OMG! Law Talk - In Conversation with Kevin O'Keefe

In the return of OMG! Law Talk, Omar Ha-Redeye, Michael Carabash and I have the pleasure of an extended conversation with Kevin O'Keefe, founder of Lex Blog and of the world's leading authorities (or as Omar put it, The Guru) on social media and the legal profession.

In Part I, Kevin discusses how his own law practice led him to his current career as a global leader in online marketing and social media for legal professionals. His online philosophy is remarkably straightforward and direct. For Kevin, the internet is not about broadcasting and content - it's about engaging people and building relationships:

In Part II, Kevin discusses his thoughts on what is required for lawyers to succeed online, the growing role of mobile apps, video and the iPad, and the future of social media for the legal professional:

Kevin's ongoing commentaries on legal blogging and social media can be also found at his personal blog, Real Lawyers Have Blogs.

Many thanks to Kevin O'Keefe for taking the time to meet with Michael, Omar and I after his October 22, 2010 Toronto Beer for Bloggers event. We'll very much look forward to another opportunity to converse, listen and learn in the not-too-distant future.

Garry J. Wise, Toronto

Visit our Toronto Law Firm website: www.wiselaw.net

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Thoughts on the Facebook "Like" Button (And Rats)

I described my first take on the Facebook "Like" button, which we installed at Wise Law Blog last weekend, in a discussion over coffee this week with Omar Ha-Redeye.*

Lo and behold, as if to echo my very words, Slaw's Simon Fodden (in a wholly different context) has paraphased my conclusions far better than I ever could have:

[T]agging is the practice that some people have of making their distinctive mark on public objects — a pathetic human version, perhaps, of a pet’s urge to pee on lampposts and the like.

Ultimately, Facebook "Like's" primary innovation may be that it has - at long last - enabled humans to leave our digital pee trails online - wherever our hearts (and presumably, our primal, inner wagging tails) may desire.

Now that's progress!

There are many who argue that leveraging this new, "Like" technology will be a key component in law firm SEO strategies for the future, and they may well be right.

Time will tell. But, what's the point of it all?

To address that question, we might want to consider the behavioural traits of yet another mammal, often studied in modern science's quest to understand we homo sapiens**:

Urine marking -- the deposit of small drops or smears of urine on the ground, objects, and other rats -- is a form of chemical communication. One rat generates the chemical signal (a drop of urine), and another rat identifies, integrates, and responds to that signal either behaviorally or physiologically.

Urine contains a lot of information about the rat who produced it: its species, sex, age, reproductive status, sexual availability, social status, individual identity, and current stress level, as well as the age of the scent mark itself.

And wouldn't access to that kind of information be a social media marketing strategist's dream come true?

Welcome to the Facebook "Like" universe.

.....

Notes:

* Congratulations are in order for Omar, Canada's foremost law student blawger, on the completion of his J.D. studies. And by the way, Editions 1 and 2 of OMG! Law Talk, featuring Omar, Michael Carabash and I, are posted on our sidebar, so have a look.

** Did you know that homo sapiens translates from Latin as "wise man?"

- Garry J. Wise, Toronto

Visit our Toronto Law Firm website: www.wiselaw.net

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Video: OMG! Law Talk - Episode 2

It is time for Episode 2 of OMG! Law Talk. Think of it as a Wednesday-after-a-long-weekend version of OMG! Monday, if you will...

I'm joined again this week by legal bloggers Omar Ha-Redeye and Michael Carabash. We continue our 'robust' discussions, with topics that include:

· Google “Juice”
· Law Firm Public Relations Strategies
· Getting Legal Information Online
· Blogging and the Election of George Bush
· Responding to Torture
· On Mark Steyn and Freedom of Speech in Canada and America

So here we go with OMG! - Episode 2:

- Garry J. Wise, Toronto

Visit our Toronto Law Firm website: www.wiselaw.net

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Introducing OMG! Law Talk

Well, it's finally OMG! Monday and I'm very happy to be starting the week off with the launch of OMG! Law Talk.

OMG! is our original, 'short video' series featuring informal, but often emphatic conversations on legal issues, politics, technology and social media. We hope it will be of interest to our readers in and out of the legal community.

I've been collaborating on this series with law bloggers Michael Carabash of Dynamic Lawyers and Omar Ha-Redeye of Slaw, Law is Cool and OmarHa-Redye.com. OMG! will pretty much mirror the kinds of discussions the three of us have when we get together and the cameras aren't rolling.

Come be a fly on the wall. We'll have a new episode of OMG! each Monday on Wise Law Blog. As the series progresses, things begin to heat up.

Our inaugural episode features lively discussions on: Lawyers Who Blog; Managing the Public vs. the Private; Augmenting the Public with the Personal; Rants and Bones to Pick; and Search Engine Optimization Malpractice.

So here we go with Episode Number 1 - OMG! Law Talk is ready to sail:

- Garry J. Wise, Toronto

Visit our Toronto Law Firm website: www.wiselaw.net

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