Have you read these?

A selection of interesting and valuable posts from the blawgosphere and beyond

• “Excuse Me, Sir. May I Interest You In Things You Don’t Need?” from Corcoran’s Business of Law Blog. Written for legal technology vendors who attended last week’s International Legal Technology Association annual meeting, this post -– and its companion piece, “10 Sales Tips for Legal Vendors” –- are chock full of valuable advice. Read them and read them again, because you don’t often get insight like this from someone who has been both client and vendor, and you’re sure to learn from Corcoran’s experience. And don’t be fooled by the context: these comments are as useful for lawyers as they are for legal vendors. You’ll see.
  
  
• “Why Should My Organization Care About Social Media?” from Where Great Workplaces Start. This is a short; to-the-point post on why social media is important. Lawyers should read it to remind themselves of why they need to add Web 2.0 tools to their suite of traditional marketing and business development activities. I like it because it drives home my favorite point: social media is communication.
  
  
• “10 ways PR and marketing are every bit as powerful as trusted peers” from a shel of my former self. This post will be very useful for lawyers and legal professionals, if only because it reminds us that funneling your communication through a single channel, or even a select set of channels, can limit your opportunities to communicate your message. Even if you’re not caught up in the “old v new” debate that provides the background for this post, you’re sure to find value in the ten communications activities outlined in the post.
  
  
• “Seize the moment lawyers” from Kevin O’Keefe’s Real Lawyers Have Blogs. Like O’Keefe, I encourage just about every lawyer who asks me about blogging to step up to the plate and swing. That’s probably because my introduction to Web 2.0 for lawyers came from Kevin himself, whose passion for helping lawyers understand and generate value from the communications tools of social media is legendary. This post provides what may the best articulation I’ve read of why lawyers should blog, and why they should do it now. Read it and you'll agree.
  
  
• “Challenging convention” from Seth Godin’s Blog. Are you challenging convention? Identifying and acting on solutions that create ways to get things done? Would you like to? If so, read this post for useful advice on making the new convention stick. Because it isn’t easy to change the way things are done, the way people are used to doing things, the way that is easy and tried and true, even if you have a great new way to do it better or easier or cheaper.