Two-thirds of top-50 law firms have a Twitter account, but some may be 'damaging their brand’ by failing to tweet anything at all, a report has suggested.

The study by web consultancy Intendance found that 66% of firms had set up at least one account on Twitter. However, of the 48 accounts, 19 had issued zero tweets, despite some having hundreds of followers.

The report said the figures suggested that 'many firms have simply jumped on the social media bandwagon without putting much thought into how to use Twitter to their advantage. By neglecting potential followers, those with dormant accounts could even be damaging their brand’.

It added: 'That 19 out of 48 accounts reviewed have not made the effort to use their account at all, despite some having hundreds of followers, is quite remarkable.

'Not only is this a wasted opportunity to connect with a range of stakeholders, it suggests laziness, lack of strategy and lack of initiative. In many cases it would be better not to have a Twitter account rather than have one that is dormant.’

Intendance found that firms did not take their Twitter presence as seriously as, for example, LinkedIn, which it said was the 'acceptable face of social networking in the B2B sector’.

The consultancy said that a number of firms lacked a 'clear, branded presence’, which confuses potential followers as to the ownership of the account, and 'reflects badly on the firm’.

It said that while some accounts are recognisable by name as belonging to a particular firm, they are not branded, or are inactive, making it unclear whether they are owned by that firm. Some 35% of accounts did not make it clear that the firm in question owned the account. The report likened this to 'inviting friends to your new flat, and not having any furniture or decorations’.

The study found the best five law firm Twitter accounts belonged to magic circle firm Allen & Overy; national firms DLA Piper and Eversheds; City firm Withers and magic circle firm Clifford Chance.

The report can be downloaded on the Intendance website.

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