More Analysis About Business Use of Twitter & Facebook

I stumbled on yet another article examining the exploding growth of business promotion on Twitter and Facebook. Computerworld reports the numbers here and they are significant. The report can be found here. Over the past six months, there has been a 250% increase in promotional Twitter use and a 192% increase in promotional Facebook use.

The Computerworld article focuses less on these staggering numbers and more on the security risks posed by such use of the social networking sites while on the job. I think they miss the point. Instead of focusing on the 1.5% decrease in employee productivity measured in the study, the researchers should consider the percentage increase in business development, marketing results, networking and goodwill generation. If you can’t beat ‘em, consider joining ‘em.

Putting It Out There – In The Best Possible Way

Many of my readers are surely familiar with shining stars in the legal/tech online domain. So, I am sure that many recognize the name Nicole Black. Nicole is an attorney practicing in the Rochester, New York area whose reach extends far beyond the city limits. Nicole’s legal background is heavily steeped in criminal defense, civil litigation and appeals work, but she is probably best known for her blogging, writing, speaking and fresh foresight regarding legal technology and the future of the profession.

If you know Nicole and would like to know her better or simply would like to get to know Nicole, check out her auto-biographical post at one of her blogs, Sui Generis. In true tech form, Nicole explains that she is writing the piece to forge another link in her on-line chain and strengthen her presence in the search engine results. But us readers secure the added benefit of learning more about a bright, agile attorney and writer who is helping to push legal practice forward on a daily basis.

Finally, thought I would share a little known fact: not quite two years ago, I began considering how to expand my own practice and market my efforts to become a writer and researcher on my own terms. My search lead me to Nicole’s web site, nicoleblackesq.com. Her simple landing page, black background with blue and white letters, struck me, particularly the words “lawyer, writer, blogger.” Could you really be all three? I still keep the vision of her start page in mind as I continue to learn and grow in the on-line world. Thanks, Nicole, for helping me start out on my own adventure!

Nicole Black and Carolyn Elefant, another on-line luminary and champion of the solo practitioner, currently are working on a book addressing social media for lawyers. Stay tuned for more information about the book. It is sure to be well-written and informative!

Is LinkedIn Getting All Social-y?

If you hang out on LinkedIn, you may have noticed the dusty status box on your profile page. If you hang out on-line, you know what a status box is for. My sense of the LinkedIn status box is that it has been a cute little novelty on the site: some take advantage of it from time to time but most seem to ignore its existence. Sort of like ignoring the unpacked boxes from your move two years ago.

That may all change overnight. LinkedIn has announced integration of its cute little status boxes with Twitter’s power status updating service. Over the next 24 hours, LinkedIn will roll out to users the ability to automatically update Twitter with LinkedIn status updates and vice versa, with the use of a hashtag, much like the #fb tag. The LinkedIn tag is #in or li.

A nice feature is that you will be able to set up the cross-posting to send all or selected tweets. Not sure my business contacts want to hear what I had for breakfast yesterday. LinkedIn is also permitting users to show their tweet stream on their LinkedIn profile as well.

Facebook integration also may be in LinkedIn’s future, as well as URL shortening of LinkedIn updates to fit within the infamous 140 character Twitter limit (that makes sense).

I think this is the right move for LinkedIn. My historical complaint regarding the site is that it is, well, boring. There is plenty of business in the questions and group commentary, but the flow in those areas is slow, too slow for today’s real time world. Furthermore, there is little opportunity on LinkedIn to develop your “personality”. The modern Web in general and social networking in particular demand that the experience be fun, ever-changing and informative. Twitter integration goes far towards improving LinkedIn’s deficiencies in this regard.

Will you integrate your Twitter stream with your LinkedIn updates? Enquiring minds want to know!

Benchmarking Social Media in Business

Business.com has released a report on survey results culled over the last several months concerning the use of social media in and by business. The 42-page report covers how individuals in business are using social media to pull information, as well as the more global question – how are businesses are engaging in social media on a macro level and what have they found.

The survey tracks social media use and strategies in companies that have already adopted practices and does not cover the general perceptions of businesses regarding social media. Out of a total of 4,225 unique study respondents from the United States and Canada, 2,948 or 70% qualified to participate in the study, resulting in 2,282 completed surveys and 1,943 partial responses.

