Lawyers on Twitter: Twitteriffic or just Twitterpated?

To start out, I must confess, although I’ve grown up with computers and the internet, I just don’t get Twitter. I find the constant “tweeting” back and forth a bit dizzying. (Twitter’s not just for text anymore, there’s TwitPic and TwitVid as well now.) But it looks like I’ll have to learn how to tweet with the best of them, because Twitter is definitely here to stay. Everyone is tweeting; Oprah, Bill Gates, and even President Barack Obama are all on Twitter.

Lawyers are using Twitter much like others: for networking, as a way to connect with people, and converse online about common topics of interest. And its not just solo practices or small firms out there in the twitterverse; mid-size and big firms are also using the service to connect.

But lawyers are taking a much more focused approach to the medium. Instead of tweeting every thought that comes to mind, or where they are at that exact moment, lawyers are using twitter to talk about issues specific to their fields. A securities lawyer may tweet a link to an article about a new merger, or a real estate lawyer may tweet about a recent trend in foreclosures in her area. Some lawyers are even offering advice to their less tech savvy colleagues.

Many lawyers are using twitter to increase traffic on their own blogs. They’ll tweet the titles of articles they’ve written recently hoping to tap into a broader audience. A potential client or contact interested in a certain issue will see their tweet, connect to their blog, note their expertise and then contact them directly, with a case or maybe with a job offer. Twitter is just another step in their process of using social networking sites as marketing tools.

Lawyers can use the service to respond to questions posed by potential clients. They could tweet back and forth several times. If a certain topic is mentioned multiple times it is, to use twitter speak, “trending” higher and thus of greater interest to a larger swath of the twitter audience. Increased traffic on a lawyer’s twitter feed can lead to increased traffic on his website and then increased business in his office.

The ease of connection makes twitter a very popular networking option but it also has its downfalls. The casual tone and rapid pace of the tweets can often lead to impulse tweets, something entirely inappropriate if your goal is to maintain a professional reputation. You can become a pariah just as quickly as you can become a prophet. So tweet away, but maintain professionalism and tweet with caution. As advice columnist Ann Landers once said: “The trouble with talking too fast is you may say something you haven’t thought of yet.”