Tweet Surrender

(As originally published in the National Law Journal July 20, 2011)

There was a time when big, respectable law firms would never use silly words like Tweet, Twitter and Twitterverse, but that seems to be changing, at least for some firms.

In January, Brian Inkster noted on his The Time Blawg blog that many of the largest firms in the United Kingdom had never sent a single tweet. We noted a similar trend in the United States in December.

Let’s look at which American firms are actively tweeting and how they are making Twitter part of their marketing strategy.

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Twitter Usage by AmLaw 100 Firms

Thanks to Samantha Collier for her help in assembling this list of Firm Twitter accounts for the AmLaw 100. If we missed your firm’s primary Twitter account, please email that information to info@adriandayton.com

Notes about the chart: High activity equals >500 total tweets, Medium is >100 total tweets and Low is for firms with less than 100 total tweets.

Klout score was calculated at Klout.com based on firm Twitter handles.

Social Media and the front porch

(As originally published in the National Law Journal July 4, 2011)

I had my first taste of Southern hospitality this week while flying to Charleston, S.C. My wife and I were sitting next to a couple who struck up a conversation with us, and we became fast friends. By the end of the flight, they’d offered to give us a ride to our hotel and a short tour of the historic city.

There is an oddity that you will notice when ¬driving in downtown Charleston: Most of the houses have porches, but instead of being on the front, they are on the side. This struck me as unusual. Porches were social places in the Old South. Family and guests could sit on the porch, and as neighbors and friends walked by, they could stop and chat.

It seemed sad to me that all the porches in Charleston were on the side of the houses, because people were missing out on so much of the spontaneous sociality that is offered by the front porch. With the porches spread along the side, it required a more deliberate effort to chat with people sitting on them.

Lawyers and law firms seem to be building side porches in the way they use social media. There is a big difference between having social media accounts and actually using social media. By simply signing up for LinkedIn and then never spending any time on the site, you are missing the whole point. It’s like building a side porch for style, but never sitting out on it.

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Are some firms too big to blog?

(As originally published in the National Law Journal June 23, 2011)

The legal blogosphere is expanding at a rapid pace. Just 10 months ago, AmLaw 100 firms produced 126 blogs, but now that number has more than doubled, to 270 and counting. Still, large firm blogging is growing in a highly disproportionate fashion. Take a look at the firms below that have experienced the biggest increase.

Biggest change in total number of blogs over the last year

Troutman Sanders made the leap from one blog to eight, Cozen O’Connor from one to nine blogs, while Reed Smith, Hunton & Williams and Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton continued to lead the way with a combined 65 law blogs. Many firms jumped from 1 blog to more than a half dozen. The growth has been so huge that you could call this past year “The Year of the Law Blog.”

Click here for the full list of blogs of the Am Law 100

With all of this enthusiasm and growth in blogging, a few big questions loom large. First, why aren’t the biggest firms blogging?

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Social Media Minute- Blogs of the Amlaw 100

My first crack at video blogging, still some kinks to work out, but I’m a big believer in video so I need to start practicing what I preach.

CLICK HERE FOR THE BLOGS OF THE AMLAW 100