On the individual level, the report cites that:

Nearly 65% of respondents reported using social media as part of their normal work routine, including reading blogs, visiting business profiles on sites like Facebook or LinkedIn or using Twitter to find information and/or communicate about business-related matters.

The study charts how different individuals within the business use social media. On the organizational level, the study indicates:

Over 1,900 participants in this research indicated that they work for a company involved in social media initatives. The vast majority (92%) are directly involved in planning or managing these company social media initiatives and spend, on average, 18% of their time in a given week working on these initiatives.

There is so much good information in this study, I cannot do it justice in a little blog post. I strongly suggest those interested hit the jump below to get insight on how media is being used in businesses that have already made the commitment.

2009 Business Social Media Benchmarking Study, available from Business.com web site.

Hat tip to BeSpacific

Sheparding Your Cases With Your iPhone

Like a good Shepard, your iPhone can now tend your flock of cases and ensure their safety! LexisNexis announced Thursday its new iPhone application devoted to this higher purpose. The app itself is free, but don’t be silly – you must have a valid Lexis account and password to use it. So it “ain’t” really free. You also need the iPhone 3.1 firmware.

Per the release, the app, “Get Cases and Shepardize” allows users to:

• Find and review a case instantly by reading the Case Brief – an overview of the issues, rules, and reasoning (written by LexisNexis experts) just by entering its citation.
• Get an at-a-glance indication of how closely they need to evaluate the case with Shepard’s Signal™ Indicators.
• Get an overview of a case’s legal treatment up front by viewing the Shepard’s Summary, right at the top of your Shepard’s reports.

Reading the comments on the release clarifies the “cost” issue, but Lexis suggests that they may consider linking to the free LexisONE, which would be a welcome update in my opinion. Nifty idea that needs a little shine.

Locating The Law

Are you looking for it? Well, here it is. The Public Access to Legal Information Committee in conjunction with the Southern California Association of Law Libraries has just released its newly-revised, Fifth Edition of “Locating The Law”, a handbook of resources for non-lawyers. The contents include:

• Cover
• Preface by Ruth Hill
• Acknowledgments by June Kim
• Chapter 1: Introduction by Karla Castetter
• Chapter 2: How to Read a Legal Citation by David McFadden
• Chapter 3: Basic Legal Research Techniques by Joan Allen-Hart
• Chapter 4: Legal Reference vs. Legal Advice by Joan Allen-Hart
• Chapter 5: California Law by Laura A. Cadra
• Chapter 6: Bibliography of California Resources by Patrick Meyer
• Chapter 7: Federal Law by Karla Castetter
• Chapter 8: Bibliography of Federal Law Resources by June Kim
• Chapter 9: Assisting Self-Represented Litigants by Laura A. Cadra & June Kim
• Chapter 10: Bibliography of Self-Help Resources by Lisa Schultz
• Chapter 11: Availability, Accessibility and Maintenance of Legal Collections by Joan Allen-Hart
• Chapter 12: Major Law Publishers by Jennifer Lentz
• Appendix A: Glossary of Legal Terms by June Kim
• Appendix B: California County Law Libraries by Esther Eastman
• Appendix C: California Law Schools by Karla Castetter

You can download the entire PDF here. While California-focused, it includes info of interest that crosses state lines.

On-Line Social Really IS Social!!!

Newsflash: the Internet is NOT making you weird! According to the Pew Internet & American Life Project, studies show that people who employ modern methods of communicating via the Web and mobile devices actually have larger and more diverse social networks. You can download a copy of the report of the study here. What are the numbers? From the press release:

“The new findings from the Pew Internet & American Life Project show that, on average, the size of people’s discussion networks – those with whom people discuss important matters– is 12% larger amongst mobile phone users, 9% larger for those who share photos online, and 9% bigger for those who use instant messaging. The diversity of people’s core networks – their closest and most significant confidants – tends to be 25% larger for mobile phone users, 15% larger for basic internet users, and even larger for frequent internet users, those who use instant messaging, and those who share digital photos online.”

