The Secret Barrister: Law as a ‘Shared Asset’
An analysis of The Secret Barrister’s public online presence
Viral tweets and award-winning №1 publication — The Secret Barrister has been gaining much attention from those in the legal community, particularly since they have been establishing a strong public online presence in recent years. With influencers filling my feed, a question I often ask myself is how they appeal to the public. The Secret Barrister uses elements such as relevance, consistency, and a sense of humour to engage with readers.
Relevance in their area of expertise
It is easily identified that The Secret Barrister’s target audience is those interested in the advancements of the legal industry, including legal professionals, law students and the general public. The Secret Barrister’s perspective as a barrister provides a unique and valuable insight into the legal system and its impact on society, allowing their posts to be particularly educational. By highlighting important legal issues and injustices, they raised awareness and promote discussion about these topics. Their content always follows the main theme, relating to the UK legal system and criminal justice, allowing strong engagement from their followers.
In addition, their ability to explain legal topics in an accessible and understandable way makes their posts more engaging.
Consistency
One of the differences between The Secret Barrister’s blog and Twitter page is the time intervals between posts. They have been posting an article once a month for the past few months on their blog. Meanwhile, they upload or retweet posts on Twitter almost every day. The similarity, though, is that they consistently give updates on both platforms in a timely manner. This enables their followers to read their account of legal issues regularly.
Additionally, the articles on their blog are long, detailed and informative, whereas their Twitter posts are short and straightforward while conveying their views. It is important that the method of engagement makes sense in the platform or channels used. In this case, the in-depth publications on their blog are suitable for readers interested to learn more about a topic. Meanwhile, the content on their Twitter page is simpler and shorter, allowing readers to spend a few minutes of their day reading The Secret Barrister’s Twitter updates.
Use of humour and intriguing titles
‘When is human trafficking not human trafficking? When it makes a good story’ — that’s the title of their latest article on their blog. Indeed, the title is informative and specific, using the keywords ‘human trafficking’. It is also concise and provides readers with an idea of the main content. Nevertheless, the additional use of humour captures attention and enhances the reader’s ability to remember and reflect on the topic.
Even though their amount of followers does not match those of popular influencers, they create a community that consistently checks for their updates and comes back for more of their legal insights.
