Schwartz says social media passed the tipping point at 2010 ABA Annual Meeting
Pressure-packed. Exciting. A great responsibility.
This is how Daniel Schwartz described the experience of tweeting under the ABA moniker (@ABAesq) during the 2010 ABA Annual Meeting.
As the official tweeter of the ABA House of Delegates, Schwartz pushed out around 100 tweets over two days during the annual meeting. From a picture of the new executive director to a summary of a resolution in consideration, Schwartz used Twitter to help members follow and understand the meeting’s proceedings.
Twitter and other social media are now integral parts of the annual meeting, Schwartz said.
“We’ve passed the tipping point. I think interest has become enough that if we didn't use it, it would be conspicuously absent,” he said.
Much of the buzz before, during and after the annual meeting took place on Twitter using the meeting hashtag (#abaannual).
“Hashtags have been used in the past, but this was the first meeting that I saw it being used with a great deal of regularity and purpose to it.”
Attendees also used Facebook and Linkedin to update followers on meeting events and find people with similar interests. These social media outlets allowed attendees to “break through the noise” of a large conference attended by 6,000 people, Schwartz said.
“A meeting like that can be very overwhelming. It was easier to meet up with people, easier to coordinate.”
In addition to serving as a member of the ABA House of Delegates, Schwartz sits on the ABA Standing Committee on Technology and Information Systems and is chair of the Litigation Section "Social Media" Subcommittee.
He is an attorney at Pullman & Comley LLC in Connecticut and his own social media presence spans Twitter (@danielschwartz), Facebook, Linkedin and his blog, Connecticut Employment Law Blog.
Blogging came easily to Schwartz, having worked as an editor of the Daily Pennsylvanian during his undergraduate years. He will celebrate his 3-year blogging milestone in two weeks and anticipates his blog will hit one million visitors next month.
“The blog has been a perfect fit because I missed that sort of creative writing that journalism allows.”
Schwartz gravitated to Twitter in fall 2008 as a supplement to his blog. He tweets about labor employment issues, Connecticut legal issues, items related to the bar associations and the New York Yankees.
Twitter was also the medium that landed Schwartz an entry in a book by New York Times technology columnist David Pogue. After responding to a question posed by Pogue to his Twitter followers, Schwartz heard back from him and ended up appearing in The World According to Twitter.
Although this was an especially unique experience, Schwartz said social media has given him everyday opportunities that otherwise would not have been possible. These are opportunities for networking and staying connected that lawyers should readily welcome, he said.
“Social media isn’t being used to say what you had for breakfast anymore. It’s being used to convey substance and information. As lawyers, that's what we need.”
