Twitter Cuts LinkedIn App - So How Does Your LinkedIn Account Look Now? Are You Now More Interested in LinkedIn Account Than UR Twitter Page?

LinkedIn is much more than an online resource for employers and job seekers these days, especially for lawyers, law firms, other professionals, and businesses.  My clients like LinkedIn, one attorney calling it "more than Twitter, less than Facebook." 

Chances are your teenager isn't on LinkedIn; chances are you're not reading nor are you considering writing about your summer vacation plans on LinkedIn.  LinkedIn is different. 

LinkedIn is a place where more and more professional discussion happens.  Another client has been having lots of networking success by beginning some discussions and contributing to others via LinkedIn Groups that are filled with members in niches in which she has an interest.   She's found that even though some people don't go to the LinkedIn site to read the Discussion itself, they do catch her name in their email notification of the Group's Discussion and this has resulted in one or more email or phone one-on-one chat with referrals and clients.

Which means that I have had more than one phone call to complain about Tweets disappearing from LinkedIn because Twitter has blocked the old LinkedIn application.  No more automatic sharing of tweets over on the LinkedIn account.  (You can tweet on LinkedIn and have it appear on Twitter; just not vice versa.)

There's been lots of discussion on why Twitter has done this.  Some good reads if you want to delve into this further include:

•  ZDNet's article, "Twitter mimics Facebook, kills own ecosystem," where writer Stilgherrian wonders if Twitter has hit its own self-destruct button by blocking LinkedIn.
• Fortune has an interesting piece with a consumer vs business discussion by HootSuite CEO Ryan Holmes, "Inside the LinkedIn Twitter Divorce."
• Business Insider has Owen Thomas take on things with his piece, "Twitter Gives LinkedIn the Bird," where Thomas points out that with one hand, Twitter abandons LinkedIn while recently allowing Facebook to do exactly what it's now forbidden to LinkedIn. 

What does Twitter have to contribute to this discussion? Read Twitter's own explanation here, "Delivering a consistent Twitter experience."

What does this mean to you and me? 

I don't know of any client that goes directly to Twitter.com to tweet.  Or to LinkedIn for that matter.  They use other sites like HootSuite or MyYahoo or Google+ to coordinate their social media.  (Not Tweetdeck, since it dropped everything but Facebook after Twitter bought it last fall.  Guess that was a hint of things to come, huh?)

So, this news isn't impacting how they tweet.  It is impacting their consideration of LinkedIn - more than one lawyer has voiced more interest in communicating at a site that has a "professional demeanor" (to quote one client) than to be concerned with Twitter.   It's actually made some take a closer look at LinkedIn, and how to become more involved there in a proactive way.

They want a way to get around the Twitter block because they want to build their presence on LinkedIn.  Not Twitter. Not Facebook.  Facebook is for their personal stuff.  

It's too soon to tell, but from what I'm hearing right now, many pros are discovering a loyalty and curiosity in LinkedIn that they didn't know they had before Twitter decided to dis LinkedIn.  We'll see what happens... after all, Facebook has decided to compete with LinkedIn in the near future ....

Tweets as Evidence: Here's my Twitter at Trial Article in Florida Defender

One of my more popular posts over time is one I wrote back in February 2011 entitled "Tweets as Evidence: Authenticating and Admitting Twitter Tweets and Facebook Pokes."  It's very short and sweet but lots of folk seem to be interested in the topic and I've received several emails on this issue.

So, thought I would share my article published in the Winter 2012 issue of the Florida Defender entitled, "Twitter at Trial: Tweets and Messages as Evidence in 2011." 

The Florida Defender is a quarterly publication provided to a readership of lawyers and judges by the Florida Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers and as always, I am honored to be included in their magazine.

You can read it online here, or download the pdf.

Tags for Your Blog Post or Tweet - Finding Popular Tags to Boost the Chances People Will Find and Read What You Wrote

Once you have written your post or tweet, you might want to consider indexing what you've written so others can find it.  On Technorati, for example, the most popular tags can be found, listed alphabetically, at Technorati's Tag Index. 

What is Technorati?  It's a site that collects information placed in blogs and then creates indices of the information as well as rankings for the blogs within its system (which total in the millions).  If your blog is not listed at Technorati, then you need to get cracking and get your blog in Technorati's sights.  It's a big deal. 

For Twitter, tags go by the name "hashtags" and you can find a listing of popular hashtags at Hashtags.org - but this site is different than Technorati's Tag Index.  Here, you enter a hashtag, and the site returns with information on how popular it is ("trending").  Look at the percentages on the left: if they're low or nonexistent, then choose a different word for your hashtag.  (For more on how Hashtags.org works and why it's a big deal, read the informative article provided by TwitterTipsCentral, "Where To Find A List Of Twitter Hashtags ".)

