On March 1, 2015, Bradley Horowitz (a Google VP), posted on his Google Plus page that he will be running Google Photos and Streams products. Although his post itself doesn't mention Google Plus and there has been no official announcement from Google that Google Plus will be retired, other news sources have reported that Google Plus will be breaking up into distinct services.
For example, The Verge reported that Hangouts will continue to operate, but as a stand-alone product, and that the split divides Google Plus into distinct realms - the social aspect (streams); photos; and communications. Gigaom, Mashable, Business Insider and other outlets have featured similar stories over the past week, but none have much detail to date.
Search Engine Journal reported, however, that Google is not, in fact, separating Google+ into separate products, but instead simply changed an internal team name, and that no "user-facing" changes are actually in the works. This seems to contradict the interview given at Mobile World Congress in Spain by Sundar Pichai, Senior VP of Products at Google this past week as reported in the articles mentioned above and in Venture Beat.
If Google does decide to do away with the social network aspect of Google+ it wouldn't be the first time Google has abandoned a product. And it will be interesting to see what they do with Photos and whether both photos and hangouts survive. Stay tuned!
Starting to create content for your law firm website, blog or social media pages? If so, you might be interested in this presentation, covering some of the most popular tools used by marketing pros to create great visual content:
I've used some of these tools to create images for blog posts and social media, others for presentations and other marketing materials. But this list includes some new tools I hadn't used before. I've bookmarked the presentation and the accompanying post to check out some of these new tools soon. I hope you find one or two on this list that can be useful to you.
The Pennsylvania Bar Association has issued Formal Opinion 2014-300, a comprehensive opinion addressing numerous ethical issues involved in attorneys' use of social media. The 18 page opinion covers many areas that have plagued lawyers in their use of social media, and provides some guidance to help attorneys navigate what some have seen as hazardous territory.
Pennsylvania Bar members can obtain a complete copy of the opinion from the Pennsylvania Bar site, but here are the conclusions contained in the opinion:
1. Attorneys may advise clients about the content of their social networking websites, including the removal or addition of information.
2. Attorneys may connect with clients and former clients.
3. Attorneys may not contact a represented person through social networking websites.
4. Although attorneys may contact an unrepresented person through social networking websites, they may not use a pretextual basis for viewing otherwise private information on social networking websites.
5. Attorneys may use information on social networking websites in a dispute.
6. Attorneys may accept client reviews but must monitor those reviews for accuracy.
7. Attorneys may generally comment or respond to reviews or endorsements, and may solicit such endorsements.
8. Attorneys may generally endorse other attorneys on social networking websites.
9. Attorneys may review a juror’s Internet presence.
10. Attorneys may connect with judges on social networking websites provided the purpose is not to influence the judge in carrying out his or her official duties.
This week I received a question from a reader about using LinkedIn which read in part,
What would you say are the top 3 to 5 ways in which attorneys should be using LinkedIn on a daily basis to actually build their practice and attract/identify new clients? I’m looking for concrete ideas—not simply, build your network and post status updates. Of course you need to have a complete and up-to-date profile. Of course you need to make periodic status updates. Or course you want to find new connections and build your LinkedIn network. But once you’ve done those things… then what?
Good question. In LinkedIn in One Hour for Lawyers, we focus on the three basic building blocks of Linkedin – your Profile, Connections and Participation. The book shows readers how to edit their Profile, build their connections, and begin to post Updates and get involved in Groups. But once you’ve done those basics, it might be time to take your LinkedIn participation to the next level.
The short answer to the question is to build upon those concepts and the basic building blocks by taking them a bit further. Some of the answer will depend on your practice area and audience or purpose for using LinkedIn, but some examples include:
Continuously updating your Profile and tweaking the language so that it resonates better with your target audience(s). For example, if a lay person reviewed your LinkedIn Profile, would they immediately know what you actually do for your clients? Would they be able to recognize who to refer to you or, if they are potential clients themselves, would they be able to identify themselves as people who would definitely need your services just from reading your Profile?
