It's both. I don't think it's possible to exclude either. And a "relationship" doesn't necessarily mean a friendship, it means two (or more) people being connected, listening, respecting and working together. If friends come out of that, that's icing on the cake.

Relationship but, of course, our knowledge is essential to share within that relationship.

Yes, I am friends with my clients on FB as my 95% of my clients were 'born' from my sphere and most of my sphere is on FB or LI. 

It is not necessary to become friends but it does happen sometimes. Building relationships by relaying reliable information to potential buyer and sellers creates trust. That means business now and down the road!

Both.

Why decide? If someone asks you about MySpace I think a chuckle is acceptable. 

Yes 

Both. Yes, you should connect on Facebook.

It's both.

Very few clients are FB friends.

Relatively few RE agents are FB friends.

Only a select few of each are personal friends. Those relationships are separate from each other.

Worlds occasionally collide depending on the people, but at the end of the day I want to be able to shut out the world and not feel I must be available to talk shop.

To your point, yes I think that the value we bring to a real estate transaction could possibly be diluted by too tight of a personal relationship. And it could hurt the relationship too.

Some agents I know are very successful becoming friends with clients and are either able to set the boundaries or they don't feel they need to.

I like my space.

You can have all the information in the world BUT with no relationships it's worthless. If you have an FB page let them like that page.

It is always more about relationships for me. I keep in touch with my clients and I am really interested in how they and their families are doing. The information I provide is the bonus. 

Both. They are not mutually exclusive.

I agree with others that both a relationship (read as trust) and information business. I'm not much of a facebook user, so no friending there.
Bruce

It is both in my opinion. 

Both - Sometimes Yes.

Both.

For some consumers it a relationship business. To not use the relationship agent they fear having to experience SHAME.

For other consumers it a information business. By going DIY they avoid the face to face situations that create SHAME.

It could be that to be  a real estate agent, one could be in the shame business.

State your case.

In my opinion, the business part of real estate is a relationship gig - the information is available from any realtor and several other places. So it's the relationship. The business comes from being the person the public trusts and the person they trust to give them the correct information and the pertinent information they need vs All of the information there is.

It depends on the client and the property.

It's like Certs, you're both right.

It's both. I stay in touch with many of my clients on a personal level and informational level on FB and LinkedIn. That's not my only way of staying in touch with them, but it rounds are the relationship management process. I bring value in this way both personally and professionally.

It is both. It is all about what to do with massive pile of info. Most often that involves building a relationship. However some clients may become friends, others stay clients but I do not always "friend" them on FB. Give a recent case where I got lamented for taking time off to watch the Patriots game and posted about it. Why wasnt i working 24 hours a day to sell their home?

It is a relationship business as you build trust to move forward. The knowledge you bring to the table assists.

Both.

Both, and I am not a fan of FB.  A

It is a relationship business, but you have to have the information to support the relationship!!

It is a balance of both with the pendulum leaning more towards the relationship side. People can find information any where, if they are willing to take the time to look for it but they also may not understand how to interpret it. More importantly though, people decided within the first 90 seconds of meeting you whether or not they like you & want to work with you. 

both

BOTH!!!

Yes and yes

They are interdependent.  

Definitely both! I let my clients become friends on Facebook, but I also am very selective on what I put onto social media.

If you got a good product to sell the relationship is not important. If you want both then you need to focus also on people, social circles.

More than 50% of our Team's busienss comes from our met data base...our SOI. I think that answers your question.

Both.  No, you should not friend clients on facebook.  Business and personal should be separate entities.

It is both, and not necessarily friends on FB, or if you do, after closing.

I would watch the friend approach as stages of emotional devlopment will present themselves. However function never goes out of style