Solo Practice

The Darker Side of Social Media for Lawyers

By Carolyn Elefant

For new and existing solos, the power of social media is intoxicating.  Tools like Facebook, LinkedIn, Blogs and Twitter are easy to use, extremely inexpensive and can help new lawyers connect with colleagues and prospective clients and establish a prominent image online. I've sung the praises of social media myself and I stand by what I said.

But for all of its virtues, social media has a dark side - quite literally.   The anonymity afforded most social media sites lets users conceal their true identities in the shadows.  If you're not careful, you may wind up friending or following some rather unsavory characters, as these cautionary posts by Kevin O'Keefe and Eric Turkewitz reinforce. 

Scott Greenfield shares the full back story to Kevin's and Eric's posts.  A lunatic who's been cyber-stalking Mark Bennett ("worst lawyer in Houston") after Bennett outed him for content scraping and other illegal or deceptive law firm marketing practices set up a Twitter account as @asshatlawyer.  Apparently, @asshatlawyer's sole purpose is to trash and attempt to intimidate Bennett, Greenfield and the other lawyers who stepped up to warn other users of @asshatlawyer's conduct.  Yet unbelievably, @asshatlawyer has 934 followers, many apparently from those who in the hope that @asshatlawyer would follow them back. 

Laudably, Scott doesn't propose (as does one of his commenters) that bars should ban or regulate lawyer use of Twitter, nor does he counselt lawyers to stop using social media.  Instead, Scott urges responsible use (knowing your followers, rejecting the hype) and most importantly,

[Making] sure that your friends in the blawgosphere and twittersphere are made aware when a psycho inserts himself into the community by spreading the word to make sure that no one inadvertently, foolishly, engages with him.  Outing the psycho-stalkers will at least minimize the annoyance that twitter leaves us exposed to.

As I've stated repeatedly, social media changes the media, not the message or the motives.  You wouldn't follow a complete stranger down the street or invite someone a crazy person who into your law office.  At the same time, we don't cease our social interaction and lock our doors because of the few crazies out there.

The same is true with social media.  Does it attract kooks and crackpots and downright dangerous individuals?  Absolutely.  That's no reason to stop using social media, but rather a wake up call to participate in it ethically, transparently and responsibly.  And to avoid those who don't at all costs.

Full post as published by My Shingle.com on January 03, 2010 (boomark / email).