Are trainees the best placed to assist with social media tips?

Notwithstanding a dedicated in-house IT team, as a trainee I am often the first port of call for any colleagues suffering from IT issues. This is not due to my possessing a firm-wide reputation as a tech expert, but rather the fact that I am expected to arrive on my first day armed with knowledge
on how to create an excel spreadsheet and master the ‘tracked changes’ function.

Many solicitors who completed their training contract in the last five years
or so have revealed a similar experience. However, what sets apart current trainees is that many law firms now expect them to actively engage in the firm’s social media strategy.
One such example is BHW Solicitors, who advertise trainee positions alongside the proviso that trainees will be expected to contribute to the firm’s online activities.

It is not difficult to understand why firms view trainees as best placed to assist in their online happenings. According to data from the Law Society, the average age of a trainee is under 30 years old. Like me, they will typically have spent their childhood using a computer and their teenage years on social media platforms such as MySpace, subsequently migrating to Facebook and Twitter during their twenties. More senior solicitors will probably have encountered IT and, in particular, social media, for the first time as an adult.
The perception is that they struggle to engage with the online platforms. Is this true?

A study released earlier this year by digital consultancy iStrategy Labs revealed an 80 per cent growth of users aged over 50 joining Facebook.
A report published this year by eMarketer predicts the average age of the fastest growing Twitter user base will be 65 and over, an expected increase of 38 per cent by the end of this year. Further, according to a 2012 report from Royal Pingdom,
the average age of a LinkedIn user is 44 years old. It follows, therefore, that senior solicitors may be just as knowledgeable about social media as young trainees.

Posting comments (particularly controversial ones) about legal cases or legislative updates on social media carries the risk of those comments going viral. Before commencing a training contract, trainees have been well taught by graduate recruiters about this risk. Arguably, this has caused trainees to be the most cautious of all law firm employees in using social media as a
business tool.

Indeed, trainees may bring to the table excellent ideas on how firms should be utilising social media, but perhaps law firms should lower their expectations of all trainees having a natural ability to use social media to its best advantage as a business tool. Although more senior solicitors will perhaps not have grown up with a computer,
let alone with social media,
they are the ones who are increasingly joining social media sites, and no doubt will be just as well placed to assist with a law firm’s social media objectives as a trainee. SJ