Tip: Create Your Own Index of Tags

And, remember that tag.  No need to reinvent the wheel.  If you regularly publish items dealing with dogs, or beer, or recipes, or speaking Klingon -- whatever your focus -- collect the most popular tags for that topic and save them.  Make your own list of tags for your use, as a ready reference.

Why should you care about tagging?  Read my earlier post, "Twitter Tip: What is a Hashtag?" for details on why tags are a good thing. 

hashtags, twitter, tags, technorati, tagging, tips, blogs

Setting Up EMail Alerts: Try Google Alerts and TweetBeep

Alerts.  They are easy to set up and you want to have a few set up -- but what are they?  Alerts are where software automatically discovers new web content that includes a particular word or phrase and sends you  an email to let you know that something new has appeared. 

It's easy enough to do.  Have your name, your firm name, a topic of interest (e.g., "death penalty" or "american idol"), etc. set up with an alert system and then sit back and wait for the emails to arrive.

Google Alerts

Google Alerts will automatically let you know when new stuff appears within its search results.  For details, go here.

TweetBeep

TweetBeep searches Twitter and alerts you as you have requested - exclusively within tweets.  To learn more, go here. 

Twitter Tip: 140 Is Less Than You Think -- Leave Room for the Retweet

Once again, I'm chatting with a client who is learning about Twitter and getting comfortable with writing substantive messages that are only 140 characters long.  She's a little frustrated about that number, because she thinks it's a bit deceptive.  And she's right.  There's lots less room to move here than 140 would suggest, since at the outset that number includes the spaces between the words. 

That's right: the blanks are included in the tally. 

So from the start, the 140 character count doesn't leave everything for letters and numbers and commas and whatnot. 

Then you must shorten the links so they will fit.  The urls are often longer than 140 characters from the git-go. 

Now, even less than 140 in the count, right?

Next, you've got to add the hashtags.  This helps people find what you've shared.  Hashtags are important (more on them later).

That number is plummeting, isn't it? No wonder it's R for "are" and U for "you" ....

Now, it's time to remember the retweet.  If you don't, then you're making work for someone who is doing you a favor already by sharing your tweet with their followers. 

Easy way to envision this need is to retweet some tweets for yourself.  Go to Twitter, or whatever third party app that you're using to tweet, it doesn't matter.  Just find a tweet that you want to retweet.  Now, retweet it.  Do it again; heck, do it several times. 

Let's assume you retweeted USA Today.  See how the retweet takes up more space, since you're getting the "RT @USATODAY" in the message, too?  Did you go over 140 with your retweet, so you had to take the time to cut something before Twitter would accept it? 

Know how much your retweeted name uses in the count.

Here's the tip: cut the word count off your tweet before you publish it, to accommodate that character count.  Twelve characters are used in "RT @USATODAY." Fifteen (15) characters/spaces are taken up by "RT @rkennedy" - yours may be more or less.  Remember to accommodate your tally in your tweets.  Helps those who retweet your message to do so fast and easy.

Note: this doesn't appear when you are tweeting directly from the Twitter platform.  The retweet appears as a little green cap over the top left corner of your tweet box.  However, if you go and read your retweet in another venue, you'll see the "RT @USATODAY" at the start of your retweet.

TweetDeck Users, Third Party Apps: Did a Twitter War Start Today?

I spend lots of time counseling fellow lawyers on how to effectively and efficiently use Twitter - both for personal use and for professional business development.  Once they get going, they usually decide to flip from going directly to their Twitter page (http://www.twitter.com/)  to tweet, opting instead for more user-friendly sites that are not owned by Twitter ("third party apps"). 

The most popular of these is TweetDeck (at least, that's what I'm hearing). TweetDeck is cool.  TweetDeck also lets you do other things besides tweet -- you can connect with LinkedIn and Facebook from TweetDeck, too.  Handy for lots of folk.

However, there is news for all you TweetDeck lovers.  Appears that TweetDeck has been purchased by UberMedia, and Twitter isn't happy with UberMedia.

Twitter Has Thrown Down the Gauntlet Regarding Third Party Applications

Why?  For one thing, Twitter may not like the latest feature offered by TweetDeck: Deck.ly, which lets you post longer tweets.  Deck.ly gets you around that 140 character limit.  Which, some may argue takes away the very raison d'etre of tweeting - but hey.  It's here. 

You can all the details on today's post by Neal Wiser, "The End of the 140 Character Tweet and Its Repercussions." 

