Larry Bodine recently blogged about Attorneys Flocking to Twitter listing the the following reasons:

  • Because lawyers don’t have time to update their own bios.
  • They don’t have time to write articles.
  • They don’t have time to update a blog.
I posted the following in the comment section, but I thought it was provocative enough to repost here.
I don’t know, Larry… I’m going to play Devil’s Advocate on this one. I’m a big Twitter fan myself (@glambert), but if an attorney can’t take the time to update a bio, or write a blog or publish something on the legal topic that he or she is the expert in, then I don’t see them using Twitter either. 
Twitter is generally a resource of building relationships, that is true, but it is also generally a tool for linking to additional information. So, if the attorney has an old bio, and no blog or publications, what do they gain in 140 characters?  
I’m coming at this with a “BigLaw” perspective (read: AmLaw 100 BIAS) – where we are looking for methods of marketing to legal departments of companies. And, from my experience, I’m not seeing a lot of GC’s on Twitter.  
So, how can I tell a Partner or Associate that they need to be using Twitter in order to build relationships with our aspirational audience, when that audience doesn’t seem to exist?  
My question is this: If we Tweet, will they come?  
My answer is this: Maybe. But, it would take a leap of faith on the Partner or Associates part to take the chance of spending the time on Twitter (and believe me it is much more than posting a 140 character Tweet.)
Am I way off on my assumptions??