This is what I have been waiting for.

A comprehensive list of things for lawyers to do and things not to do on Twitter. The cultural norms of what is acceptable (and wise) behavior in the Twitterverse and what is not.

Law firm SEO guru Steve Matthews has written an excellent article titled Lawyer Twitter Practices: 29 Do's and Don'ts. Aside from losing 30 minutes of my life spent researching the proper spelling of "do's and don'ts" (which apparently involves not putting an apostrophe at the end of either word, even though it makes dos look like a computer operating system name), I found this article to be a quick read and utterly packed with useful tips on how lawyers should handle Twitter. It is a great and practical complement to the recent article by Jordan Furlong on Twitter that I referenced here.

You should definitely read the article in full, but here are a few of Steve's points that I really like:

Do:

• Do start by replicating your offline network on Twitter. There’s a much greater likelihood that people you already know in real life will follow you back. (#1)
• Do keep a balanced approach when demonstrating your professional and personal characteristics; don’t veer too much in either direction. (#9)
• Do use your real name as your username, the one that people know you by. Your name is your brand, after all!There is SEO value in Twitter only insofar as it can help extend the reach of your content and build a network — there’s no juice in the links you post or the URL in your profile. (#12)

Don't:

• Don’t follow more than 100 people than are following you. (#1)
• Don’t tweet more than 10 times a day or more than five times an hour. (#3)
• Don’t feel compelled to answer the question “What are you doing?” – but don’t worry if you occasionally are. (#4)

I still am not buying the "Twitter is river" metaphor that Steve is selling, but he's wearing me down with his librarian logic and innate Canadian politeness. Maybe I will concede it is a babbling brook.

Gotta go follow some of Steve's advice myself, hope you do the same!

If the sheer pop cultural weight of Oprah, CNN and Ashton Kutcher haven't instantly caused Twitter to jump the shark, I don't know what will. I'm a Twitter fan, but I confess to feeling a little Twitter-weariness setting in. Every time Rick Sanchez tweets another little part of my soul dies.

Just in time to revive me, though, is a thought-provoking post by Jordan Furlong, who writes the fantastic Law21 blog. In his article "Figuring Out Twitter" Jordan provides an in-depth analysis of Twitter as a communication tool and why that is different than Twitter as a marketing tool, a great list of things not to do on Twitter, and his own smart take on how to use Twitter well. Highly recommended.

I disagree with Jordan on a couple of points though.

I like to read the personal as well as the professional tweets (if that distinction even means anything anymore) of the people I follow. One of the great things blogging and microblogging has done to publishing is to knock down the fourth wall (as the theater people might say) separating the reader from writer. And yes, that is just a highfalutin way of continuing to tweet about where I eat lunch.

I also am not a fan of the "Twitter is a river" school of thought which Jordan credits to my friend and SEO whiz Steve Matthews. I'm not interested in a river. I'm interested in having conversations about cool things with interesting people. Sticking around long enough to hear, er, read, what my friends (the term "followers" makes me feel all David Koresh-y) have to say is a pretty important part of it. I may be in the distinct minority on this, but that's how I like using Twitter.

Read the article and do it quickly; I heard Dwayne from What's Happening just challenged Phil Donahue to a Twitter contest.

There are a lot of strong feelings out there about Twitter -- some folks claim it is the greatest thing since sliced bread while others decry it as an emblem of all that is wrong with the world. The polarization doesn't really help a lawyer to know what Twitter is, how to use or whether it is worth her time. 

To that end, here are two good blog posts to provide a primer on Twitter for lawyers: Reid Trautz put together a nice post on his blog laying out the basics of Twitter for curious lawyers.  If you have been wondering about Twitter but not quite ready to jump in, that's a good place to start. Lee Rosen, a divorce lawyer from Raleigh, also has penned (pardon the anachronism) a nice post on the marketing worth of Twitter.  As you might be able to tell from his website, Lee is a lawyer who knows a thing or two about marketing.

If you know of other good blog posts to help orient lawyers who are considering Twitter, please post them in the comments section.

So, maybe you are not yet a big believer in Facebook, Twitter, blogging or other mainstays of the social networking universe.  I can understand that; spending hours messing around with a computer is not everybody's idea of fun, and there are certainly other ways to develop business for a law practice.

But here is a new reason to get involved -- at least a little:  to avoid losing your identity in a social networking land grab.

There is only one www.your_name.com domain.  Once it is gone, it is gone.  Have you registered yours yet?  Do you know how much it costs?  About the cost of two lattes from Starbucks.  Per year. 

If someone gets there first and registers www.your_name.com before you do, not only do you lose the opportunity to build a presence there, you also can't stop the person who registered it from putting anything they want on the site. It is starting to happen. 

What began as cute little jokes, like the Twitter account for Fake Steve Jobs, are now morphing into real trouble as internet ne'er do wells (trolls, in geek speak) start exploiting the power of social networking sites to really irk people. What do you figure would be the impact on your career of having a website at www.your_name.com that features, oh, say, pornography?  Or a Twitter feed at www.twitter.com/your_name sends out consistent messages about your allegiance to the Nazi party.  It can't help.

Once your name is gone, it is gone, and you really can't do much about it.  Even if you are not pining away to post on Twitter or join Facebook or even to register a domain name, think about doing it defensively, if for no other reason.  Just like all that stuff from law school, it can be used as a sword or a shield. It doesn't take long, cost much or require great technological sophistication and may save you a bunch of anguish in the long run.

Update on Saturday, April 25, 2009 at 10:57AM by Erik Mazzone

Protecting your name in social networking land just got easier.

There is a site called Knowem.com that, for $65, will register your name at 120 social networking sites to prevent becoming the victim of "Cyber Squatting." (Hat tip to Security Fix, a Washington Post blog about computer security.) For no fee at all, Knowem will check allow you to check if your name is already in use at the various social networking sites.

I tried out the free scan (it only takes a second or two) and it found all of my various social networking sites as well as a couple where my name has been registered and I have no recollection of registering it.

Check it out.