Virginia Lawyers Weekly

Are you on Twitter? If not, you might want to take a look.

For those who haven’t been tuned in to all the recent buzz, Twitter is a micro-blogging platform that poses the simple question, “What are you doing?” Users post replies of no more than 140 characters.

The site was originally established as a place for individuals to post personal status updates. But as it grows, Twitter continues to evolve into something else entirely: a clearinghouse for shared information.

Nowadays, anyone who wants to be heard has taken to the Twittersphere – and surprisingly enough, people are listening.

But even more interesting is the sense of community that has built up around this sharing of information. Stick with Twitter long enough and you will notice the same groups of people – connected by location, hobby or career – conversing back and forth in niche pockets.

But despite its general popularity, Twitter has been somewhat slower to catch on for lawyers. And while Twitter’s legal community as a whole is finally beginning to grow, here in the commonwealth, it has barely been established at a local level.

This week’s edition of Web Hits will help you use Twitter, not only to promote your law practice, but also to work towards building this local legal community.

Where to start

Before you begin posting to Twitter (“tweeting”), you have a few decisions to make. First, decide if you want to tweet as a firm or as an individual attorney representing your firm. Do you want to keep your posts focused on a particular practice area or related to the law at large? Will you share blog commentary and legal news from others or will you generate your own content?
Whatever you choose, make it clear in your profile who you are and what your objective is. A picture, a link to your Web site and a concise description are essential to establishing yourself, your firm and your overall brand as a legitimate source of information.

Once you’ve built your profile, the best way to start connecting is by subscribing to (“following”) other users’ feeds. There are millions to choose from: celebrities, political figures, organizations, businesses and average people alike all use the site to get their messages across. That being so, you’ll notice right away that there can be a lot of “noise” in the Twittersphere.

When you follow people, their updates feed onto your homepage in real time. So to keep this chatter at a manageable and beneficial level, follow who you know and who interests you.

As a way to help find people to follow, Twitter provides the tools to import contacts from your e-mail accounts. And to expand your network further, Twitter lets you search for accounts by name and by subject matter.

Look for other lawyers in your area, news about your practice area, etc., and select users you wish to follow. Once you follow someone, pay attention to who they are following – you could discover even more useful sources.

If your page includes a full profile and relevant tweets, most individuals and small businesses will follow you back. News outlets, public figures and bigger organizations typically don’t.

You’ll also notice that people you don’t know will begin to follow you. Whether you follow them back is up to you, and depends on your level of interest in their content. While it can be flattering that someone is interested in tracking your posts, visit the user’s page before following back. Like any place on the Internet, Twitter is not immune to spammers. If an account that follows you appears to be generating spam, you have the option to block them from accessing your feed.

Become established

To build new followers and keep current followers interested, you’ll need to commit to tweeting regularly. There’s no set standard, but try to update your followers at least several times a week.

If time is a concern, it may be a good practice to build tweeting into your daily routine. As long as you have an idea ahead of time what you want to say, it only takes a minute to log in and post. Twitter can be a great vehicle for those who don’t have time in their practice to blog.

When posting, it’s important to choose good subject matter and stick to whatever niche topic you’ve established for your page, whether it be breaking news in your practice area, case results, witty observations, etc. Try to keep a consistent tone and voice to your posts.

To enhance your content and establish credibility, provide hyperlinks to the source of your information. Long URLs can eat up 140 characters pretty quickly, but there are many free Web sites that will help your shorten a link. TinyURL, bit.ly and tr.im are a few to check out.

Just remember to abide by your firm’s social media policy, if one is in place. Otherwise, use common sense and keep your tweets more practice-related and less personal. While there’s certainly no harm in sharing an occasional quip about your family or a hobby, don’t post anything you wouldn’t want your clients or colleagues to see.

If you’re still not sure what to share with your Twitter followers, listen to what other users are saying. Step back to the sidelines for a few days and watch conversations in your intended community unfold.

Watching what others post, and how their followers react, can help you gauge your community’s interests. You also get a sense of what, if anything, people are saying about you or your firm.

During your observation, you’ll notice that some tweets include a #hashtag – this symbol indicates trending or searchable topics. Plug a #phrase into the search box to see what others are saying about the subject

Engage in conversation

To get the most out of Twitter, you need to go beyond just churning out information and establish dialog with those in your community.

If you see a tweet you’d like to comment publicly on, use the “@ reply” feature to communicate directly with the poster. Typing the @ symbol immediately before a username will send your comment to the intended recipient and also post it on your page for others to see.

Or, if you wish to share another user’s post with your followers rather than respond directly, you can pass the messages along by “re-tweeting.”

A re-tweet is indicated by the letters ‘RT’ followed by an @ link to a username. It’s not only a way to let the original poster know you found their post interesting and worthy of sharing. It’s also a way to let useful content circulate through the Twittersphere and to help create a buzz.

Re-tweeting helps build relationships with other Twitter users. And many times, people you re-tweet will pay you back by thanking you through an @ reply or re-tweeting your content in the future.

Just remember the rules of good karma when sharing information you didn’t originally generate. You always want to give people credit for their posts – don’t try to pass someone else’s content off as your own.

Promote to expand followers

To continue building your community and recruiting others to join, you’ll need to venture outside the Twittersphere.

You can promote your Twitter account through a variety of outside sources. If you use social networks such as Facebook or LinkedIn, have your profile include a link to your Twitter page. You can also put the URL in your e-mail signature. And, if possible, provide the link on your firm’s blog, Web site or printed promotional material.

There are, of course, a few things you want to avoid when promoting yourself on Twitter.

Even though Twitter does give you the option, don’t make your profile private. You will restrict your visibility, other users will not be able to engage in conversation and it’ll ultimately cost you followers.

Also, be wary when using Twitter as an advertising vehicle. Some ethics experts already have noted that the Virginia State Bar’s advertising rules probably apply to any statements you might make there.

Just provide interesting and useful information in your tweets. That’s how you can build a name and brand for yourself on the site.

Virginia Lawyers who tweet

To help you get started, we’ve include a list of Virginia lawyers who are already using Twitter. This list is by no means comprehensive, and will certainly grow over time. If we missed you, or if you’re just starting out, let us know by following @VALW and/or @WebEditorVALW. Together, we can build the Virginia legal community on Twitter.

@ASris – A. Sriskandarajah – Fairfax
@BenGlass – Ben Glass – Fairfax
@constructionlaw – Christopher Hill – Richmond
@FairfaxLawyer – Jeffrey Romanick – Fairfax
@fredkaufman – Fred Kaufman – Richmond
@gatewood5000 – Chris Gatewood – Richmond
@JonathanFrieden – Jonathan D. Frieden – Fairfax
@JonKatz5 – Jon Katz – Tysons Corner
@LeeBerlik – Lee E. Berlik – Reston
@mklinghoffer – Melanie Klinghoffer – Arlington
@paulfletcher – Paul Fletcher – Richmond
@sharonnelsonesq – Sharon Nelson – Fairfax
@TKWilsonLaw – T. Kevin Wilson – Manassas
@valaborlaw – Chip Temple – Richmond
@VentureLawyer – Thomas Bowden – Richmond
@WayneOBryan – Wayne O’Bryan – Richmond
@workaccidents – Michele S. Lewane – Richmond

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