Follow Up Boss Changes Privacy Policy; Chaos Ensues
There are some real longterm consequences to how this change was handled
This was not an issue I was on top of, until many of you reached out to me with requests to take a look. I have the best informed audience in real estate.
It seems that Follow Up Boss (“FUB” hereafter), the CRM software system acquired by Zillow in 2023, has sent out a notice of changes to its privacy policy. There were some changes made from its current privacy policy, which was created when FUB was its own independent company.
The result is that several rather influential voices, especially with real estate agents, immediately saw serious problems. Here are a couple of examples.
Tom Ferry might be the most influential coach in real estate today. Here he is on the Growth Mode Podcast with a couple of other hugely influential guys, Jimmy Mackin and Jason Pantana:
Another top coach, extremely influential with numerous agent clients, is Jared James:
And there are numerous others I’ve found with a simple search.
I assume Zillow must be working on a response, but I haven’t seen it yet.
I don’t know what I think about this yet, which is why I’m writing this… to see what I think of it. A lot of AI assistants will be used, though I am reading sections of the relevant policy documents directly to see for myself.
Let’s dig in.
As always, I am not your lawyer, and none of this is legal advice. It is edutainment, with industry analysis thrown in.