After Reading These 10 Shocking Tips for Staying Out of Trouble on Social Media, You'll Never Post the Same Way Again

摘要

According to recent reports, Facebook has over two billion monthly users,1 Twitter has over 300 million monthly users2 and LinkedIn has over 600 million total users.3 Neither the legal profession nor most industries is immune from the influence and increasing prevalence of social media. And this prevalence is only growing within those professions,4 leading many law firms, market participants, and regulators to maintain an active presence on one or more forms of social media, and even more to opine on their use.5 Social media platforms are designed to capture attention,6 elicit rapid fire responses (so-called "engagement"),7 and disseminate those responses quickly and permanently to a worldwide audience.8 While these platforms convey several benefits for the practice of law, they also raise certain ethical considerations for attorneys. Given the audience reach, ease of use, and low bar to entry, social media sites like - but not limited to - Linkedln, Twitter, and Facebook provide attorneys with unprecedented opportunities to market themselves and their practices, and to engage in client development. However, on social media, attorneys must be careful to maintain the professional standards for the practice of law and understand that what they post can be equally as harmful as it can be powerful.