Yes, Realtyshares is essentially a crowdsourced platform for real estate investing, but you have to be an accredited investor to make an investment. The vast majority of people are not accredited investors.
I believe you mentioned you were in California in another post. It is going to be very expensive to break into this market. Nothing is impossible, but as a first investment, it may be a hard market to break into at the current prices.
I would recommend listening to the Bigger Pockets podcast, reading the blog, going to local real estate investor meetings, etc. There is also a list of books that you may want to read and see if your library has any copies (see the sticky at the top of the real estate forum). BiggerPockets has a nice beginner's guide on amazon and their website that is free. Learn as much as you can (within reason) before jumping in. Try to make connections, find a mentor and deals may come from that. There are lots of ways to make money in real estate, and what works in one market may not work in another.