Lessons from CA state bar “e-circles”

California State Bar setup a social networking site for attorneys called “e-circles.”  The interface looks very professional, it is easy to use, to  setup a profile, make announcements, join other groups, post job opportunities and guess what?   It gets very little use.

How do I know? 

There are no posts in the last months for any of my discussion groups.  The largest groups have membership in the scores.  The most popular profiles have links with a few other attorneys.  And the potential pool of participants is over 200,000 California attorneys.

What does can we learn from this?

* “If we build it they will come” is no way to build a social networking site. 

*Everyone needs to have a strategic approach to social networking. 

*Determine the benefits for yourself or your users to engaging in specific social networking activities. 

*For the California State Bar, make it a forum that makes the MCLE process easier for attorneys.  Trust me, that would generate traffic.

CA Bar requires email but what about a website?

California State Bar Association requires all attorneys to provide an email address  in their online state bar profile.  This makes sense for the state bar so they can more cheaply and efficiently bill and communicate with members.  Email use to be optional.  Why not include a field for attorneys to enter their website profile? 

Attorneys at big firms may not have a unique URL to provide but they can provide a link to the firm website and the user can do the rest.  This would allow other attorneys and the public one stop to review an attorney’s qualifications, their law firm affiliations and most importantly, the opportunity to view a photo!