Not that there isn’t good reason for those coming out of law school to gripe these days, as it certainly isn’t their fault that the job market disappeared and everything they spent the last seen years working towards is now a dead issue, but it won’…

I have formed some great relationships through Twitter and have used it to learn as much as I can about trends in green construction, value billing and law practice management. When a student was shot at my son’s university, Wesleyan, I used Twitter to keep apprised of what was happening. In addition, I provided updates from my son to others who were concerned about events at the campus. So, Twitter provided an incredibly supportive outlet as well.

If you aren’t using social media you are depriving yourself of a number of different kinds of opportunities. Social media is making me a better lawyer because I am up to date on current issues (Chinese drywall for example), as well as trends in the practice of law.

My nephew is in his twenties and is experiencing much success with social networking to attract and build relationships with prospects for his camp where he coaches athletes to get bigger, stronger and faster.

Myself on the other hand is learning but at a much slower rate.

It seems that boomers are having to go through a learning curve with the whole online marketing thing. I can certainly testify to it!

But….Your title of the post completely through me off. I disagree with numerous bloggers who argue any generation besides Gen X and Gen Y are social media savvy. That generalization is ALL wrong. In fact I am a Gen X who did not discover social media until 2 years ago though a Babyboomer boss. Several of my clients request training for their younger staff (Gen Y and Gen X) who don’t “get” social media. Meanwhile it’s the babyboomer bosses who are excited about social media uses. Most of the top Tweeps, bloggers are all Babyboomers or Gen. Jones. @chrisbrogan @thebrandbuilder @guykawasaki @neenz @gerardmclean @iron100

None of these folks are of Gen Y or Gen X…..they are all accomplished Babyboomers who embrace social media everyday. Might want to rethink about who is using social media the most…..in fact, babyboomers are the fastest growing number of users.

If a lawyer starts blogging or using twitter solely as a marketing tool, they will probably be disappointed. As David points out, there is a lot of time involved. As he and Admin point out, it is hard to calculate the ROI. You may be better off spending your valuable time and resources on other marketing efforts.

However, if you love writing about your profession and connecting with others who do also, then these are wonderful tools. You get to think about your job for a little while each day instead of just doing your job. You get to find other thoughts on the subjects that interest you. This will help develop your expertise and help showcase your expertise. A by-product will be that you are marketing yourself. But that is the by-product, not the reason for doing it in the first place.

The only person guaranteed to read your writing is you. So you have to make it interesting for yourself. Focus on your passion and your expertise for success.