By Mark S. Britton
Special to the Legal Technology Blog
"Twitter-mania" has officially arrived. Whether I am at work, on the bus, waiting in line at the food court, having my teeth cleaned or simply reading the local paper, all I hear is Twitter, Twitter, Twitter. If Twitter were a boy band, the Jonas Brothers would weep in its presence.
Now, part of Twitter-mania is justified because it is a great tool for social networking and information transfer. I am consistently in awe of its power. However, another part of Twitter-mania reminds of all the technology celebrities of yore: AOL, MySpace, Netscape, FaceBook and on and on and on. At some point, every one of these companies was hailed as an Internet-Jesus of sorts that would heal the sick, feed the poor and help the Cubs win the World Series.
But they didn’t. To the contrary, each of these companies struggled to keep up with the new, new. Just in the last three years, FaceBook marginalized MySpace and now Twitter is returning the favor. Surely, "something better than Twitter" is right around the digital corner.
Now, let me repeat, Twitter is amazing. I just have to roll my eyes every time someone tells me that Avvo needs to build a Twitter application. Just a year ago, everyone was telling me Avvo needed a Facebook application. Oddly, people don’t tell me that anymore. So, here’s my advice: Embrace Twitter. Learn how to use it to your personal and/or professional advantage. It will have a long shelf-life. But don’t invest so much time in Twitter that you neglect your Core Web Presence, clients, children or goldfish. Twitter should be a means not an end.
If my advice feels too lofty, too obtuse, allow me a Jeff Foxworthy moment to offer ten things that may indicate you are obsessed with Twitter. With my best Southern accent, here we go [clear throat] ... . You might be obsessed with Twitter if:
- You respond to all Twitter comments before responding to clients' e-mails and voicemails.
- You have more followers on Twitter than visitors to your website or blog.
- You have more Twitter hours than billable hours.
- You can define all of the following "words": tweeple, tweetup, qwitter, mistweet and twaffic.
- You force associates to speak to you in bursts 140 characters or less.
- You feel the need to tweet during client consultations.
- You solicit plaintiffs on twitter (really, this is happening).
- You repeatedly call your spouse "tweety."
- Your last blog post was April 2006.
- You find this article insulting.
Consider yourself forewarned.
Mark Britton is the Founder and CEO of Avvo. He is a 17-year lawyer with deep experience in the legal and e-commerce industries. Mark is the former general counsel of Expedia.com and has worked as an attorney in large, medium and small law firms. In 2007, Mark was named one of Seattle’s "Top 25 Innovators" by Seattle Business Magazine. He is also a frequent commentator on financial, legal and other business issues, regularly appearing on programs such as ABC’s "Good Morning America," Fox Business’s "America’s Nightly Scoreboard," CNN "Money" and Dow Jones "MarketWatch."
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