Posting updates that are not necessarily about you, but that provide value to your network – items or articles that would help them in their business or personal life
Using LinkedIn’s new Publishing platform to write longer posts of interest to your audience
Finding and joining Groups that will get you directly in front of your audience; leveraging your connections’ connections to get (real life) introductions and build your network; and using LinkedIn to find potential clients (See my previous posts here and here)
Using the Search tools to identify specific individuals you would like to meet; see what you have in common that might create opportunities; identify their needs based on what they post
Joining (or starting your own) Groups and actively participating in discussions and posting content to the Groups that you find relevant
Looking at the Profiles of your target audience to see what Groups they belong to and whether those Groups might contain your target audience
Using LinkedIn as a corollary to your real-world networking. For example, use LinkedIn as a follow up tool when you meet new people; look at LinkedIn to see who in your network is in a particular city you may be visiting so you can have a face to face meeting; and using the tools in Contacts to remind you to stay in touch with your network regularly
Just like real-world networking, the best way to get the most out of LinkedIn or any other ‘community’ or ‘network’ is to keep working it on a regular basis. Engage with others. Be interesting. Be present. Help others – make introductions and connections, answer questions, and demonstrate your knowledge.
To answer the question more directly, 3-5 things lawyers should do daily (or even weekly) on LinkedIn are:
Review Group discussions (either by looking at the emails you receive from LinkedIn or by going to your Groups main page and looking at the "feed" of discussions) to see whether there is anything you could contribute value to.
Review LinkedIn invitations, accept those that are appropriate and send a personalized thank you message to those who invite you to connect so that you move the conversation along. Send personalized invitations to connect to new connections you met during the week, and take a few minutes to review the "People You May Know" suggestions and "Who's Viewed Your Profile" for potential new LinkedIn connections.
Review connections of new connections to see if there is anyone you would like to meet or be introduced to; look at their Groups for potential new Groups to join.
Skim through updates from your network to see where you can engage by commenting, liking or sharing others' updates.
Post network updates that provide information of interest to your network.
On a monthly basis you may want to do things like weeding out Groups that are inactive or are not the right fit for you, following up with connections you haven't been in touch with in a while, and reviewing your Profile to see if any updates or changes are necessary.
Want to learn more about what you can do with LinkedIn? Join me on a free webinar on August 21 at 2 p.m. Eastern sponsored by MyCase. Register at: http://bit.ly/1pbgjUc
In February of this year, I posted an interview with attorney Jeena Belil about how she uses LinkedIn Groups to help develop her business. I recently spoke with another attorney, Jonathan, who has also achieved success using LinkedIn. In fact, his participation on LinkedIn, particularly with Groups, helped him to not only land his current job, but also to obtain clients and referrals.
The job search
One of the advantages of using LinkedIn Groups is the ability to send messages to other members of the Group, even if you’re not connected. Jonathan started using this feature and found it to be very helpful in his job search. He looked at the members of his Groups to see who was a recruiter or had hiring as part of their job title or job description. He contacted those people to let them know of his job search and, as a result, made many good connections.
Jonathan also joined a group comprised of alumni from his law school and then reached out to connect with those he wasn’t already connected to.
With an LLM in tax, Jonathan was interested in obtaining a position with a tax firm. He had some contacts at a major firm and sent a message to one of those contacts. She forwarded his information on to a colleague in one of the firm’s other offices where there was an open position and Jonathan got the job.
Jonathan says that initially, he was reluctant to attempt to directly connect on LinkedIn with people he didn’t know, but then he realized that people are using LinkedIn specifically for networking purposes; making contacts is the reason they’re on LinkedIn in the first place, so he decided to go for it. He found that most people were very receptive. In Jonathan’s experience, response rate was much higher using LinkedIn to reach out to others than cold-calling someone’s office or sending a random email.
If you’re looking for a job, there are even more reasons to be on LinkedIn, according to Jonathan:
Employers are nervous about who they are hiring and how their new hire might reflect on their company; having a LinkedIn page makes you look like an adult - a professional.
