MH have just sent out a press release entitled ….“Martindale-Hubbell Collaborates with Users on Redesign of martindale.com Web Site New Site Navigation and Design Enables More Productive Use of the World’s Premier Online Legal Network”
As regular HOB readers will know we do come down hard on MH simply because we think their days are numbered and that every time we see missives from the company they tend to be yet another re-invention of the wheel.
Seeing the title of this press release our first thought was….well at least they have worked out that engaging with the client base might improve their offering (see how even we now use the word “offering”!) Maybe there is something new in here that we can get excited about.
But once again we dissect the press release and we get:
Drop Down Menus
A More Prominent Search Box ( nothing about more enhanced search capabilities)
Tighter Integration with martindale.com – what does this mean?
Easier access to user generated content – we guess people will stick with the likes of plc, Mondaq et al for this sort of content
An Upgraded Community Platform .. this could actually be useful and is going in the right direction .although we wonder if the user generated forums in Linked In might have already undermined this development
and finally they inform us that engagement with the legal market in the US – means talking to around 150 individuals over the period of a year .. this seems like leviathan progress
In the end this is just tinkering not the brave new world.
?
Here’s their press release in full
NEW YORK, Jun 29, 2010 (BUSINESS WIRE) — LexisNexis(R) Martindale-Hubbell(R), the industry leader in networking and law firm marketing, today announced its redesigned martindale.com(R) Web site, the world’s premier online legal network. Created through a collaborative process with martindale.com users and other legal professionals, the new site enables users to find the legal professionals, information, blogs, job information, online publications and other legal content they’re looking for faster and easier than ever before.
“The redesign of martindale.com is the latest step in the ongoing transformation of Martindale-Hubbell into the preeminent online destination for legal professionals,” said Phil Livingston, senior vice president of Marketing & Business Solutions at LexisNexis and CEO for Martindale-Hubbell. “Site changes announced today reflect significant input and collaboration from across the legal community and better match the needs and workflow of thousands who rely on martindale.com as the authoritative resource for information on the worldwide legal profession.”
Key changes to the site include:
— New Site Navigation System: Drop down menus enable users to more efficiently access various sections of the site.
— Enhanced Search: A more prominent search box now appears on all pages and gives users the ability to search across the full breadth of content available on martindale.com, including people, law firms and organizations, groups and topics, or jobs, from any page on the site.
— Tighter Integration with martindale.com(R) Connected: Members of martindale.com Connected (www.martindale.com/connected), the global online networking community for legal professionals, can now also access all tools and features on martindale.com when logged in, providing a richer, more interactive experience. Site visitors who are not yet members of martindale.com Connected can now view user-generated content from both member blogs and public groups, giving them direct access to opinions and commentary from legal experts. martindale.com Connected contributors, in turn, receive greater exposure to the open Web. Online discussions and content from private and confidential martindale.com Connected groups will remain exclusive to members of those groups.
— Upgraded Community Platform: When members of martindale.com Connected log on to martindale.com, their home page will now display a mix of news and personalized content specific to each user’s network and community affiliations, similar to news feeds common to social networking sites. Group pages, among the more popular areas of the site, have been completely redesigned and now offer the ability to create sub-groups, allowing law firms, legal departments and legal organizations to customize their communities on martindale.com Connected.
LexisNexis sought input on the site redesign through a variety of both formal and informal channels and used that input to drive site changes. Multiple focus groups and detailed usability evaluations from user experience experts have been conducted over the past year to identify and confirm hypotheses about major areas of improvement. The new designs and proposed site changes have been iteratively tested with nearly 150 lawyers, law librarians and other legal professionals to date.
