Facebook, founded in 2004 as a student site, opened up to non-students in 2006 and now has a network of over 100 million users, making it an important and useful social media tool. It has transformed into a platform for students and professionals alike and helps bridge connections between top professionals who seem out of reach and those just penetrating the industry.

Understanding how Facebook is a useful tool takes understanding the components that can be customized to suit your preferences and utilizing the tools best suited for your needs.

1. Your Profile- You can add as much or as little information as you wish (political views, education, etc.) and showcase your work portfolio and provide links to your Web site, blog, published articles or other spaces. You can start marketing yourself with your profile by finding colleagues and other lawyers to be your friend, which creates an online presence and visibility.

2. Groups- Facebook can serve as an open or private forum by creating groups. Groups can serve as a discussion outlet and allow lawyers, colleagues and others to ask questions and the responses are archived. Posting a discussion as part of a group invites others to comment and share information. This can serve as an alternative to just e-mailing back and forth. Also, joining some relevant groups can be valuable since some allow only members to have access to exclusive content and the ability to gain access to involved professionals.

3. Social Media Networking- Finding colleagues and friends who are using facebook and adding them creates your network. You can stay updated on others’ information by checking their feed that shows up on your homepage or visiting their profiles once in a while.

4. Referrals- Using your facebook wall (where others can leave comments) can generate business leads if clients or colleagues leave positive messages referring to your services. Encourage others to comment by commenting on their walls with positive remarks.

5. Applications- Applications such as what books you read or places you vacationed can be conversation starters and information exchange with your network. These are a little more personal, but can give a sense of your interests and personality traits.

A common concern is drawing the line between personal and professional and how that is managed in a facebook profile. Eventually, our personal and professional profiles will merge, but until then be cautious as to what you share with others via social media. For your facebook profile, you are able to adjust your privacy settings so only the people you want can see certain parts of your profile. The general rule is, if you don’t want the wrong person to see it, don’t post it.

Should you be on facebook? The most useful function of facebook is joining, creating and participating in groups. Since groups on an issue and have the ability for information exchange and starting groups on specific topics help networking within a community of lawyers. Being that the facebook community is huge, your competitors will probably be on there and you should be, too.

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