Your reputation is your most valuable asset

Web 2.0. All The Cool Lawyers Are Doing It

[UPDATE: Lawyers Weekly published a 'ubscribers only' article on this subject on January 25, 2010]

[A caution regarding law firm tweeting, blogging, “friending” and other cute sounding social media projects.]

Before undertaking any communications strategy you should have a clear goal in mind.

So prior to focusing finite resources on legal blogging and twittering and hourly Facebook status updates, pause and take a deep breath and ask yourself: What is your goal?

Why do you desire an Internet presence at all?

More pointedly, why do desire to be a part of social media --so called “Web2.0.”

Are you trying to get your name out to the public to make up for declining views of your ads in the Yellow pages or the dying local newspaper? Are you trying to create a reputation in the legal community as an expert with a niche practice?

Maybe you aspire to recruit clients directly from the Internet? Maybe you plan to keep existing clients informed of firm news? Maybe you want to become a public voice for some relevant legal issue?

Or maybe you see your Web 2.0 presence as merely a formality? Maybe, in other words, you just consider a firm blog or Facebook page necessary because all the other lawyers are doing it?

Do you have a clear answer to this question? If not, stop before jumping into the social media pool and find your answer.

There is no shortage of hype surrounding Web 2.0. Media consultants and PR types are making a good living giving seminars, Webinars, call-in conferences and awarding CLEs teaching you how to social network.

If you listen to some of these self-appointed experts you could be forgiven if you thought attorneys should focus more on cluttering up the Internet and less on the actual practice of law.

Nonsense.

Let me utter a bit of Web 2.0 sacrilege here: Most of the “social networking” phenomena is ill suited to the communications and public relations needs of a law firm.

You don’t need the intimacy and immediacy of social networking. Clients and the public do not want or need to know that you are a ‘fan’ of sunsets or to get ‘tweets’ from you between deps. No one cares to get daily updates about the status of your Board Room remodeling project.

Moreover, there are unsettled ethical and professionalism issues to ponder when an attorney initiates an interactive relationship with an audience of ‘friends’ or ‘subscribers.’ Are you offering legal advice? Are you soliciting clients in a fashion that might run afoul of rules of professional conduct? Are you inadvertently creating an attorney/client relationship, or the appearance of one? Will you someday face a Discovery request for your blog archives or your Facebook ‘friends” list? Ouch.

Social networking purposefully creates an aura of casual familiarity that is often at cross-purposes to your role as legal counsel. A social and professional boundary is crossed when a client has access to photos of their attorney in flips flops and shorts, or holding forth about backyard BBQ or scrap booking.

We in the legal profession dress in business wear, put effort and money into equipping our offices to create a positive impression, and adhere to an overall air of formality for a reason: the law is and must be about dignity and respect. [Take a look at this blog giving examples of FAILS on that count.]

What is to be gained by gossiping with clients or the public about your vacation to Maui and sharing photos of you and your significant other drinking at the poolside bar?

So stop and think about your goals and your practice before you dive headfirst into Web 2.0.

Unless you have a clear goal and unless you know that a particular Internet presence will help you reach that goal, why dedicate time and effort to a project that might be a waste of time, or even counter productive?

Are their potential benefits to creating a legal or law-related blog? Absolutely [you are reading an example]. Could you create a communication plan that incorporated a Facebook page? Certainly.

But don’t waste your time clogging up the Internet with tweets and photos and gossip unless you have clear goals and you reasonably think a Web 2.0 project could help you reach those goals.

Don’t blog just because all the other lawyers are doing it.

Just to be clear: I am a firm proponent of law firm Websites

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