Don’t worry if none of your friends are using LinkedIn; if you’re the only one who is there, you’ll have an advantage over others.
The more jobs that get filled through LinkedIn, the fewer will be in the newspapers or posted in other places. Those who are not on LinkedIn won’t even know that these opportunities exist. Jonathan knows this first-hand; he saw a posting for a job on LinkedIn and emailed a friend who was looking for work. His friend ultimately got the job, but if it weren’t for LinkedIn, he wouldn’t have even known the position was available.
But don’t take Jonathan’s word for it. Irene McConnell, founder of Arielle Careers, a personal branding agency, says, “In the next 5 years we'll see it completely upend up our flawed recruitment industry, presenting well-connected LinkedIn users with a flood of job opportunities.”
While LinkedIn may not replace the traditional resume in the legal field just yet, recruiters and head hunters are definitely using LinkedIn to vet candidates and build up an accurate picture of you. Recruiters use LinkedIn’s paid plans to get greater searches, but you won’t get found if your Profile doesn’t accurately reflect your skills, or if it doesn’t contain enough information to put you in the search results.
Building relationships and finding clients
Now that Jonathan has landed his job, he continues to stay active in LinkedIn Groups and to otherwise participate on LinkedIn. He reads news relevant to his area of practice and tries to re-post or share information that he thinks would be interesting to his connections in LinkedIn Group discussions. He has even been named a “top contributor” on one of the Groups he participates in. He believes his LinkedIn activity shows his value both to his current employer and potentially to a future employer, recruiter or head-hunter.
In addition, Jonathan says that since his area of practice can be complicated, it pays to demonstrate his knowledge. He says, “Once people view you as someone who knows what they’re talking about in a particular area, they’ll start seeing you as a ‘go to’ person and will come to you when they have questions.” He notes that the best way to get business in his area of practice is from other lawyers who don’t know the tax issues that might be involved in their client’s matter, or who need help to refer a client.
In addition to using Groups on LinkedIn, Jonathan recommends using a strategy to connect and build your network. Although you may ask your friends for referrals, they may not realize who they know who would be a good connection for you. But using LinkedIn, you can view their connections, see who your friend knows that you would like to know and ask for an introduction.
Jonathan believes that social media, and LinkedIn in particular, is a great way to develop business. He thinks, “if you’re not on LinkedIn, you’re crazy,” because "everyone in a service business (including lawyers) is always looking for clients, and being on LinkedIn and participating in Groups is free advertising. You often get instant feedback and you can see how many people are interacting with what you post."
In a recent article writen for law firm managers looking for jobs from which the Irene McConnell quote mentioned above was taken, McConnell suggests several steps to help you get results using LinkedIn for your job search. But the fact is that these steps don’t apply just to looking for a new job; they also apply to those looking to land new clients, especially institutional clients.
Here’s my take on some of her suggestions.
First, start with making a list of who you want to target on LinkedIn, whether that is potential employers, recruiters, potential clients or referral sources. Starting following them on LinkedIn and other social media.
By listening to what your target audience is saying on social media, you’ll learn about what is important to them, what challenges they’re facing and possibly even what some of their goals are. This information is invaluable for determining how to reach out to these people (whether directly or indirectly), ascertaining what kind of information you may be able to provide to them, and for developing your services in a way that meets their needs.
Another great advantage of LinkedIn is being able to see who works for what companies and in what capacities. Once you’ve identified your target audience of businesses, companies or employers, you can search their employee lists to identify decision-makers, in-house counsel, or people that hold specific positions within that company, just as Jonathan did when searching for those with positions related to hiring. Where appropriate, engage people in conversation and follow up with a personalized connection request.
Look for people within your target audience who blog or write articles online or for industry or trade publications. Comment on their posts and engage them in conversation. As the conversation continues, consider connecting with them directly.
Write articles or posts on your own LinkedIn profile that speak to the concerns, goals and challenges you’ve identified based on your target audience. Post them to LinkedIn Groups where appropriate, or start Group discussions on those topics and then direct those who comment on the discussion to your article.
