Chuck Newton Is Not A Twit

Link: Chuck Newton: Twitter Does Not Seem To Be In Future Lawyer's Future. Chuck Newton agrees with me about my doubts about Twitter. It is one of the few things we agree on; he likes Obama, I like McCain. However, I didn't say "all" twitterers are twits; those that want to share their bathroom habits on the Internet most certainly are. I really don't want to know when you eat a peanut butter sandwich. I don't follow celebrities for the same reason. Kevin O'Keefe uses Twitter for professional and contact creating reasons. This is a valid use of tech; but, for the day to day practicing lawyer, I am just too busy putting out fires most of the time. The tech that I value increases my lawyer productivity; it has to help me get the job done faster and better. If it doesn't, I won't use it. Of course, to the extent that twittering can create new clients, and keep current clients informed about shared concerns, great. However, I think blogging is better at that; the client or prospective client can read an RSS feed at their convenience.

Comments

[Chuck Newton]

In other words, you can put lipstick on a pig, but it is still a pig.

All kidding aside, the problem I see with Twitter is to distinguish between that which is really noble and beneficial, and that which is not. Kind of like those listservs I posted about. Sure you can plow through them and find a jewel or two, but it is the cost and time of plowing through them.

Hope all is well in Florida given all of the hurricanes that keep passing by you on their way to other destinations.

[Kevin OKeefe]

Individual lawyers need to decide what works best for them.

I don't buy that for everyday practicing lawyers Twitter is not useful. I was told as a small town lawyer in rural Wisconsin in 1996 that the WWW and the Internet were no place I should be wasting my time. 'No one uses the Internet, especially the blue collar type clients I wanted as a plaintiff's personal injury trial lawyer and especially in rural America where no one has heard of the Internet.'

Well, turned out folks were wrong. I figured out to answer relevant law questions at AOL, archive them at my site, lead law chats at AOL etc. Lead to plenty of good work and a state wide reputation in 18 mos.

Imagine meeting local reporters and business people you could not imagine using Twitter as a customer service, relationship building, or investigative tool. Imagine local people following you (people you do not know) that think you are a pretty good person and spread word of your law blog posts around the community via Twitter. Will it be most reporters and most community members that I'll connect through Twitter? No. Who cares. I'll take 1% of them who amplify my message. These things don't suck.

I didn't get Twitter the first, second, or third time I looked at it. I thought for a year plus it was the dumbest thing ever. But when I saw a lot of business people, far brighter than this kid, talking about how Twitter worked them, I kept looking at it.

At some point Twitter clicked for me. It can click for everyday lawyers and give me Twitter as a practicing lawyer in any town in America and I'll run laps around offline marketing and many blogs.

Blogs are great, but 140 characters is fast. And my followers on Twitter as well as FriendFeed get all that just like they would a blog post.

PS - For those playing with Twitter, use Twhirl or TweetDeck (my preference) as an app to access Twitter.

[Laurie]

I definitely think the "average" lawyer can benefit greatly from Twitter. And yes it takes time and that is in short supply for us all, but Twitter is definitely worth it for me. And the customer service aspect is tremendous, both for concerns about negative "tweets" about your company or positive ones that can help you.