by Ken Lopez
Founder & CEO
A2L Consulting

In this last of six posts on social media for litigators and litigation support professionals (we’ve previously covered the best legal blogs, LinkedIn Groups, YouTube channels, Pinterest pages, and Twitter feeds), let’s talk about Facebook, the most broadly used social network in the world and see how it can be relevant to litigators and litigation support personnel.

If you're not using Facebook, you're staying away from an unprecedented worldwide phenomenon. As many people who saw the movie “The Social Network” know, Facebook started as a tool for college students with one million users in 2004.  Now, there are over one billion users. Just to keep that in perspective, that's about one out of every seven people in the world. That's more than the total number of mobile phones in use worldwide and about seven times the number of automobiles in the world. But is Facebook a useful professional tool?

Facebook began as a tool to stay in touch with friends – in other words, as a way of enhancing one’s personal life, not one’s professional life. It retains that sense of informality, with lots of photos of vacations, funny cartoons, political discussions, birthday celebrations, and the like. But where there is an audience this large, there can and will be opportunities to use the network to enhance one’s business connections, to learn about one’s profession, and to market one’s services.

Nonprofits and businesses, for example, can set up “pages” to communicate with their customers and others, to announce news, and to market themselves. A few law firms have done so. A good example of a law firm that has invested pretty heavily in a Facebook page is Palo Alto-based, Wilson Sonsini.  See http://www.facebook.com/wilsonsonsini and you will find law firm programs and regular firm updates geared toward clients.

For a typical company page geared to consumers, look at Southwest Airlines, http://www.facebook.com/Southwest, with more than 3.6 million “likes.”

Celebrities are all over Facebook, with pages that are clearly run by their publicity people. If you are a fan of the singer Adele, for example, you will find that more than 39 million people have “liked” her page. More than 31 million people have “liked” the page for the Beatles, who disbanded more than 40 years ago.

Facebook Groups, a facebook page for an interest area, group or event, are great places to discuss issues of immediate concern, including professional topics. They can be open or closed, depending on the preference of the person who sets them up.

I see Facebook primarily as a tool that allows us to maintain our friendships near and far, stay in touch with family, and build our personal brands.  However, for litigators and litigation support personnel, Facebook pages also offer a useful place to stay abreast with industry trends and interact in a more personal way.  

One especially useful thing about “liking” a Facebook page is that postings from it will then show up in your Facebook news feed, which you can find either on your computer or on your mobile device. If ever you decide you don't want to see that organization's posts any longer, you can always "unlike" it. Here are 21 Facebook pages that you might want to “like.”

1. ABA Litigation Section  Good litigation posts and discussions. Posting Frequency: daily
    
2. Litigation Support Guru  Helpful posts about litigation support. Posting Frequency: a couple of times per month
    
3. A2L Consulting  The latest trial tactics and theory regarding litigation consulting, jury consulting, litigation graphics and trial technology. Posting Frequency: A few of times per week
    
4. Persuasion Strategies  Excellent posts about trial consulting and litigation. Posting Frequency: a few times per week
    
5. National Law Review  General legal news and case specific posts. Posting Frequency: many times per day
    
6. AmLaw Daily  General legal news. Posting Frequency: despite the name, generally, weekly
    
7. Mass Tort Litigation  Law professors blog about mass torts. Posting Frequency: a few times per month
    
8. ComCon Trial Consultants  Good tips about jury research and trials. Posting Frequency: weekly
    
9. Litigation Tech  Good tips on trial technology. Posting Frequency: weekly
    
10. Above the Law  Funny and irreverent articles about the legal industry. Posting Frequency: several times per day
     
11. Women in E-Discovery  Posting Frequency: a couple of times per month
     
12. Legal Marketing Association  News about marketing for lawyers. Posting Frequency: occasional
     
13. Bitter Lawyer: Humorous quips about the practice. Posting Frequency: daily
     
14. Corporate Counsel: News and articles relevant to in-house counsel. Posting Frequency: weekly
     
15. Patent Litigation  A new page but good content so far. Posting Frequency: daily
     
16. Intellectual Property Law  General IP industry news and updates on decisions. Posting Frequency: daily
     
17. Justia  News about cases and the legal industry. Posting Frequency: daily
     
18. Bloomberg Law  General legal news. Posting Frequency: several times per day
     
19. National Insitute for Trial Advocacy  Tips and discussions related to litigation. Posting Frequency: daily
     
20. DRI - The Voice of the Defense Bar: Tips related to defending cases. Posting Frequency: weekly
     
21. Lawyerist: News and tips for lawyers generally. Posting Frequency: a few times per day

If you are aware of other Facebook pages or locations that feature interesting or helpful discussions of issues in litigation support, courtroom technology, persuasion, juries, and similar issues, please leave those in the comments.