King & Wood Mallesons, Slater & Gordon and Ashurst are the top firms in the Asia Pacific for use of social media, a new study has claimed.

The study was based on an analysis of 60 law firms across Australia, Hong Kong and Singapore although the Australian sample was limited to 10 firms.

Firms were rated across five categories: brand presence (the number of social media channels a firm is using); brand content (quality and relevance of the content and alignment with brand),  frequency and consistency of Twitter output; Twitter responsiveness (time taken to respond to a Twitter query) and influence and outreach (“Kred score”).

Overall, the study concluded that Australian firms were more enthusiastic about social media than their Asia counterparts. "While the leading international law firms in the APAC region continue to make strong progress in social media, the study shows that many leading local law firms in Hong Kong and Singapore demonstrate little or no appetite for social media communication. In contrast, there are seven Australia firms in the…top 10 which shows that the appetite for social media in this region is very much ahead of Hong Kong and Singapore," said study author Nick Smith.  

The study, conducted by professional services consultancy firm Living Group, was particularly complimentary of King & Wood Mallesons, which it described as “head and shoulders above some of the much larger international law firms.”

Rankings below: