What about being a Buyer's agent?

I am now a regular on activerain.com If you haven't already been there, its the cyberspace for and of Realtors , mortgage brokers and pretty much any and every one related to the real estate industry. Most registered members primarily use it as a space for "networking"(to be read as " just another place to put ur business cards out") but they share invaluable information on their blogs. It has helped me get a better picture of the housing market and ofcourse it helped me find my Realtor!

Anyways that's not the point of my blog. So I came across a thread of thoughts on activeRain that spoke about how a Realtor should not be weighed by how many successful listings (s)he has had but rather by what innovative ideas of marketing your house (s)he brings to the table. Well yeah I agree... but I find something missing here... there was no mention about the "buyer's agent" role! How come that is not considered as a yard stick?

So is finding homes for potential buyers considered an easy chore? If yes, are seller agents compensated more for their labor intense task or do the agents on both sides do a 50-50?

Or maybe, doing the 50-50 has become an unspoken rule and so the agents recover the sweat equity billing lost in a sale through a buyer representation deal? Interesting...

Hmmm.. I've never sold a home before so naturally I may not know the intricacies involved in that process but I definitely understand a lot about home buying. And from what I've seen, I think being a buyer's agent is a challenge. So, it just bothers me a little that its not part of the yardstick in a Realtor measurement.