Take online relationships offline – offer to meet for coffee or set up a telephone call.
How are you using LinkedIn, and has it been successful for you?
If you’ve logged in to Facebook in the past few days, you may have noticed a message from Facebook about ads. If you haven’t taken the time to read it or aren’t sure why you should care, you may want to reconsider.
Essentially, Facebook is now going to use your app and web browsing history to start serving up targeted ads. Indeed, you may have noticed this happening already as you surf the web, since Facebook is not the only company using this method, sometimes known as online behavioral advertising.
Facebook can’t capture data about you visiting just any site, only those that have partnered with it. Basically, any site that has a “like” button (such as this one) or that permits you to log in with your Facebook credentials is a Facebook partner. And by virtue of that fact the site will store data about your visit in your browser, which can later be read by Facebook. It makes no difference whether or not you click a “like” button while you’re at the site.
For Facebook Business Page owners, these changes can help ensure that the business’ ads reach their preferred target audience. But for individual Facebook users, all of this targeting can seem a bit intrusive. If it seems like someone is following you around watching everything you’re doing, you’re right. Checking out the latest new gadgets on BestBuy? Click on a specific item and you may find that item following you around the internet – including on Facebook, where you’ll see an ad for the exact product you viewed yesterday.
Of course, Facebook views the changes it is making to its ads as favorable to Facebook users. After all, if you’re going to receive ads, you might as well receive ads related to things you’re actually interested in, right?
The good thing about the recent changes for individual Facebook users is that you now have an opportunity to control what kinds of ads you’re seeing. Or at least that is how Facebook is spinning it. In actuality, you now have an obligation to take affirmative action if you don’t want to be bombarded with advertising and if you don't want your browsing and app habits to affect the ads you see. There are several things you'll want to consider doing to prevent against this.
First, when you see an ad on Facebook, click on the arrow in the upper right hand corner of the ad to stop receiving ads from specific advertisers, or to update your preferences to stop receiving certain types of ads.
But be aware that according to Facebook, “The number of ads you see won’t change, but because we’ll know more about what you like, they’ll be more relevant.”
Facebook also concedes that you’ll still see ads that won’t be relevant to you if the business purchasing the ad wants to “reach a broad, non-specific audience; for example, everyone in your town.”
If you read Facebook’s full post about the ads changes, you’ll find out that:
If you don’t want us to use the websites and apps you use to show you more relevant ads, we won’t. You can opt out of this type of ad targeting in your web browser using the industry-standard Digital Advertising Alliance opt out, and on your mobile devices using the controls that iOS and Android provide.
But if you just view their video, you'll notice it doesn’t mention the opt out - it only discusses controlling your ad preferences.
If you decide you do want to opt out, you’ll need to opt out on every browser and every device you use to access the internet to ensure that your opt out covers all of your internet use.
To opt out using your browser, go to the opt out link above and go to either the Companies Customizing Ads for your Browser or All Participating Companies tabs and check the box next to Facebook, Inc. (and any other companies that you don’t want using online behavioral advertising). You’ll need to disable any ad-blocking for the page to complete the opt-outs.
On iOs, you’ll need to enable Restrictions and then go to Settings > General > Restrictions > Advertising and set Limit Ad Tracking to on.
On Android, go to Settings > Accounts > Google > Ads and check Opt out of internet-based ads.
Be aware that even taking these steps, you will not be able to prevent Facebook or other sites from collecting information about your browsing data; you will only be able to prevent them from using that data for targeted advertising purposes. To block sites from collecting browsing history, you’ll need a browser plug-in that prevents the tracking. The Venture Beat article mentioned above includes some recommendations.
UPDATE 5/23/2018: Facebook ads have changed even more over the years. For a comprehensive guide to Facebook ads, you might be interested in this article from Voy Media which gives 5 tips on how to make your Facebook ads more effective, but also provides some practical how-to information as well.
I think Groups are one of the most important features of LinkedIn, particularly for lawyers or other professionals who are seeking to not only build their networks, but to establish their expertise with specific audiences (as you can see from my previous post about LinkedIn Groups and business development).