Other applications that may be impacted by Twitter's new warning include:  

1. HootSuite
2. Klout
3. Seesmic
4. SocialFlow

For more information on Twitter's relationship with third party apps, because it's not just TweetDeck we're talking about here, check out these recent articles too:

1. Wired Magazine,  "Twitter Clamps Down On Third-Party Clients," by Mark Brown.
2. PC Magazine, Twitter to Devs: No New Third-Party Apps," by Leslie Horn.
3. PC World, "Twitter to Third Party Clients: Drop Dead," by Harry McCracken, Technologizer.

What's Going On Here?

Personally, one big hitch for me in tweeting from my Twitter home page is its inability to allow me to easily shorten urls.  Time waster that Twitter should have solved long ago.  Maybe I wouldn't mind tweeting from Twitter itself if they made it as easy for me as other developers have done with their free apps. 

Apparently, Twitter is waking up to the competition doing a better job, sniffs some money to be made, and is trying to grab those profits.  Fine, let them duke it out. 

I'm not loyal to any third party app.  I will go with whomever provides me the best service -- which translates into FREE and FAST.  I'm not going to dedicate much time from my day to tweeting, and neither are my clients. 

Bottom line, compete.  Go for it.  However, Twitter better not mess with blocking what's already working for us. 

Twitter Tip: What is a Hashtag?

Organize your tweet according to its topic(s) within your tweet by using a hashtag (#) - which is the number sign found on your QWERTY keyboard above the number 3.

Using this symbol (without a space) allows you to place your tweet into a Twitter stream that is filled with other tweets sharing that same topic.

For example, #Facebook in your tweet will place it amidst countless other tweets that are discussing that social networking site in some way.

Why should you care?

1. Hashtags help driving trending topics -- when breaking news is happening, the hashtag symbol allows all sorts of folk who don't follow each other to share information. 
2. Hashtags will help you find tweets that you find interesting on Twitter.  
3. Hashtags will help strangers (and new followers) find you.  
4. Hashtags will help your tweets appear in Twitter Search.

You can put your hashtag anywhere within your tweet.  Most folk (like me) stick them on the end.  For examples, just go surf around Twitter for a bit.

Twitter Wants To Be Viewed as a News Source - and Maybe Twitter 4 News Isn't So Farfetched

A couple of weeks ago, ReadWriteWeb posted on Twitter's Kevin Thau (he's Vice President of Business and Corporate Development for Twitter.Com) big announcement during Nokia World 2010 that Twitter isn't a social media site so much as it is a news site.   That's right: a source for breaking news on the web. 

Now, there's lots of commentary at ReadWriteWeb about Mr. Thau's promotion of Twitter as a news feed (41 comments as I type this) and you may have your own two cents' worth on this issue. 

My Clients Don't Respect Twitter as Social Media - They Use it to Share Information (i.e., as a News Feed)

Most of my law firm clients either know zip about Twitter - or they know something about it because their kids tweet.  Many lawyers that do know about Twitter consider it silly, something that self-absorbed people do with too much time on their hands.  Who has time for it? 

Clients that are acquainted with Twitter don't use it for discussion.  They zip bursts of information onto Twitter, tweeting about firm news, new blog posts, and the like.  From the comments on ReadWriteWeb, this seems to be the experience of many other individuals out there: "no discussion" is a common refrain by the commenters.

Discussion vs. Information: The Fork in Twitter's Road

Which means that Twitter needs to be seen as a news source, because that absence of discussion is sorta a death knell for a site touting itself a social media application.  Which is fine, because I think that Twitter IS a news source.  I recommend that my clients set up professional Twitter accounts and tweet regularly about business topics. 

Tweets as free, fast news releases: the Jackson Walker example.

Especially law firms; after all, consider Jackson Walker. Jackson Walker was fast to jump on the Twitter train and provides an excellent example of how tweeting is beneficial for law firms and other companies. 

Today, for example, Jackson Walker is tweeting its congratulations to the 40 firm lawyers that have been named 2010 Super Lawyers, with the tweet providing a link to more information.  Smart.  Tweet as news release.  

MSNBC's Breaking News vs. Twitter Trends

Breaking News, an MSNBC attempt to follow Twitter and organize news stories, isn't the best source of breaking news in my experience.  I've found that actually following trending tweets, or searching for a specific phrase regarding a news story, does give me the latest information on a news story. 

The Trends tool is especially useful on Twitter, since you can choose its scope -- from national news down to your local community.  Handy. 

Often, it's Twitter Trending Topics are the most interesting, as well -- people tweeting from the hurricane's path, the football stadium, the crash site.  Remember following the Balloon Boy on Twitter?

