Practical Law Company's know-how services are now on Twitter. This help and information note provides users with details of the individual Twitter accounts, how to access the feeds and how to use Twitter.
Practical Law Company's know-how services are now on Twitter. This help and information note provides users with details of the individual Twitter accounts, how to access the feeds and how to use Twitter.
PLC has several Twitter accounts. You can opt to follow one or more of these as you wish. You can read our tweets regardless of your current subscription. However, you will need a subscription to view the underlying content when you click on the links to the actual legal update from the tweet. Tweets marked "free access" indicate a resource that does not require a subscription and which is freely accessible. These are our accounts:
This is our main PLC Twitter account for the UK, publishing company news, press releases, and any freely accessible content from our know-how services.
Practical Law Company subscriber assistance. Tweet us if you have any problems or queries, or would like a telephone tutorial. We're here to help!
Our official PLC Events Twitter account. Follow for information on upcoming events, as well as tweets from the events themselves.
Tweets from our training department. Get news on training webinars, face to face training sessions and tips on how to get the most from your subscription.
This is our main PLC Twitter account for the US, publishing corporate news, press releases, and any freely accessible content from our know-how services.
Twitter is a social media platform that allows users to post 140 character messages (much like updating your Facebook status). These 140 character updates can include hyperlinks to websites, articles and more. Users can opt to "follow" other Twitter users and vice versa. Once you have a Twitter account, your homepage will show an aggregated feed of the latest "tweets" (140 character updates) from the Twitter users you are "following". Users can follow friends and colleagues, people they know personally, as well as celebrities, news sources (such as the BBC or The Lawyer), anyone whose tweets they find useful or interesting.
From the official Twitter help and information pages:
What's Twitter anyway?
Twitter is an information network made up of 140 character messages called Tweets. It's a new and easy way to discover the latest news (what's happening) related to subjects you care about.
How is it useful?
Twitter contains information you will find valuable. Messages from users you choose to follow will show up on your homepage for you to read. It's like being delivered a newspaper whose headlines you’ll always find interesting – you can discover news as it's happening, learn more about topics that are important to you, and get the inside scoop in real time.
PLC's know how services include a range of resources aimed at making the day to day tasks of any lawyer easier, more efficient and current. One aspect of our services is our current awareness legal updates, which aim to focus on the needs of the busy practitioner and only report on developments which are of practical significance. These updates are fully searchable on the Practical Law Company website, delivered to subscribers' in-boxes (either daily weekly or monthly depending on your preferences) and accessible via RSS.
We now also publish all our legal updates via individual service Twitter accounts, providing an additional platform for subscribers to stay on top of UK and EC legislation and regulations; significant new cases (both UK and ECJ); changes in market practice and consultation papers from the EC, UK government and other relevant bodies.
First, if you do not already have one, you will need to sign up for a Twitter account. This is a simple process which you can do on the Twitter website.
Once you have registered for your account, you can then opt to follow other Twitter users you find interesting. To do this, ensure you are logged in, and either search for usernames or real names of people or entities you wish to follow (you can also click on any of our PLC Twitter account links below). Once you have found a Twitter user you wish to follow, click the green "+" button next to their name. That person's tweets will now appear in your homepage "timeline". This timeline view is an aggregated feed or list of all of the recent tweets from people you are following. This is unique to you, and only viewable by you when you are logged in.
Fore more detailed information on following, see this article from the Twitter help centre.
Yes, you can access Twitter via a smart phone, although you must log in to your PLC account to view the underlying content if you click a link to a legal update from a tweet.
Twitter has official mobile apps for Blackberry and iPhone if you wish to view tweets on the go from your phone. Both of these apps are free to download:
We do not provide user support for Twitter. Any connection, log in or access issues you may have specific to Twitter should be directed to Twitter's own support team. However, our client relations team are happy to help with queries regarding access to PLC content and your PLC subscription.
Twitter publishes comprehensive guidelines on how to use Twitter.