Most Attorneys Use Social Media (Or Just Claim To), Best Practices Are Not Being Followed

A recent survey by Vizibility Inc. and LexisNexis reflected some interesting findings with respect to lawyers and social media marketing. The survey found that 71.5% of respondents believe that social media marketing is important to their practice (with 48.5% who think it is "somewhat important" and 31% who believe social media tools are "extremely important"). The study noted, however, that actual use may be overstated. While 63.5% of lawyers claimed to use LinkedIn, a search of that platform revealed that less than one-third of U.S. attorneys have a profile. This is half the rate of usage reported by participants in this survey and a similar one recently conducted by the American Bar Association. Moreover, less than 20% of the LinkedIn profiles were completely up-to-date. Finally, search engine optimization best practices were not being followed. For example, only 4% of legal titles on LinkedIn profiles include the word "lawyer," although in average monthly Google searches for legal counsel, 39% contain that keyword. Bottom Line: Law firms and their attorneys appear to be more interested in talking about using social media marketing than in actually using it, and - when it is utilized - there are easily implemented best practices that are not being followed.

Illustration from related infographic.

Lawyers May Track Jurors' Social Media Postings

Via From The Sidebar, the New York County Lawyers' Association Committee on Professional Ethics recently concluded that an attorney may review jurors' postings on publicly available social networking sites during trial. But lawyers must not "friend" or "tweet" jurors, subscribe to their Twitter accounts, or otherwise contact them, either directly or through others. Lawyers also have an obligation ot inform the court of any juror misconduct. Jurors have been caught, for example, conducting their own internet research on the case and sharing it with other jurors, resulting in a mistrial.

Seduced By Social Media. Is it Good For Lawyers?

Lawyer and journalist Steven Seidenberg has written a thoughtful piece regarding the potential and the perils of social media for lawyers. Some of this is fairly obvious. For example, don't blog that a judge is an "evil unfair witch" who is "seemingly mentally ill." Some less so, as when seeking to bring social media posting in compliance with the numerous ethics rules governing attorney advertising. All of it important as lawyers post and tweet and blog with increasing frequency.

Illustration by Jean Francois Podevin/ABA Journal.

Blogging From Blogworld LA 2011

Time to Geek Out! Blogworld LA is November 3-5, 2011 and I will be live blogging the event. Check back here that first November weekend for daily updates on best practices, top advice, and the general flavor of the self-described "World's Largest Social Media Conference & Trade Show."

Lawsuit For Spying on Stolen Laptop Sex Chats Can Proceed

A judge has allowed a lawsuit to proceed where sexually explicit messages and images were intercepted by a laptop-tracking company on a stolen laptop. The virtual lovers claim they didn't know that the laptop was stolen and that, although collecting the IP address was appropriate in an attempt to locate the computer, spying on their intimacy was not.

Via Wired. Photo: Jim Merithew/Wired.