LinkedIn: Lawyers Adopting Quickly
A while back I posted on getting Librarians revved up about using LinkedIn and establishing better professional connectivity. Still think that's a great idea, but what's impressed me more lately is how quickly Lawyers are adopting.
I mentioned LinkedIn during an in-house presentation at my law firm a few weeks back, and knew at that point about 15% of our Lawyers were on it. Checking back today, that number has jumped to around 35%. And that doesn't include either students (it's almost a given that every new student has an account) or the non-lawyers in the firm (eg. yours truly).
Lawyers already get networking for BD and the "it's who you know" concept, so these numbers really shouldn't surprise. There's a tipping point on any new technology, especially in the legal industry, where adoption suddenly becomes socially acceptable. Many newer web technologies -- blogs, wikis, RSS, tagging, etc. -- are building towards that tipping point. It seems strange to say this, but social networking might just be closer to that cultural break than any of the others.
Not sure I would have thought that a year ago.
I mentioned LinkedIn during an in-house presentation at my law firm a few weeks back, and knew at that point about 15% of our Lawyers were on it. Checking back today, that number has jumped to around 35%. And that doesn't include either students (it's almost a given that every new student has an account) or the non-lawyers in the firm (eg. yours truly).
Lawyers already get networking for BD and the "it's who you know" concept, so these numbers really shouldn't surprise. There's a tipping point on any new technology, especially in the legal industry, where adoption suddenly becomes socially acceptable. Many newer web technologies -- blogs, wikis, RSS, tagging, etc. -- are building towards that tipping point. It seems strange to say this, but social networking might just be closer to that cultural break than any of the others.
Not sure I would have thought that a year ago.
posted by Steve Matthews at 5/10/2007
2 Comments:
It is surprising, isn't it? And yet, as we promote all of these social networking opportunities, people in various organizations including government (at least in Ontario) are being blocked from accessing them. I think it is a security/bandwidth issue, but I think it is naive to think that all those people can miss what is happening in these various spaces and still try to be innovative. I am trying to get my head around that aspect. These are people who are keen to give it a try, incorporate new efficiencies into their workday, and it is being denied them.
*rant off*
Wow.. I find the exact opposite to be true. Less than 10% of my law school classmates are on LinkedIn, and most of them only have 1 or 2 connections.
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