The Bottom Line:  Consider Twitter as a News Source -- Because Twitter is a News Feed. 

Twitter is a good news source.  Smart to start promoting as such -- because here's where Twitter really provides a unique, valuable service for us all. 

Social Web Reputation Management Cycles - Building Your Reputation Online

Created by LaurelPapworth and shared by EMarketing Association with its members.  Thanks to all.  (Click on graphic to enlarge.)

For more information:

Attorneys Take Note: Yesterday's Reputation is Today's Personal Brand

Web 2.0 for Lawyers: What is Social Media for Law Firms and Why Bother?

Jackson Walker on Twitter: Example of How Law Firms Build Reputations via the Web

Creating Your Twitter Strategy - Great Visual of the Process

Thanks to EMarketingAssociation for sharing with its members. (Click the graph to enlarge.)

Twitter is a Bigger Search Engine than Yahoo or Bing: How Many Law Firms are Excluding Themselves From the Search Results?

This morning, I learned via a tweet from Ford Motor Company's social media guru, @ScottMonty, that there was an article worth reading over at Fast Company.  As usual, Mr. Monty proves he knows his stuff.

Austin Carr's article, "Twitter Now the World's Fastest Growing Search Engine," is definitely worth your time.  Carr is reporting from the Aspen Ideas Festival -- and he's giving the information shared there by Twitter co-founder Biz Stone. 

Twitter is getting 800 million search queries every day. Do the math, and Twitter search exceed 24 billion/month -- according to Stone, that number is higher than the total monthly searches at Yahoo and Bing combined.

If you want to get down and dirty about what all this means, SearchEngineLand's Danny Sullivan has a great article written back in April 2010 giving lots of the details here, "Twitter Does 19 Billion Searches Per Month, Beating Yahoo & Bing, Sort Of."  In his post, Sullivan quotes Doug Cook of Twitter as predicting they'll hit 1 billion searches per day very soon. 

Wow.

For lawyers and law firms, take the hint.  It's important to be included in those Twitter search results, and unless you have one or more Twitter accounts, you're excluding yourself. 

For an easy step by step, practical guide for lawyers and law firms on Twitter -- how to join, how to tweet, etc. -- please feel free to download my free e-book, Twitter Nuts n Bolts 4 Lawyers: a How-to Guide for Law Firms.  The price is right, and I hear good things about this short little book being very helpful.

For more information:

Web 2.0 for Lawyers: What is "Social Media" for Law Firms and Why Bother?

Attorneys Take Note: Major Corporations Pay People Just to Tweet

Twitter for Biz Pros: The Debut of ExecTweets

Attorneys Take Note: Yesterday's Reputation is Today's Personal Brand

Jackson Walker on Twitter: Example of How Law Firms Build Reputations via the Web

The internationally known law firm Jackson Walker has been aggressive in building its Twitter presence.  By entering the game early, Jackson Walker was able to create separate Twitter accounts for each of its practice areas, using topic headings for the Twitter names. 

Brilliant. 

Now, anyone looking on Twitter for things like “ERISA” or “First Amendment” will quickly come across the Twitter feeds of Jackson Walker.

Currently, Jackson Walker is tweeting as follows:

Jackson Walker (News about the firm)
• http://twitter.com/Jackson_Walker

JW Law (Legal updates in all categories)
• http://twitter.com/JW_Law

Corporate Law
• http://twitter.com/JW_CorporateLaw

Energy Law
• http://twitter.com/Energy_Law

Entertainment Law
• http://twitter.com/entertainlaw

Environmental Law
• http://twitter.com/Enviro_Law

ERISA
• http://twitter.com/ERISA

Financial Recovery Solutions
• http://twitter.com/FinanceRecovery

First Amendment
• http://twitter.com/FirstAmendment

Health Care Law
• http://twitter.com/HealthCareLaw

HIPAA
• http://twitter.com/HIPPA

Intellectual Property Law
• http://twitter.com/JW_IPLaw

International Law
• http://twitter.com/InternationLaw

Labor and Employment Law
• http://twitter.com/LaborLaw

Litigation Alerts
• http://twitter.com/LitigationAlert

Media Law
• http://twitter.com/Media_Law

Real Estate Law
• http://twitter.com/RealEstate_Law

Tax Law
• http://twitter.com/Tax_Law

Technology Law
• http://twitter.com/JW_Technology

Wealth Planning
• http://twitter.com/Wealth_Planning


JacksonWalker tweets within these separate Twitter accounts with bits of information pertaining to that topic, focusing upon educating or informing others.  Check it out.

For more information:

Web 2.0 for Lawyers: What is "Social Media" for Law Firms and Why Bother?

