Consultants Greentarget recently released a study and survey of how in-house corporate general counsels are using new media, including blogs, and social media. As this has been of interest to me, and should be to other appraisers, it is always good to gather information on how others professionals are using New Media.
The in house corporate counsel survey looked at a group of 164 attorneys responses and how they were taking advantage of new media. It did show that traditional methods, such as trade journals, conferences and press releases were dominate, yet more and more in house attorneys are using new media platforms to expand and enrich traditional networks.
In general the survey stated of the AmLaw 200
- Blogs are up 147% since August of 2007, with nearly half having firm branded blogs
- Every AmLaw 200 firm has a LinkedIn Account
- 31 of the top 100 AmLaw firms have a Facebook Account
- 76 of the top 100 AmLaw firms have a Twitter Account
To read the full report (37 pages), click HERE. It is an excellent report with some good charts and graphs, I recommend appraisers who are interested in New Media read the full report.
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
While at first blush, the French expression — “Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose — the more things change, the more they stay the same” — might seem an apt description of Greentarget’s recent research about the adoption of new media by the in-house legal community, a closer look confirms that change is more extensive than many pundits have appreciated to date. In addition to confirming that referrals from trusted sources and credentialing activity (i.e., demonstrations of thought leadership) remain the two most important factors considered by corporate general counsel when they seek to hire outside lawyers, several of the survey’s findings convey significant new trends in the way that information is disseminated and shared by members of the legal community.
While the more traditional marketing channels for law firm credentialing continue to dominate–publishing articles in trade journals, speaking at industry conferences, and being quoted in the press–in-house attorneys now are using new media platforms to deepen their professional networks; to obtain their legal, business, and industry news and information; and to enrich their social and personal lives. Most importantly, they expect that trend to accelerate in the future.
As law firms and their lawyers embrace social media technologies at an accelerated pace with wide-ranging levels of participation, adoption, and engagement, the Corporate Counsel New Media Engagement Survey was designed to explore the very degree to which in-house counsel, the primary purchasers of outside legal services, are listening.
Highlights of the Corporate Counsel New Media Engagement Survey:
New Media Consumption, Familiarity and Use
• 53 percent of in-house counsel expect that their consumption of industry news and information via new media platforms will increase over the next six months to a year.
• 69 percent of counsel aged 30-39 expect that their consumption of business, industry, and legal news and information will increase over the next six months or in the next year compared to:
– 57 percent of counsel aged 40-49
– 47 percent of counsel aged 50-59
– 52 percent of counsel aged 60+ years
• The social networking and new media tools that in-house counsel most frequently use for professional reasons are LinkedIn, blogs, and Wikipedia.
• The social networking and new media tools that in-house counsel most frequently use for personal reasons are Facebook, Wikipedia, and YouTube.
Go-To Media Sources
• While in-house counsel continue to rely on “traditional media” as their leading sources for business-related news and information, 43 percent cited blogs and 26 percent cited social media Web sites (Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc.) among their top “go-to” sources.
Credibility
• New media platforms receiving the highest ranking by in-house counsel for their credibility as information sources include Martindale-Hubbell Connected, LinkedIn, Wikipedia, and blogs.
• Of the 97 respondents who never use Martindale-Hubbell Connected for professional or personal reasons, 36 percent say it is somewhat or most credible which likely speaks to the strength of the Martindale-Hubbell brand.
• While Martindale-Hubbell Connected is not used as widely as a more commonly used platform, such as LinkedIn, it is regarded as highly credible among the small number of in-house counsel who currently use it as well as by those who don’t.
Influence on Business Development
• In-house counsel ranked the following activities as “most important” for helping them to research outside counsel for potential hire:
1. Recommendations from sources you trust 73 percent
2. Articles and speeches the lawyer has authored 38 percent
3. Bios on the firm’s Web site 30 percent
4. Blogs published by lawyers on relevant topics 27 percent
• Half of in-house counsel agree or somewhat agree that in the future, high-profile blogs authored by law firm lawyers will influence the process by which clients hire law firms.
• In contrast, only 10 percent of in-house counsel believe that a firm’s prominence on Twitter will drive business development.
Law Firm-to-Client Communication
• While the majority of in-house counsel aren’t accessing content from their law firms via new media tools (Twitter feeds, blogs, Facebook pages, LinkedIn discussion groups, etc.), 51 percent said that they would engage these channels to receive relevant information from their firms. This revelation suggests that when law firms start developing content-rich communications, in-house lawyers will receive them more willingly via new media channels, but their interest will be piqued by the substantive information, not by the delivery mechanism.
Wikipedia
• Wikipedia ranked among the most credible sources of industry news and information (behind Martindale-Hubbell Connected and LinkedIn).
• Consistent with its high scores in familiarity, professional and personal use among counsel of all age groups, Wikipedia maintains strong credibility with this audience as well, which is significant given that its open, uncontrolled platform often is criticized for its inaccuracy. This finding may suggest that those respondents who use new media tools (such as Wikipedia) appreciate them as a “community-generated” offerings, willingly trading off questions about the validity of their data for the “open” process by which they receive, share, update and/or correct their content.
• Despite Wikipedia’s broad familiarity and professional use among in-house counsel, only 13 percent of in-house lawyers have viewed the Wikipedia pages of their current and prospective outside law firms.
Download a full copy of the research report here.
For more information, please contact:
John Corey at 312.252.4102 or jcorey@greentarget.net or Aaron Schoenherr at 312.252.4103 or aschoenherr@greentarget.net
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