Twitter's Law Tribe

In this post we look at Twitter's legal tribe, look at some of its legal tribes-people and look at how tribes can dilute the integrity of the micro-blogging platform.

One thing that makes Twitter unique from all other social media is its unique qualities: instantaneity and flowing openness. A direct consequence of these attributes is that like minded people from all around the world can find and connect with each other exceptionally easy. As they say: at the click of a button.

This Twitter functionality allows, both consciously and unconsciously, for the formation of large Twitter tribes. Unseen and unheard by non-Tweeters and fresh faced Tweeps, Tribes are the collection and intermingling of people who share interests, have similar identities, perhaps share the same profession and regularly engage over one broad subject.

It’s like being in high school: you have all the jocks talking about sport, geek chiques talking about tech and web development etc., except on Twitter the demographic divisions are far greater in number.

Become Twitter literate, pull back the different layers of influence and communication and you’ll soon find an array of diverse and co-mingling Tribes. One Tribe that the Tweeting Lawyer is cognisant of is the yet uncharted Law Tribe.

We’re not sure if anyone else has penned a blog on this subject but as we engage with practicing attorneys, solicitors, barristers, law firms, law schools, law students and legal academics one thing is becoming obvious: there is, although not distinctly delineated, a large and diverse Legal Tribe on Twitter.

This is a demographic on Twitter who talk about, Tweet, interact, discuss, engage and blog heavily, but not specifically, about law and its many diverse topics, news and developments.

Who are these Legal Tribes Men and Women on Twitter? Obviously it’s impossible to name them all but there are a few big voices out there that are really influencing and sharing and shaping news, views and opinions on law. Here’s a few of the top Legal tribes-people we’ve identified :

@kevinokeefe is a prolific Tweeter and curator of the forward thinking LexBlog. A massive influencer.

@samanthacollier is a canandian social media consultant who specialises in, as her website suggests, social media for law firms. A big voice and influencer, so naturally she’s a good one to follow on Twitter.

@RiverviewC is the Twitter account for Riverview Chambers of the UK. They do Twitter very well: they listen, communicate, share, promote, engage and interact very effectively.

@adriandayton is the man behind LinkedIn & Blogs for Lawyers and Social Media for Lawyers and isn’t bad at the old Tweeting.

@TheLawyerMag is another good follow on Twitter for anyone interested in following the legal news and getting involved in legal discussions.

@planty is a man who’s already going down this road and has started a formal Twitter grouping for law firms. We hope to hear more from him.

@jarredcorreia is another man who’s been writing books about law and social media this time one called Twitter in One Hour for Lawyers. So again he’s a natural one to follow.

@BenTheCIO is a ‘recovering lawyer’ but knows the law and social media very well. Another good follow.

@ChristianUncut is a barrister, blogger and strong Tweet and a good follow.

@MEKowalski is a forward thinking lawyer and Tweeter, a big voice on Twitter and a must follow.

@KarlChapman100 is a strong Tweeter and a recommended follow.

@GlenGilmore is an interesting and prolific legal Tweeter, a big influencer and one we like to follow.

@KrishnanNair5 is a trainee lawyer and stop start Tweeter. He also runs a good blog on trials of gaining a training contract. One to follow for the law students but he could do with upping his Twitter game at times.

@BrianInkster is a must follow and Scotland’s #1 legal Tweeter who's is at the vanguard of UK legal Tweeting.

@Sparty_Legal is new to Twitter but being a law school student with an interest in social media he's really dived into the Twitter legal tribe and made himself known. One for the future and definitely one to follow.

Well, there’s our list as we see things so far. However, there are of course a great many strong Legal Tweeters on Twitter who were haven’t mentioned. We do not wish to offend and if you have been left out and you are pushing law on Twitter, or know someone who is, please do respond and let us know.

Finally, legal tribespeople need to be careful. In an article, available here, Lauren Duggan asks: “Are Tribes Killing Twitter?” She concluded that Tribes are diluting the integrity of Twitter. The long and short of her piece was that poor link-sharing and retweeting devalues the worth of the content.

So are you just going through the motions and mindlessly retweeting and promoting and retweeting articles of fellow law tribesmen and women or are you properly listening to what people are saying and engaging appropriately? Food for thought.