I know some professionals will balk at the idea but I'm inclined to agree with Samantha, not least because of Facebook's powerful search-engine like presence, although my view is that she is way ahead of the curve here; a lot of lawyers I know aren't even on Facebook personally yet and a few more have just the one solitary connection on Linked In.
However, a quick search on Facebook will reveal that there are already a modest number of "solicitors" and "law firms" with a professional Facebook presence and, indeed, a fan base.
But this blog isn't about law firms, its about in-house lawyers. A quick Facebook search against "in house lawyer" revealed:
For the avoidance of doubt, this is not me.
Sensing competition, I have upped my social media strategy game. This is me (note the all important capitalised 'H' in 'House'):
So there it is, the start of what will no doubt be the blog-post, "5 Reasons In-house Lawyers should use Facebook". Until then.
There may be at least one reason not to use Facebook (at least from an iPhone) http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/blog/2010/oct/06/facebook-privacy-phone-numbers-upload
ReplyDeleteThe iPhone app appears to upload the phone numbers for the contacts on your phone to Facebook's servers... which is worrying to say the least.
Leaving this aside I have found it hard to get my head around Facebook as a business tool. I have even gone off it for personal use due to the number of Farmville updates and privacy concerns... I'm not quite sure what it offers over and above LinkedIn and Twitter.
Interested to hear how you get on with your experiment!
Thanks Jon. I'm with you, in that my personal use of Facebook has waned whereas my use of Twitter and Linked In have taken off. But with new features on Facebook, such as Facebook Places, I'm convinced that there is a market for brand success on there. I'll persevere a little, although I'm not sure my "in house lawyer" brand is going to attract any immediate "fan" base!
ReplyDeleteI'd like to open up the debate to law firms to find out their experiences of using Facebook. Please do comment if you're out there law firms....
I really wish I could get to like Facebook more, but I can't. I've got a personal profile and a page, but I can't get motivated to do much with either. I think this is mainly because I've got enough to do with blogging, tweeting and using linked in. I know I must "up my game" on it for all the reasons you give, Melanie. I'm sure it will be a major resource for clients searching for lawyers in the near future. My firm hasn't got a facebook page(or a twitter account) yet.
ReplyDeleteGreat post on Facebook use by lawyers/law firms! I did some research and noted most Canadian law firms are already on Facebook; however some have "community pages" created by Facebook, not the firm. Creating your own page helps populate this community page (as well as having a Wikipedia entry). Firms should do a quick search and see if they are listed.
ReplyDelete