Social Media & Law Schools

(an introduction)Professor Michele Pistone, Villanova Law School @profpistone

Andrew Brandt, Director, Moorad Center for Study of Sports Law, Villanova Law School @adbrandt

Ok so lets start with the basics…

• Social Media is:o Social networkingo Electronic forms of communicationo Online channels for community based

interaction and inputo Sharing of ideas to reach a wide audienceo Interaction of people in which they share,

create, and exchange information and ideas virtually

Source: Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project tracking surveys 2005-2013.

Lawyer Specific• 59% of lawyers said that their firms

maintain a presence in a social networko 92% LinkenIno 58% Facebook

• For lawyers individuallyo 81% use social networks for professional purposes

• If they can, you can too. Don’t worry we will help.

• Let’s start with the basics.

The Big Four

Fact: 54% of facebook users are

over the age of 25.

There are 168.8 million users of

Facebook in the United States.

Ok.. So Why is Facebook Useful?

In it’s simplest form,

Facebook is used to

connect with people you

already know.

Those friends you see once

every 5 years? Perfect!

Colleague who moved to

Germany? Great!

Good friends you see

often? Absolutely.

Twitter can be

used for more

than getting the

news faster than

any of the

traditional

networks.

Tweets are are

short messages

blasted to the

world limited to

140 characters.

To the world seems like a bit

much…

But that’s the point.

Twitter allows you to

share your

perceptions,

thoughts, ideas with

the world. In short,

twitter is a tool that

broadcasts to the

world.

The youngest

addition to the social

media family.

Google’s brand of a

social media site.

It may be new, but it

is not small. Google

Plus is the second

most used social

media site in the

world, surpassing

twitter with 359

million active users.

I’ve never even heard of it..

+YouStay

connected and share life as it

happens.

Ok.. But that doesn’t mean you

can’t use it. Starting now!

Google+ is the place for passions.

It is the place to share passions

and to express yourself with

people you don’t already know.

Love tax law? Even though I don’t

understand why, your people are

waiting for you on google+.

The serious social media

site.

Job searching.

Professional Networking

done from the comfort of

your couch.

The one time it’s not

weird to connect with

your boss.

Gaining introductions

through a mutual

contact.

Why connect?You get to “showcase” your

work and ideas without it

being weird or socially

unacceptable.

For portraying yourself in a

serious way.

Used for doing business.

You may not want to use it for

yourself but it is a tool through

which you can help recognize

your students skills.

Others

So why should you care?

Great question!

• Get known – make connectionso It brings people to you to see the work you are doing.o Cements relationships.o Allows a space for ideas to grow.o Lets you connect with people doing similar work .o Lets you connect with people with similar interests.

• Learno Before, mass media for general interesto Moving to special interest, sub-culture mediao Get into groups that are targeted to your specific

audience, ideaso World is your RA

The 5 Steps to Creating an

Effective Social Media Presence

1. What is your image?People make split second decisions, often based on

appearances. So, make it catchy! Show what you like! Your interests! Tell something about yourself!

Image BasicsPhoto: Should be 90% your

face.

Show what you have done!

Show your interests.

For those of you worried

about privacy, there are

lots of settings. Don’t feel

pressured to share more

than you are comfortable

and you would be ok

having appear on the front

page of the NY Times.

2. ContentOk so you have a picture. What else? Why should people care about looking at your page or profile? Why should

people read your tweets?

Content basics

Be a curator!

Use links – to other parts of

website, to interesting stories,

show the original source

It is ok to repeat content! You

can re-tweet and re-post.

You can even ask to be re-

tweeted or shared!

Feeling overwhelmed and like

you have nothing to say?

That’s ok! Who really does

anyways? Use Bitly!

More tips• Don’t over do it

o Post informational tools, not just things about yourself

• Use pictures!o Wikimedia

• Cheat!o The one time cheating is ok (shhhh don’t tell your students!)o Find out what is trending and post about it! People will be more

likely to follow you!o Make sure to link to the original source or simply reshare or

repost!

3. Call to Action!So people saw your profile, were like hmmmm.. This is interesting. Then they read your profile and were like hmmmm this is even more interesting.. Now what?

As professors at Villanova

Law School, we can bring

attention to the school, get

more students, better

speakers, bigger donors.

How?

Create a social media

presence, you’ve got their

attention. Now keep it!

Ask for emails, ask for

feedback, keep in touch!

Keep them interested.

4. EngagePeople are commenting on your things!

People are liking what you put on your profile! What do you do?!?

Engagement basics

Respond to comments!

Comment on other

people’s postings!

Like things!

Social Media is NOT a one-

way street! It is a platform

for communication!

I don’t want to sound like

Dr. Phil but…

communication takes more

than one person doing the

talking.

5. Start YesterdayWe realize this is impossible.

But it doesn’t mean you can’t start today!

Yesterday?Don’t feel like you need to

have everything together

to begin a social media

profile.

Media moves fast!

It is almost like promoting

the book, writing the book,

building excitement for the

book, and selling the book

all at once!

You just need to start

somewhere.

This could be you.

Feeling totally overwhelmed and like

you still live in the dinosaur age?

You’re probably not the only one.

Just ask. We can get you started

Basically, it works.