You want to get nuts? Foxwordy takes nuts to a new level

A couple weeks ago, Foxwordy, a new social network for lawyers, apparently banned bloggers from joining. A couple days later it turned out Foxwordy was only blocking some bloggers, including me when I tried to log in.

Last week, Attorney and tech columnist, Bob Ambrogi,  called out Foxwordy for its “Bald-Faced Lie” in marketing themselves as the “first private social network for lawyers.”

Ambrogi, who has served as both the editor of the National Law Journal and Lawyers Weekly, is one of the most trusted voices in in the legal tech arena. So you’d think Foxwordy would wise up when Ambrogi writes:

…[W]hy does Foxwordy persist in claiming it is “the first private social network for lawyers”? That is not true by a long shot. And Foxwordy knows it is not true. I pointed it out in a post when the site first launched in February 2014 and I discussed the falsity of the claim with Foxwordy’s PR representative via email.

Ambrogi goes on to list any number of private social networks for lawyers that predate Foxwordy. ALM’s Counsel Connect from over 20 years ago, Legal OnRamp, LawLink, the ABA’s Legally Minded, and Martindale-Hubbell’s “Connected” are among the many.

I suppose it may be a “white lie” to say you’re the first. Doesn’t everyone boast a bit in the land of overhyped legal startups? But Foxwordy, in an effort, to get lawyers to jon its social network, makes it being the “first private social network for lawyers” the big draw in its logo banner and YouTube video.

When I tweeted word of Ambrogi’s post, with a comment that things were approaching the absurd with the claim of first, things got nuts. This from Foxwordy:

@kevinokeefe #Foxwordy IS the 1st fully private social network for lawyers as it offers full anonymity to members. See SF Chron, Forbes…

— Foxwordy (@foxwordyinc) September 15, 2015

Now we’re going to full anonymity and being cited in magazines as the first as the standard for being able to claim first private social network status. What’s next? Food service? Counsel Connect offered free email.

Attorney Monica Zent, Foxwordy’s founder, may be well intentioned in seeking to build an anonymous lawyer social network and I’ve read some good insight on social media from her. But claiming first private social network for lawyers here is a little nutty – to me.

Image courtesy of Flickr by Angelo Amboldi