Worried your lawyers will blog or share something stupid online? Don’t be

Many lawyers and law firms don’t blog or use other social media out of fear they’ll write something they’ll regret. Is this self inflicted paralysis warranted?

No, according to research (pdf) performed by Carnegie Mellon PhD student Sauvik Das and Facebook’s Adam Kramer.

Seventy one percent of all the [Facebook] users surveyed engaged in some self-censorship either on new posts or in comments, and the median self-censorer did so multiple times.

Why this “last minute self-censorship,” the phrase coined by the research group?

• Aversion to sparking an argument or other discussion
• Concern their post would offend or hurt someone
• Felt their post was boring or repetitive
• Decided the content undermined their desired self-presentation
• Just unable to post due to a technological or other constraint

I’d hazard to say last minute self censorship is higher than 71% when it comes to blogging. Facebook is more spontaneous, free flowing, and personal in nature.

I’ve always believed lawyers were at least as smart as the ‘average Joe,’ had a modicum of common sense, and didn’t want to share anything online that could generate a bar grievance. After all, you need a license if you want to earn a living as lawyer.

Lawyers haven’t let me down. We have thousands of lawyers on our network who blog and use social media — all the time. There are thousands more lawyers not on our network who do the same.

Whether blogging, sharing (Twitter, Facebook, or LinkedIn), liking, or commenting, lawyers are not getting in trouble. They’re not ticking off partners or clients. They’re not disclosing confidential information. They’re not violating ethics’ rules.

Sure there may be an isolated case here or there where a lawyer’s use of social media has caused some problems, but those cases are few and far between. Those isolated cases ought not cause a lawyer or law firm not to blog or use social media any more than the fear of getting in an accident would prevent a lawyer from driving a car.

Check off “OMG, what if someone says something stupid” from your list of reasons not to blog and use social media to develop business.

Lawyers are using last minute censorship.