A quick and simple introduction to social media for law schools and law professors interested in starting to develop a social media presence.

1. 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

2. Ok so lets start with the
basics…
• Social Media is:
o Social networking
o Electronic forms of communication
o Online channels for community based
interaction and input
o Sharing of ideas to reach a wide audience
o Interaction of people in which they
share, create, and exchange information and
ideas virtually

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

4. Lawyer Specific
• 59% of lawyers said that their firms maintain
a presence in a social network
o 92% LinkenIn
o 58% Facebook
• For lawyers individually
o 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.

5. The Big Four

6. Fact: 54% of facebook users are
over the age of 25.
There are 168.8 million users of
Facebook in the United States.

7. 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.

8. 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.

9. 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.

10. 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.

11. +You
Stay
connected
and share life
as it happens.
I’ve never even
heard of it..
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+.

12. 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.

13. 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.

14. Others

15. So why should
you care?
Great question!

16. • Get known – make connections
o
o
o
o
o
It brings people to you to see the work you are doing.
Cements relationships.
Allows a space for ideas to grow.
Lets you connect with people doing similar work .
Lets you connect with people with similar interests.
• Learn
o Before, mass media for general interest
o Moving to special interest, sub-culture media
o Get into groups that are targeted to your specific
audience, ideas
o World is your RA

17. The 5 Steps to
Creating an
Effective Social
Media Presence

18. 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!

19. Image Basics
Photo: 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.

20. 2. Content
Ok so you have a picture. What else? Why should people
care about looking at your page or profile? Why should
people read your tweets?

21. 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 retweeted or shared!
Feeling overwhelmed and
like you have nothing to say?
That’s ok! Who really does
anyways? Use Bitly!

22. 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!

23. 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?

24. 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.

25. 4. Engage
People are commenting on your things!
People are liking what you put on your profile!
What do you do?!?

26. Engagement
basics
Respond to comments!
Comment on other people’s
postings!
Like things!
Social Media is NOT a oneway 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.

27. 5. Start Yesterday
We realize this is impossible.
But it doesn’t mean you can’t start today!

28. This could be you.
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.

29. Feeling totally
overwhelmed and like you
still live in
the dinosaur age?
You’re probably not the only one.

30. Just ask.
We can
get you
started


31. Basically, it works.