For explaining social media to to your law firm, try Social Media in Plain English from their Common Craft Show.

You may wish to check out the Common Craft Store, a resource for influencers and educators to purchase and download licensed, higher resolution and improved versions of Common Craft's videos for use in the workplace.

The theory being that so called 'experts' go to social media websites, create a persona, and then tell everyone they need to be on them so the expert gets a following. The person concluded that no one they knew was using social media to make any money.

May sound crass to say I make money from using social media, but I do. Social media is a means whereby my blog content and other things I may say are amplified to more people and I connect with my target audience of bloggers, reporters, conference coordinators, clients, and prospective clients.

I regularly see referral traffic to my blog from social media/social networking sites such as LinkedIn, Delicious, Facebook, Twitter, and Stumbleupon. And the traffic is not coming from a profile of mine at those places with a link to my blog. The traffic is coming to my blog from posts displayed by syndication, a mention of a post of mine on Twitter, or someone sharing one of my posts on a social networking site.

A significant number of people in this country no longer get their news and information from mainstream media. They get their news and info from trusted 'friends' who blog about something they see or share a link and description to something they've read. Major publications such as the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal get huge amounts of traffic because links to their news stories are shared this way.

If major publications can draw traffic, why not well done niche publications written by authorities in their field? Like a lawyer following the niche in which they practice and sharing what they see with accompanying insight and commentary. The key is then leveraging social media to amplify your content's distribution.

You don't make money from social media anymore than you would make money from a cell phone. You make money as a result of effectively using a cell phone.

With regard to social media you make money as a lawyer by further enhancing your reputation as a thought leader and spreading word of your stature. That comes in part from effective blogging and leveraging social media.

Bissinger said Will was full of shit, and basically said that blogs were a pile of crap, and that it's a travesty that people today are getting information from blogs as opposed to seasoned journalists. Reminded me of an AmLaw 100 CMO jumping me on blogs. ;)

Seriously though, lawyers and law firm management needs to recognize reality. Younger people, age 40 and below, are not looking to print for news and info - they're looking to the net. And you better understand better than Bissinger that all these blogs are not crap. These blogs are published by some of the most knowledgeable people around - and like it or not, these blogs are read by your target audience.

The average age of newspaper readers is over 50. Ask new lawyers around your office how many subscribe to the local newspaper at home. Let me know if you find anyone who does.

Getting the paper at the bottom of the driveway before a juice and english muffin each morning is as routine as taking a shower for me. But I'm a dying breed.

And those non-subscribers are not missing out on news. They're seeing what to they want to see, and arguably need to see, throughout the day.

Their trusted influencers (friends, bloggers, reporters) turn them onto things they'll find of interest through blogs, Twitter, Digg, Delicious, IM, and all sorts of social media. Better yet for the non-subscribers is that they are seeing the news the day before the people who subscribe to hard copy publications.

Don't get me wrong traditional news is still valuable. Good reporters and columnists continue to be in demand.

But they need to make their content relevant to a growing population getting their news online. Get the content online with a RSS feed. Have an effective Internet presence through blogs, and what are becoming mainstream, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook, so that people on these mediums get familiar with you and your content.

Gain the trust of people using social media and those folks will spread word of your content to the masses. There's a stream of comments with links flowing through the Internet each minute of the day in a fashion that most folks cannot fathom. You need to get your content in that flow.

Unfortunately for most law firms, they have no desire to learn social media. Some just flat out say it's all bullshit - like Bissinger. Others give it lip service but don't hire or empower people to harness the powers of social media.

Law firms are filled with some of the brightest people in the country. Law firms try to use their intellectual capital to showcase this talent. But articles in print and archived on websites or email newsletters and alerts aren't going to cut it.

Those mediums are irrelevant to a growing population who get content through social media. Not only are you not connecting with the people under 50 who are leading today's businesses, you're increasing the divide.

Among their findings:

• Fifty-seven percent of respondents said that social media tools are becoming more valuable to their activities as more customers and influencers use them.
• Twenty-seven percent reported that social media is a core element of their communications strategy.
• Only three percent stated that social media has little or no value to their communications initiatives.

And the most effective tools for their social media initiatives:

• Blogs
• Online video
• Social networks

The top three criteria for determining the relevance and potential influence of a blogger or podcaster:

• Quality of content on the blog or podcast
• Relevance of content to the company or brand
• Search engine rankings

Online engagement was not viewed as important. However, it's possible that we're dealing with PR/Communications folks, who in the absence of blogging themselves, cannot appreciate the value of networking via blogging.

For online communities and social networks, the top three criteria for evaluating influence do reflect the importance of online engagement:

• Participation level
• Frequency of posting by the community member
• Name recognition of the individual

Detailed results of the study will be published in the upcoming issue of the Journal of New Communications Research and a full report will be made available via the Society and the Institute for Public Relations in early 2008.

Reminds me of TheGlobe (two guys worth billions at the time), iVillage, About.com, and others which generated huge traffic and became the stock market darlings of the the late '90's. Most failed completely and those that survived had a 90% + reduction in their value.

You're going to see lawyers getting into blogs and RSS in a big way through aggregators, directories and communities. It will be similar to the law portals of MyCounsel, Ed Kopp's law site, USLaw and many others of the late 90's. As far as I know, all but FindLaw know owned by Thomson/West and Prairielaw, incorporated into Martindale-Hubbell's lawyers.com shut their doors.

Don't get me wrong. I am an evangelist on blogs, RSS, syndication and collaboration. Innovation is good. Effective use of low cost technology is good. And the strong social media sites such as Flickr and MySpace are going to survive.

Ignore history at your peril though. Just because there is a huge buzz about what you are doing and you are attracting capital doesn't mean you are a success. Success will be measured by a strong business model, a valuable product or service people will pay for, and a lot of hard work by a talented group of people.

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