SUCCESSFUL LAWYERS DON'T HAVE TIME FOR FACEBOOK, opines David M. Ward, a lawyer turned marketer. I nearly fell off my chair this morning upon reading his belief that lawyers who use Facebook during the business day "need to be careful that you don’t look like you have an abundance of free time to do it, especially during work hours." Has he never checked social media on his mobile device during an inane conference call, posted a cool photo on the way to a deposition, or kept in touch with hundreds of referral sources throughout the day? Does he have a bag phone, or just a flip phone? I ran the blog post past my friend and social media expert Chris Geschke. Chris laughed as hard as I did, noting that the only thing that seemed remotely right was his belief that lawyers "don't send game requests" to clients. I agree with Chris, because I've defriended a colleague over repeated game requests. I can't imagine how an existing or intended client would feel over an abundance of Farm Kings correspondence.
I encourage you to use Facebook as a lawyer, as friend, and as a person. Lawyers are taught to consider every document as potential material for the front page of the New York Times. Use the same common sense and wisdom with your social media posts and stay involved with worldwide conversations about topics of all kinds. It helps define who you are to people that may not know you very well, and to keep you in touch with all sorts of people from your previous lives. I think that those activities are worth a few minutes between 9 AM and 5 PM.