Should Your Firm Nix Facebook From Lawyer Marketing Plan?

Should your law firm nix its Facebook account?

"It's a very good question," which is what professors often say when they don't have a ready answer. So since the teacher is not here, let's look at what others have to say about it.

Of course, as with any query, consider the source.

To Ditch

Long before the Facebook fiasco with Cambridge Analytica, Business Insider published "10 Reasons to Delete Your Facebook Account." Dan Yoder gave his reasons in 2010, and here are a few:

• Facebook has flat out declared war on privacy
• Facebook is not technically competent enough to be trusted
• Facebook's CEO has a documented history of unethical behavior

In retrospect, Yoder could add "I told you so." That's because his biggest reasons to delete Facebook point to the flaw that led to the spreading Cambridge scandal -- Facebook doesn't protect user data very well.

For law firms -- charged with protecting client information -- that is obviously a problem.

Or Not to Ditch

Above the Law, an oft-contrarian publication, has another take on it. Kevin O'Keefe writes that lawyers have an obligation to stay on Facebook.

"Like it or not, lawyers have an ethical obligation to make legal services accessible to people," he says.

O'Keefe believes that lawyers who delete Facebook are turning their backs on the public. "Access to legal services will only decline," he predicts.

Whatever the future of Facebook, whether to delete or not delete your firm's account is a good question. And to quote the professors at Laugh-in, the answer could be "very interesting, but also stupid."

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Related Resources:

• 3 Legal Marketing Tips to Make Facebook Work for Your Practice (FindLaw's Strategist)
• Should Lawyers Ever Follow Clients on Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn? (FindLaw's Strategist)
• Law Firm Social Media: Different Approaches for Twitter and Facebook (FindLaw's Strategist)