Group discussions are a great way to reach your target audience. But unfortunately, Groups have also become a place for blatant self-promotion and spam. LinkedIn has made some recent changes to Groups that should not only make them easier for you to use, but also help to eliminate the most common problems.
Group Moderation
Group moderators have always had the ability to remove posts and set posting permissions, and Group members could flag posts to alert the moderator to a problem. But repeat offenders aren't always easy to keep up with, especially when their bad behavior crosses over into multiple Groups.
Now LinkedIn has introduced new tools to help reduce inappropriate posts in Groups. LinkedIn will keep track of both positive and negative feedback received on an individual's postings in Groups and they'll be given a feedback level based upon those contributions.
Group members who post relevant content and receive positive feedback will have good feedback levels. But members whose posts are: flagged as inappropriate or as a job or promotion; whose posts are moved to the jobs or promotions tabs within a Group or deleted by a Group moderator; who mass-post links to multiple Groups that are not relevant or don't provide any context; or who are blocked entirely from a Group may be in danger of being penalized if their feedback level drops too low.
Individuals with low feedback levels could become subject to moderation in all of their Groups - meaning that the Group moderator would need to approve that individual's contributions before they could be posted to the Group. According to LinkedIn, this moderation could last anywhere from a few days to a few weeks, depending on the individual's history of contribution in Groups.
Individual Group moderators can still change posting permissions for their Group if they think an individual does not require moderation, but overall, this should cut down on unwanted posts within Groups if Group members do their part and flag inappropriate posts.
Groups Page and Feed
Another change LinkedIn has made to Groups is the way Groups and Discussions are displayed. Now, when you click on Groups under the Interests Tab, you'll be taken to the "Your Groups" Page, where you'll see tiles representing each of your Groups. You can see at a glance whether there are new updates in the Group by the grey number that appears in the upper right corner of each Group's tile. When you scroll over that tile, you'll see how many of those updates are discussions, how many are jobs, etc.
Beneath the tiles, you'll see your thumnail photo next to a discussion box. This is your opportunity to post a discussion to any of your Groups (but make sure what you post is relevant to that Group to avoid penalties mentioned above). When you click inside the box, it will expand so that you can enter a title for your discussion, and then add some details. Next, you'll choose from a drop-down list of your Groups to post to and indicate whether your post is a general discussion, job posting or promotion.
Below the discussion box, you'll now see a feed of all of the updates across your Groups, eliminating the need to visit each Group individually. The new feed puts all of your updates in one place, making it easy to do a quick check of what is happening in each of your Groups, and like or comment on discussions from the same page. Within the feed, you may also see other Groups LinkedIn suggests for you.
I think these changes will enhance your LinkedIn experience and make it even easier for you to monitor and participate in Groups. What do you think of these changes?
I recently received an inquiry from the marketing director at a law firm who asked,
Can you guide me on something regarding settlement confidentiality agreements and social media? I am assuming that if I use social media to talk about a settlement without mentioning names, I am OK. True?
No, not necessarily true -- particularly where there is a confidentiality agreement in place!
The marketing director gave me two examples of proposed posts, similar to the ones below:
Just settled $2.5 million dollar case for failure to diagnose breast cancer.
and
XYZ Law Firm has settled a case for $3.5 million dollars for a 49-year old Any County woman whose doctors failed to diagnose a blood clot which resulted in a stroke.
Confidentiality agreements
I wasn't given any information about the confidentiality agreements or what they contained, and I have no intention of providing legal advice with respect to these issues, but posts like these do raise potential ethics questions, as well as legal questions.
For example, in February of this year, the Third District Court of Appeal in Florida, in Gulliver Schools, Inc. v. Snayfound that a confidentiality agreement had been violated where Snay's daughter posted on social media that her parents had won the case against the school. In that case, the confidentiality agreement prohibited the parties from disclosing the existence or terms of the agreement. Technically, Snay violated the agreement by telling his daughter about it, but it was her social media post that brought it to light.
