Daily Archives: November 10, 2009

Nov 10 2009

More Analysis About Business Use of Twitter & Facebook

TwitterI stumbled on yet another article examining the exploding growth of business promotion on Twitter and Facebook. Computerworld reports the numbers here and they are significant. The report can be found here. Over the past six months, there has been a 250% increase in promotional Twitter use and a 192% increase in promotional Facebook use.

The Computerworld article focuses less on these staggering numbers and more on the security risks posed by such use of the social networking sites while on the job. I think they miss the point. Instead of focusing on the 1.5% decrease in employee productivity measured in the study, the researchers should consider the percentage increase in business development, marketing results, networking and goodwill generation. If you can’t beat ’em, consider joining ’em.

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Nov 10 2009

Putting It Out There – In The Best Possible Way

NicoleBlackMany of my readers are surely familiar with shining stars in the legal/tech online domain. So, I am sure that many recognize the name Nicole Black. Nicole is an attorney practicing in the Rochester, New York area whose reach extends far beyond the city limits. Nicole’s legal background is heavily steeped in criminal defense, civil litigation and appeals work, but she is probably best known for her blogging, writing, speaking and fresh foresight regarding legal technology and the future of the profession.

If you know Nicole and would like to know her better or simply would like to get to know Nicole, check out her auto-biographical post at one of her blogs, Sui Generis. In true tech form, Nicole explains that she is writing the piece to forge another link in her on-line chain and strengthen her presence in the search engine results. But us readers secure the added benefit of learning more about a bright, agile attorney and writer who is helping to push legal practice forward on a daily basis.

Finally, thought I would share a little known fact: not quite two years ago, I began considering how to expand my own practice and market my efforts to become a writer and researcher on my own terms. My search lead me to Nicole’s web site, nicoleblackesq.com. Her simple landing page, black background with blue and white letters, struck me, particularly the words “lawyer, writer, blogger.” Could you really be all three? I still keep the vision of her start page in mind as I continue to learn and grow in the on-line world. Thanks, Nicole, for helping me start out on my own adventure!

Nicole Black and Carolyn Elefant, another on-line luminary and champion of the solo practitioner, currently are working on a book addressing social media for lawyers. Stay tuned for more information about the book. It is sure to be well-written and informative!

Nov 10 2009

Is LinkedIn Getting All Social-y?

linkedinIf you hang out on LinkedIn, you may have noticed the dusty status box on your profile page. If you hang out on-line, you know what a status box is for. My sense of the LinkedIn status box is that it has been a cute little novelty on the site: some take advantage of it from time to time but most seem to ignore its existence. Sort of like ignoring the unpacked boxes from your move two years ago.

That may all change overnight. LinkedIn has announced integration of its cute little status boxes with Twitter’s power status updating service. Over the next 24 hours, LinkedIn will roll out to users the ability to automatically update Twitter with LinkedIn status updates and vice versa, with the use of a hashtag, much like the #fb tag. The LinkedIn tag is #in or li.

A nice feature is that you will be able to set up the cross-posting to send all or selected tweets. Not sure my business contacts want to hear what I had for breakfast yesterday. LinkedIn is also permitting users to show their tweet stream on their LinkedIn profile as well.

Facebook integration also may be in LinkedIn’s future, as well as URL shortening of LinkedIn updates to fit within the infamous 140 character Twitter limit (that makes sense).

I think this is the right move for LinkedIn. My historical complaint regarding the site is that it is, well, boring. There is plenty of business in the questions and group commentary, but the flow in those areas is slow, too slow for today’s real time world. Furthermore, there is little opportunity on LinkedIn to develop your “personality”. The modern Web in general and social networking in particular demand that the experience be fun, ever-changing and informative. Twitter integration goes far towards improving LinkedIn’s deficiencies in this regard.

Will you integrate your Twitter stream with your LinkedIn updates? Enquiring minds want to know!