Facebook and Divorce: the new AAML Study and the Need to Know Client Web Chatter

Attorneys Take Note: Major Corporations Pay People Just to Tweet

Twitter for Biz Pros: The Debut of ExecTweets

Attorneys Take Note: Yesterday's Reputation is Today's Personal Brand

Law Firms on Twitter

Here are a just few examples of law firms actively using Twitter in their marketing:


Akin Gump (@akin_gump)

Ballard Spahr (@ballardspahr)

Bernstein & Maryanoff (@bernsteinmaryan)

Fulbright & Jaworski (@fulbright)

Fulbright & Jaworski’s IP section (@fulbrightIP)

Simmons Law Firm (@SimmonsLawFirm)

Vinson & Elkins (@vinsonandElkins)

For more information:

Web 2.0 for Lawyers: What is "Social Media" for Law Firms and Why Bother?

Facebook and Divorce: the new AAML Study and the Need to Know Client Web Chatter

Attorneys Take Note: Major Corporations Pay People Just to Tweet

Twitter for Biz Pros: The Debut of ExecTweets

Attorneys Take Note: Yesterday's Reputation is Today's Personal Brand

Twitter Nuts & Bolts 4 Lawyers: A How-To Guide for Law Firms - My New Free E-Book

Twitter Nuts & Bolts 4 Lawyers: A How-To Guide for Law Firms is my first complimentary e-book.  And yes, complimentary is a nice word for FREE.

Ten Step Twitter Primer for Lawyers. 
I'm offering this short primer on how attorneys and law firms can get started on Twitter for free on the web; you can download it or print it here.

Why bother with Twitter? 
Not only are leading law firms already adopting sophisticated tweet strategies as part of their online marketing campaigns, more and more law firm clientele are using Twitter in their daily operations.  Jackson Walker, Fulbright, and Vinson & Elkins are just three big firms that are heavily involved in the Twitter Universe.  Large corporations like Ford Motor Company actually employ workers to do nothing but keep up with daily social media conversations (@ScottMonty). 

Why read this e-Book?
Many attorneys and law firms still have not opened a Twitter account (much less more than one -- Jackson Walker had 14 at last count).  And while there are numerous materials available online and in print that explain advanced communication methods and marketing techniques using Twitter, there are very few that take a professional step by step through the process of opening an account, adding the appropriate background, finding followers, and initiating dialouge via Twitter. 

Be Tweeting in 15 Minutes or Less.
Which is exactly what Twitter Nuts n Bolts 4 Lawyers: a How-To Guide for Law Firms does.  From Step 1 (Join Twitter) to Step 4 (Plan Your Tweeting Strategy) to Step 10 (Scheduling Tweets), this e-book gives lawyers the basic information they need to become proficient on Twitter, in a time-efficient way. 

Hopefully, my short (12 page) complimentary e-book will help meet that need.  Please feel free to read and use Twitter Nuts n Bolts 4 Lawyers: A How-To Guide for Law Firms with my compliments.

Social Media for Lawyers: Twitter for Biz Pros - The Debut of ExecTweets

I'm still new to Twitter, and I'm not sure what I think about it yet.

I know that John Tesh's tweet about fecal matter on shopping carts (which got lots of national media coverage) has got me using those free antibacterial wipes at the grocery store.

And, I know that it's somehow eerie to get tweets from Martha Stewart about what's she is fixing for lunch, and whether or not she's going riding today. It's almost like you know her, somehow.

But how does this work in a business environment? Tweets seem so friendly, so informal, so MySpace versus Facebook.

Well, today I learn that Twitter's addressing that issue with its new ExecTweets....

ExecTweets boils down to tweets from business executives. CEOs and the like. Talking shop.

Which sounds good in one way, and bad in another.

I doubt these folk are going to be very revealing in their tweets -- their lawyers wouldn't like that -- and let's face it: part of the fun of Tweeting is the silly stuff, like Martha Stewart's two pugs (Francesca and Sharky) who've just started their own blog.

I dunno. For me, the jury's still out on Tweets, much less this new ExecTweet business. We'll see.

Social Media for Lawyers: William Shatner is 78 years old and uses Twitter. You've got no excuse.

First, let me just say that I love William Shatner. I loved him then, I love him now. I love him more today than yesterday. I love him as Kirk. I love him as DennyCrane. I love his commercials, I love his YouTube videos, and I love his talk show. (I missed TJ Hooker.) I even love his jazz albums.

You get the idea.

And, if Bill Shatner (who turns 78 years old on March 22nd, can you believe it?) can figure out how to get online, and use Twitter (here's his site) -- well, I'm just sayin'.

Get on board, baby.
Tweet.