The study was directed, in part, at measuring a perceived increased level of social isolation experienced by heavy users of the internet and mobile devices, but found quite the opposite. While “discussion” networks in real life have been shrinking since the mid 1980’s, these networks have been growing for on-line users. There are a number of other semi-startling results that challenge popular opinion as well: on-line use does NOT equate with less involvement in the local community; intenet use is spread equally between long-distance and local communication; internet use actually encourages visits to public places, such as libraries, parks and coffee shops,  - many go to such places to engage on-line, and on-line discussion networks usually include a far wider representative sample of backgrounds and diversity than in real life groups.

In other words, the researchers conclude that your social life is enhanced, rather than hindered, by engagement in on-line communication and activity. Don’t hesitate to enter the on-line fray to expand your discussion groups and influence and increase your value to others.

You can breathe easy now. Internet use does NOT make you weird. But it may not be able to help you if you already are.

Hat tip to Resource Shelf.

CompareMyDocs, Please?

What attorney hasn’t longed for a simple means of comparing, merging and incorporating changes into documents? It’s what we do!

For the hefty price of FREE, CompareMyDocs offers a web-based service that compares and marks up to seven documents. Differences are displayed in a neat interface. Changes are color-coded and you can hover over text to accept or reject a particular change. After you are done with CompareMyDocs, simply download the final to your own word processor for the finishing touches.

CompareMyDocs works for Rich Text Format and Word formatted documents. The site cautions that it works best for text only documents, as tables and other graphics are not displayed.  It is currently in Beta.

CompareMyDocs is a close cousin of the desktop application TextFlow. TextFlow is not yet widely available and remains closed while tweaking is done. CompareMyDocs, however, is available – it launched today.

Now before you go pegging me with assertions that a web-based document comparison app is no place for client-sensitive information, consider how difficult it is to even edit or compare versions of your firm’s newsletter! I still get agita using the comparable functions in Word 2007. Consider it for what it is worth: a handy free app that offers a simpler view of the life and times of your documents.

Hat Tip to ReadWriteWeb

Westlaw OnePass Passes Over the Real Problem

In an apparent effort to bring security and access to services up to the standards employed by the rest of the world, West / Thompson is now requiring users to create a OnePass Account to access any and all West / Thompson services, including Westlaw.  By using your old eleven-character password and choosing a user name and password with sufficient security attributes, you can create this account and then use the user name / password combo all over their sites.

Great, West. Thanks. Now bring your legal research services and Web interface into the 21st Century and all will be right with the world.

Looking For The News From All Angles? Try Newsy

Sometimes it is tough getting an unbiased view of current events. Everyone knows that news outlets can’t help but color their works with their own special tint. What is the searcher of neutral news to do?

Well, try Newsy for one. Newsy is a relatively recent addition to the world of web news applications, of which there is no dearth. What makes Newsy unique is its treatment of news stories by inclusion and analysis of various news stories, media and sources with respect to each single news-worthy event. Obviously, one can glean all sorts of information from merely watching or reading the different takes. But there is even more to be learned about the story by examining which facts are emphasized, how much time and effort is devoted to the story, and other indirect characteristics of a given report. And Newsy provides its own version of the story, ostensibly culled from the various media outlets’ reports. Newsy’s self description from their site explains that:

Newsy.com is unlike any other news service on the web – we highlight the key differences in reporting so that you can understand all the angles of a story.

As indicated on the site, you will find CNN right next to Al Jazeera, the BBC next to ABC, and content from newspapers, news magazines and top blogs.

In a sense, Newsy not only aggregates news, but offers a means of analysis unavailable in typical news aggregators. Why fall prey to the game of telephone, when you can put everyone on the line in a conference call?

You can keyword browse by tags and filter content by popularity, recency, most commentary and highest ratings. There is also a category for editors picks. While not all news sources and news stories are represented, Newsy is definitely a place to check because its treatment of the stories offers a unique perspective.

Even cooler is the free Newsy iPhone app, so you can take your news analysis on the go.

If you are a news junkie, or simply a researcher looking for the widespread treatment of a particular story, Newsy is a hard application to overlook.

Hat tip to ResourceShelf.