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Lawyers turn to social media and blogging for professional development

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September 15, 2014

I was on a phone call recently with a major publisher discussing social media programs for lawyers. She asked in addition to the business development aspects of social media if lawyers were using social media for professional development.

Great question on her part. Lawyers do use social media for professional development and they are not alone as professionals doing so.

Pamela Lewis Dolan (@Plewisdolan) reports for American Medical News that many physicians are turning to social media to help them manage the overwhelming amount of new information they need to know to provide quality care.

A study published online Sept. 24 [2012] in the Journal of Medical Internet Research found that 85% of oncologists and primary care physicians use social media at least once a week or once a day to scan or explore health information. Sixty percent said social media improves the care they deliver.

…Unlike other studies on physician use of social media that tend to lump professional and personal use together, lead author Brian McGowan, PhD, an education technology consultant from Blue Bell, Pa., and his fellow researchers narrowed the focus to how social media can be used for professional development and lifelong learning.

And physicians are using social media regularly as part of their practice.

Of the physicians surveyed, 24.1% said they use social media daily to scan or explore new medical information, and 14.2% contribute information daily. On a weekly basis, 61% scanned and explored and 46% contributed information. Fifty-eight percent perceive social media to be beneficial and a good way to get current, high-quality information.

Physicians aren’t the only group using social media for professional. Christine Fisher (@byCFisher) writing for ASCD, a global community with 140,0000 members dedicated to excellence in learning, teaching, and leading, reports that social media is transforming professional development in education.

By using social media tools such as Twitter, social bookmarking sites, and social networks, educators can participate in the new era of professional development—an era of idea exchange that is accessible anywhere, anytime and that connects the field’s brightest minds. These tools are real-time, cost-effective, and accessible around the world, and they are driven by practitioners, not just consultants.

Groups have been exchanging ideas forever, says Eric Sheninger (@E_Sheninger) Senior Fellow and Thought Leader on Digital Leadership with the International Center for Leadership in Education, but now online idea-sharing tools like RSS feeds, digital discussion forums, and blogs have the power to expand PLNs (personal learning networks) to previously unimaginable sizes and share more ideas than ever.

When lawyers, law firms, and legal marketing professionals hear social media and blogging they think of business development, and business development alone.

Big mistake. Lawyers, like doctors and educators, use social media for staying abreast of developments in the law and business , networking with peers, and making contributions.

The outcome is improved legal services being delivered by lawyers active on social media. Especially in the case of niches for which there has been no continuing education and available network.

Maybe I ought to be working as much with continuing legal education programs as legal marketing initiatives. ;)

Image courtesy of Flickr by Ken Whytock