion.

David,

I am in complete agreement with Michael Jacobs on all counts.  We get calls from people whose first remark when we ask, "how did you find us?"  The answer is, we see you "All over the Internet!"  I think being on AR helps the cause.  

We enjoyed meeting people face to face who are members.  In each case, we were impressed.  I would not hesitate to send referrals to them.  I know they would do a wonderful job.  When we travel on biz we make an effort to connect with those who are in the vicinity.  A

I don't worry about the points.   If I did I would be more active.

I haven't found the leaderboard to be an easy page for consumers to find and I haven't seen any AR members use their ranking when promoting themselves.  The point system is a good indicator of how active (or inactive) a member has been since they joined AR.  It's fun to watch your profile move up in the city, county, state and overall rankings though!

Points are not $. Show me the money.

No those questions are only helping you get a few points if thats your goal.  We blog on ActiveRain for SEO exclusively.

Hi David- I don't really have a goal regarding ranking and points. I comment and interact because of the community. And what I learn here. I'm not sure about some of the questions like Leave It to Beaver . If I don't have time, I just move on.

David Barr - I want to reach $2M points mark by the end of the year!

And yes, I do share my posts - specially market reports - while I am at listing presentation. (Most weekly market report posts have about 200 views - every week!)

I do not believe in points but I do believe in content of what you write. AR offers us exposure to the online world and it is up to us how we use this opportunity.

I understand your concern and I wonder about that myself. Some people are in it for the points. I guess that's ok. I'm here to build my business and to make contacts across the country. The points have just accumulated because of the work I have done. AR has helped me in so many ways, but the points haven't had anything to do with it. 

I was really into the  points when I was trying to get to the top of the state.