In the markets knowledge and numbers are power. And in the modern world of Web 2.0 the opportunities available to traders and investors through the interconnectedness of the Internet has meant that information is even more accessible for those wanting to get ahead.
The astronomic rise of social media in the past few years has drastically altered the way people communicate and share information. Its unsurprising, therefore, that with the development of social media and communication tools there has been a keen demand from investors for websites designed to allow for the easy dialogue about and transfer of information, advice and ideas.
Analysts have taken to Twitter to bring clients up to the minute news of the markets as and when it breaks, there is no doubt that the explosion of Twitter on the world has taken the lead in using the power of social media to have an impact on how professional and retail investors evaluate how the market will react.
However, Twitter’s biggest asset is also its downfall. Shear volumes of data, information and users mean that often valuable insight or statistics are lost, buried deep within the vast quantity of unqualified opinion and nonsense. You can follow individuals who you believe convey information of value and that which you can trust, but the ability to track topics of conversation or debate concerning individual stocks or commodities is far less comprehensive. It is also more difficult to involve yourself in a forum-style sharing of ideas via Twitter, as you can never be sure whether your posts are being read or not.
A social media platform that takes all the best features from Twitter but solves some of its issues is StockTwits (www.stocktwits.com).
Styled like Twitter but with specific individual features, StockTwits is a communications platform focused specifically for the financial and investing community. Using a hash tag based $TICKER system (e.g $GOOG for Google, $AAPL for Apple) investors can follow streams of specifically targeted information provided by 150,000 investors, professionals, analysts and media outlets.
Links, charts and other important financial data can also be found at StockTwits, as well as streams of 140 characters (specifically designed for easy of reposting to Twitter) containing tips and information of stocks and equities.
The $TICKER system makes it easy for investors to follow both individual stock information and particular contributors on both stocktwits.com and the many sites that integrate the StockTwits system into their own financial site, including Yahoo! Finance, CNNMoney, Reuters, TheStreet.com and Bing.com.
Contributors can also use the StockTwits system to post information across a variety of other social media platforms including Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn, meaning that subscribers can transmit one piece of information from StockTwits to their entire social media network.
Content is also strictly monitored, meaning that all StockTwits posts contain only financial and investing information. All SPAM and irrelevant posts are filtered out, keeping all streams valuable and on topic. This is one of the major differences, and a huge advantage, StockTwits has over Twitter.
Another new and exciting feature of StockWits is Conversations, which launched this month. Designed to stem an overloading of information ($AAPL is tagged approximately 110 times per minute) Conversations allows a StockTwits user to start a “conversation” about any piece of content in the service. A single URL allows members to read through an entire thread, allowing contributors to focus their thoughts and comments or a more specific topic.
Getting started on StockTwits is easy. Anyone can follow the conversations and streams on stocktwits.com, and creating a free account will allow you to customise your interaction with the website by following individuals and ideas, as well as starting conversations and contributing ideas and information with the community of investors.
StockTwits is also focusing on developing a mobile app to make up to the minute market information even more accessible to investors.
So for those using social media to get ahead in the investment industry, www.stocktwits.com is one of the most vital tools on the internet.
The post Investing with Social Media: Stocktwits.com appeared first on Intelligent Head Quarters.