Social Networks and Social Media

Joel Alleyne put together a great piece on Social Networks – Why You Should Care. Joel draws a sharp distinction between social networks and social media. Social networks being the connections and social media being a method of communicating with a social network.

Joel puts together 10 ways to leverage social media. Four of my favorites are:

1. Use social sites for alumni.
   Instead of creating your own silo of internal alumni databases, use the social media where your firm's alumni may already be.
   
2. Use social sites for recruitment.
   Stay in touch with young recruits. They will be more interested in real communication and interaction than slick videos.
   
3. Keep an eye on your brand on social media.
   Every law firm should be scouring the web and news sites for information about the firm. Every professional should be doing the same. It is easy to set up persistent searches on any of the major internet search engines.
   
4. Look for internal opportunities to use social media.
   These tools are inexpensive and easy to use. Setting up a wiki or blog is quick and easy. If it does not work, little time or money was spent. It is a "safe fail" project.