While the proposed posts sent to me by the marketing director don't contain the names of the parties involved, giving details such as the county in which the plaintiff resides (likely the county where the suit was brought), age of the plaintiff and amount of the settlement might allow others to use public information to find the names of the parties, and might violate the confidentiality agreement by disclosing terms.
Ethics and Disclaimers
Putting any confidentiality agreement aside, these social media posts may very well violate ethical rules, even if it is otherwise legally permitted. In many jurisdictions (including the one in which this firm practices), any posts about results would need to be accompanied by a disclaimer stating that prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome.
Further, there was no indication by the marketing director that their client had consented to the firm disclosing information about their case, which may, again, be required under ethical rules.
ABA Model Rule 1.6 limits what a lawyer can say about the lawyer's own cases and clients. It provides:
(a) A lawyer shall not reveal information relating to the representation of a client unless the client gives informed consent, the disclosure is impliedly authorized in order to carry out the representation or the disclosure is permitted by paragraph (b).
Posting about clients online can be risky. If the information is in the public domain and/or the lawyer or firm has done their ethics homework and includes the required disclaimers, obtains consents and follows other rules, there may not be trouble. And posting some results on law firm websites may make sense; they can help to demonstrate the kinds of cases the lawyer or law firm handles and the fact that they have knowledge or experience with specific issues or problems.
But social media posts are generally limited in length and don't lend themselves to the kinds of disclaimers that might be required. And there is a real question about whether these kinds of posts are actually effective.
Indeed, the real question may be, "Is this the way lawyers should be using social media?"
Social Media Done Right
While more and more law firms are embracing social media, they still don't seem to "get" that social media - even platforms like LinkedIn that are all about business - are not primarily meant for promotional purposes. People will tune out if all of your posts say, "Look at me!" or "My law firm is the best! Aren't we wonderful?!"
Social media is about providing relevant and valuable information to your audience, whether your audience consists of clients, potential clients, referral sources, colleagues journalists or others, and then engaging with those individuals to build relationships. No one likes to be around the person who talks about themselves all of the time at a cocktail party or networking event. It's the same online. There's a time and a place for everything, and social media (particularly certain platforms) isn't always the place for these kinds of 'announcements.'
Instead of focusing on themselves, lawyers should think about how their social media presence can provide value to the audiences they're trying to reach.
People share content online only when they trust the source. Lawyers who share inaccurate information or seem to be hiding something online will not be seen as trustworthy.
2. Give Them What They Want
What content or information is most important to your audience, your clients and potential clients? If your readers do not care what you write about, they won't share it with others - and they may stop reading entirely.
3. Be Interesting
Nobody wants to read boring content. There's too much good content out there to waste time slogging through boring content that's filled with legalese or is difficult to understand.
4. Show Your Passion
People like sharing content that they are passionate about. When you show what turns you on, it will turn like-minded readers on, which makes them much more likely to share your content.
5. Keep Relationships in Mind
Sharing is a way of building relationships. What is it about your content that will help to build relationships? Why would your readers want to share your content? Think about what how your readers build relationsihps with others when writing your content.
6. Make Your Readers Look Good
Your readers, clients, potential clients and strategic alliances are trying to build their credibility in the same way that you are. Provide them with content that will help them in their business or make them look like an expert when they share it with others.
7. Be Thought-Provoking
When your content makes people think or shows a new perspective, it encourages conversation and sharing.
8. Know Your Audience
If you don't know what your audience values, you can't provide them with content that they will want to share. Mershon's article cites a New York Times study on the psychology of sharing* which identifies 6 online sharing personas and Mershon has added a seventh. It makes sense to know what kind of content your audience prefers and how they like to share.
9. Integrate Your Content with Email Strategies
Although social media is popular, some people still prefer to share more privately, through email. Integrating an email strategy to disseminate your content and allow it to be shared through email takes advantage of those more private sharers.
UPDATE: The New York Times removed the study from the internet in 2016, but another site has posted a link to the PDF report of the study, which you can find here.
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