Agent Behaviour Online Is Becoming Embarrassing to the Profession

I’ve been thinking about something lately that honestly feels bizarre when you step back and really look at it. Why does our industry have these Facebook groups where REALTORS® gather anonymously to complain about each other, trash events, criticize boards, pile onto colleagues, and basically turn the profession into one giant negativity spiral?

Seriously. Think about it for a second. Can you imagine if Edmonton lawyers had anonymous Facebook groups where they spent all day ripping apart other lawyers and mocking their law society? Or accountants in Vancouver anonymously complaining about conferences and publicly attacking colleagues? Or dentists in Calgary sitting around in online groups gossiping about each other like it’s high school?

It would look insane. But somehow in real estate, we’ve normalized it.

And the strange part is that a lot of really smart, successful people participate in it. Good agents. Experienced professionals. People who would never behave that way in front of a client. Yet online, the tone changes.

Suddenly, everything becomes cynical. Every event is stupid. Every leadership decision is corrupt. Every person who volunteers their time deserves criticism. Every disagreement becomes public entertainment.

At some point, we have to ask ourselves: Is this actually helping the profession, or are we just feeding an addiction to outrage? Because negativity is addictive. Complaining gives people a temporary feeling of connection. It feels like bonding. It feels like honesty. But over time, it creates a culture where professionalism slowly disappears, and cynicism becomes the default setting.

And here’s the bigger issue nobody talks about:

What does it do to our industry's reputation when REALTORS® spend this much time publicly tearing each other apart? Consumers already question the professionalism of real estate. Then they see agents gossiping online, mocking each other, attacking organizations, and behaving like anonymous internet commenters instead of business professionals.

That hurts all of us.

Look, constructive criticism matters. Organizations need feedback. Leadership should absolutely be questioned sometimes. Healthy debate is important. But there’s a massive difference between constructive dialogue and anonymously posted negativity.

One improves the industry. The other poisons it.

And participation matters. YOUR decision to participate, or not, matters.

Even if someone says, “I’m just reading the comments,” or “I’m only there for entertainment,” that still contributes to the culture. Attention fuels it. Engagement rewards it. Silence normalizes it. At some point, professionals have to decide what kind of environment they want to contribute to.

Do we want to be an industry known for leadership, collaboration, and professionalism?

Or do we want to be an industry where people hide behind anonymous profiles to complain about colleagues and organizations trying to move the profession forward?

Because those are very different futures.

Real professionalism is not just how we act in front of clients. It’s how we speak when nobody is forcing us to behave professionally.

It’s how we handle disagreement.

It’s how we talk about peers.

It’s whether we build things or just criticize them.

The culture of this industry is not created by boards or associations alone.

It’s created by us.

Every post.

Every comment.

Every conversation.

It’s time we stop feeding the negativity machine and start acting like the professionals we claim to be.