I ran across an interesting post from Eric Turkewitz, a New York Personal Injury Attorney who offers up his wisdom on his blog – the New York Personal Injury Law Blog.

His post, titled Twitter: A Review was a lucid overview of a social media/micro-blogging tool that’s generating a lot of buzz in the legal world (and elsewhere) as a great marketing tool.

And the buzz is almost deafening. Attorneys by the thousands are rushing headlong into hourly twitter use – many having no idea what to even do with it – or it’s strengths and weaknesses.

Eric has decided to “noodle with it” but doesn’t plan to fall in love with it like many other attorneys. I’ve never even met the man but I know this….he knows how and where to spend his time and money on marketing his practice.

Now don’t get me wrong – Twitter is a great networking tool. I even have an account but spend little time on it.

But it is a lousy marketing tool. Those that benefit from Twitter are ones with a national presence. They are continually building their Brand with folks lining up to follow them. It’s a sweet tool for that.

For those serving a targeted geographical area – like most law firms – you are not a Brand. So it’s an absolute waste of time to even use Twitter for marketing yourself.

I was up-to-my-eyeballs in the Internet hysteria earlier this decade and I learned what works and what has no chance. Twitter is a fad that will hang around until the next great “idea” comes along. And then the herd will rush after that.

I’ll pass along one of the rules I live by – if a marketing effort is not making you money…stop it….and focus on what works.

And for law firms, what most should focus on is referrals, a website or two, a blog or two and video.