Facebook, Google Plus, and Twitter get the most attention in the social networking field, but LinkedIn remains the most popular system for large law firms, a report from LexisNexis’ Martindale Hubbell division has found.
The report, “Global Social Media Check Up: A global audit of law firm engagement in social media methods,” covers 110 global firms — five per city, in 22 cities — and notes that 85 are registered on LinkedIn, with 27 of those operating their own LinkedIn groups. For comparison, 35 of the firms are registered on Twitter and 32 are on Facebook. (Google+ asked businesses not to register until November, while Lexis’ research transpired in April and May.)
LinkedIn’s rise is due to its business-only nature, according the the survey, which notes the service has more than 100 million users, twice as many as in 2010, and the legal field’s 770,000 members make it one of LinkedIn’s five largest sectors. Meanwhile, “Facebook is predominantly popular for personal social networking. As such, it is widely seen as a better fit with consumer goods companies, rather than law firms promoting their services to other businesses or professionals. However, it will be interesting to see how Facebook usage develops within the legal sector, in the promotion of consumer-facing legal services,” the report states.
Of the five firms surveyed from the Americas — Baker & McKenzie, DLA Piper, Hogan Lovells, Jones Day, and Latham & Watkins — none are using social integration such as Facebook’s “like” button. “Social media has revolutionised business-to-business communications,” the report, from Martindale’s U.K. division, notes.
“In particular, it has opened up new ways of connecting with a diverse range of stakeholders — be they clients, prospects, campaigning groups, journalists or graduate talent. However, at the same time, the arrival of digital and social media has brought with it a decreased sense of control and brand ownership for all types of organizations. This is why these new social channels are perceived to have introduced a new element of risk.”
The report also notes how large law firms are just as behind in accepting social networking as they historically have been with other mainstream techologies, such as blogging.
“Few of the world’s major legal practices have made decisive steps to take control of their own online brand and reputation. It is time for law firms to invest in, rather than to avoid, emerging media,” the report says. “Social media, as its adoption grows in the legal sector, will allow for information gathering and dissemination in ways which were never previously possible. For law firms, social media provides valuable opportunities for competitor insight, research, new business lead generation, brand building and talent management … its users are engaged, are open to receiving business-beneficial information, and want to connect.”
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Evan Koblentz is a reporter for Law Technology News. Send e-mail.
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