Twitter’s new explanation of itself : Not enough for lawyers
Journalist and Web developer Lance Whitney (@lancewhit) reports at CNet that on the eve of its IPO Twitter is striving to explain itself.
The microblogging site has revamped its About page to shed more light on its features and benefits. The Products section of the page specifically touts how you can discover what’s happening, how Twitter is accessible from everywhere, and how you can now see photos and videos in your timeline.
The page gets down to details in the “Discover what you can do with Twitter” area, a how-to guide for people unfamiliar with the service. This section explains what tweets are and how you can follow them or post your own to connect with other people.
A “Learn the Basics” page then tries to cover the terminology used by tweeters, such as username, retweet, and hashtag. It also explains why you have only 140 characters in which to express yourself, how to find people to follow, and how to send a private message.
Twitter is far from intuitive to the new or casual user. Though the information Twitter presents in the about page and new how-to’s is somewhat helpful, it’s no where near enough to give you a working understanding of how to use Twitter.
Like skiing, playing golf, or riding a bike, you have to do it, or in this case use it, to get the hang of Twitter. Only by using Twitter can you, as a lawyer, get the feel of how Twitter is a powerful learning, networking, relationship building, and trust building tool.
Be careful too not to place too much weight on the consumer product case studies shared by Twitter, it can be a little window dressing for the IPO. Some of the info for businesses involves paying for promoted tweets. Leveraging Twitter for lawyers is different.
A lawyer should be sharing items they are reading online in the niche area in which they have expertise. Do this and you’ll build a good following. A following who will trust you as an intelligence agent and authority.
A lawyer should be strategically creating Twitter lists of clients they’d like to work with and the influencers and amplifiers of their clients and prospective clients. That way you can engage these folks by retweeting or replying.
I can’t teach you as a lawyer how to use Twitter effectively from this keyboard any more than I could teach you how to ski the rockies from my conference room. You need to get out there and do it.
Twitter is going to be all the buzz in the next few days with its IPO on Thursday. Ride a bit of this wave and start using Twitter. You’ll be surprised how worthwhile it is to a lawyer.