An Attorney’s Online Presence— A Byte of Prevention Is Worth a Gig of Cure1
By Kathleen McDonald
Back in the day, businesses were ahead of the curve if they had websites. It almost didn’t matter how the sites looked or functioned as long as the owners could brag about being on the World Wide Web. Now, however, a website alone isn’t nearly sufficient brand promotion. Faster than you can say what “http” stands for, new social networking tools are popping up that allow individuals and businesses to spread their messages. In addition to at least a functioning website, a typical online presence today probably also includes any combination of Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and YouTube, and other social media profiles.
Kathleen McDonald is managing partner of Beacon Legal Group. Her practice focuses primarily on cyber matters for local businesses.
20
The Arkansas Lawyer
www.arkbar.com
Attorneys are arguably just as involved in the marketing world as other service providers, but our rules are far stricter than most. Although we should, we may not be accustomed to thinking of Tweets as advertisements.2 Since lawyer websites, social media, and blogs are becoming more and more common, we must be sure we know how to utilize them without opening ourselves up to undue legal exposure.3 Staying safe can be as simple as remembering that (1) websites and social media profiles are souped-up advertisements that can reach a LOT of people, and (2) the rules are the rules, regardless of mode of communication.