The Value Of Twitter Is In “The Power Of Passed Links”

That's what Fred Wilson says and I agree. I think it is becoming clear now that there are many ways to use Twitter and many reasons to use Twitter. But to me the best thing about Twitter is the fact that it provides me with a large group of friends, professional acquaintances, some total strangers and some technology superstars who all voluntarily serve as a clipping service for me with links to news articles, blog posts, product launches and more. They also toss in their "special" content, too. New York Times tech columnist David Pogue gets wound up with some pretty funny stuff at night as he assembles his book based on readers' Tweets. Check him out here and see what I mean. (Twitter registration not required.)

Walk around in your own wireless cloud

This about-to-be released MiFi card really looks cool.  You can carry your own wireless cloud with you and share it with up to four other users. There are lots of very interesting possibilities, including, as one poster noted, saving a lot of money if you exhibit at trade shows where they charge through the nose for Internet access.

Here's David Pogue's review.

Here's his CNBC interview.

Release date is May 17,  2009.

ABA TECHSHOW 60 Sites in 60 Minutes Posted

The last presentation of ABA TECHSHOW 2009 was 60 Sites in 60 Minutes, a program that is likely the longest running tradition of ABA TECHSHOW. I was honored to be asked to do that presentation with Lincoln Mead, Laura Calloway and Barron Henley. The list of and links to the 60 sites have now been posted. There are many useful sites there as well as a few fun ones. Laura ended the presentation (and the show) with the shadow images on NervousRat.com. It was a great way to end a conference and would be a great way for you to end your day. (My apologies in advance if it gets changed to something inappropriate for the office.)

Site of the Week: Wordle

One of the sites I showed at ABA TECHSHOW'S 60 Sites in 60 Minutes was Wordle. The producers even call it a toy. They say "Wordle is a toy for generating 'word clouds' from text that you provide. The clouds give greater prominence to words that appear more frequently in the source text." But there is actually some value in examining word frequency in an easy-to-understand graphical format. Here is a Wordle of the year to date posts in my Law Practice Tips blog.

And Carolyn Elefant tells the story of how she used this toy---er--tool with great results for, of all things, a talk on marine renewables energy.

You can paste the text from a long document into Wordle. Try it with a brief or long article. You can also alter colors, horizontal to vertical ratio, font and other items. But to see if your trial brief emphases what you planned by word count can be a useful exercise.

I did a program for the Oklahoma State Webmasters Group on Web 2.0 last month. The paper created such interesting word clouds that I saved two of them. Click to expand.       

Kick your Gmail Account into High Gear

For those of you using Gmail from Google, you will want to check out 90 Tools And Tips To Make You A Gmail Pro. I haven't tried any of the add-ons, but the list comes highly recommended.

Twitter: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

Twitter use was very evident at the recent ABA TECHSHOW. Tne Oklahoma Bar Association is now using Twitter. A lot of lawyers are using Twitter and a lot of lawyers are wondering if they should try Twitter.

So  we decided to do a pair of web-only special feature articles for the OBA. Mine is called Twitter: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly and our new OBA Web Services Coordinator Morgan W. Estes wrote The OBA’s on Twitter!

Read our articles at this link. And please consider passing the link on to someone you know who could use an explanation of Twitter with some links to explore.

It's about Time! Websites dealing with time.

In our Sites for Sore Eyes column this month, Courtney Kennaday and I cover Websites having to do with time. We hope you can make time to read it. *rimshot* But seriously, folks, there are times you need to know how to determine the time anywhere. Now you can.

Twitter: I Decide it is Time for Some Tweeting

I've signed up with Twitter. If you are using Twitter, you can follow me @jimcalloway. You can look at my Twitter page at http://twitter.com/jimcalloway. You do not have to register with Twitter to view the pages of those using Twitter. (Well, almost all of them. A few lock them down with permissions.)

You may not have heard of Twitter yet. It is referred to as a microblogging service. Our posts to Twitter (known as Tweets) are limited to 140 characters.You can "follow" people and receive their Tweets as soon as they are posted on your Twitter page (or in other ways.) But Twitter has expanded from the simple idea of friends keeping track of each other's activities to become a significant new communication tool. Some celebrities have tens of thousands of people following their activites via Twitter. And of course, there are many who react to hearing of Twitter with "Where would I find time to do that?" (or in Twitter-ese, maybe "OMG! No time 2do")

I did tell a few people that I wouldn't sign up for Twitter until I had my e-mail inbox under control and, no, I haven't. But doing a presentation for TECHSHOW on the Road in Boston and seeing the number of people tweeting during the program about what was being said did raise my interest. So feel free to follow me and please don't take it personally if I don't follow you back. (Still that nagging inbox issue.) I'll try to tweet some useful information.The amount of tweeting at ABA TECHSHOW next month should be significant.

Here's a blog post on large law firms now utilizing Twitter.

OK, I know I mentioned celebrities. Serious lawyers should skip the next three links.

Forbes article "Why Celebrities Twitter"

New York Post article on best celebrities to follow.

25+ Celebrity Twitter Users (I already see new caeers opening for Ghost-Tweeters.)

But there's more than time-wasting and frivolity on Twitter.

For example, here are some of the legal ethicists on Twitter. 

http://twitter.com/billfreivogel

http://twitter.com/willhornsby

http://twitter.com/Ethics_Maven

http://twitter.com/michaeldowney

Here's the Wikipedia entry on Twitter. There's more, but I know some of you are dying to go check those celebrity links. I'll revisit this topic here later. (Psst...they say Lance Armstrong tweets over ten times a day. I haven't checked.) A bunch of journalists and politicos are tweeting, too.

Disposable News: Anatomy of iGoogle

Catherine Sanders Reach and I co-authored an article, Disposable News: Anatomy of iGoogle. We are both fans of using iGoogle to capture RSS newsfeeds and the other Google Gadgets for a customized personal "home page." If you don't have an iGoogle page, read the article and set one up.

New Year's Resolution for Lawyers - Improve Your Web Site (or Create One)

A few years ago I wrote a blog post stating that all law firms really needed a Web site now. I hoped law firms would make it their New Year's Resolution for 2006 to set up one if they didn't have one and look at improving their site if they had one.

So now it is 2009 and I see Internet marketing being even more important for lawyers. The social networking sites are growing and many more people are using their browsers in their smart phones to locate important information. More people look to the Net first when searching for information. Certainly most law firms of any size now have a Web site. But some solo and small firm lawyers resist. I think mainly they just don't know where to begin. So I wrote a primer, Web Site How-To Tips for the Small Firm Lawyer, a few weeks ago. I hope this encourages the remaining laweyrs without a Web site to get going.

But if you have had a Web site for a few years, don't be complacent. The odds are that if you haven't thought about your Web site much in the last couple of years, it is due for a facelift. The color scheme may be dated or you have still list departed lawyers on it. Review your Web site now to see how you can improve it in the new year.

One idea might be to take some photos within your firm to use instead of stock impersonal pictures. I'd be overly cautious and get signed releases from any employees whose photos were used. (Sure it is OK to pay them a little bonus for consenting.) Respect the wishes of any employee who does not wish to be photographed. But, how much more alive, interesting and personal would your Web site be if it had pictures of your office and your staff instead of models and actors? Take plenty so you can easily rotate in new photos in a few months without having to have a new "picture day."