Social media technologies have been having a major disruptive impact on the finance industry over the past few years. This has been evidenced by events such as the ‘hack crash’, in which a hoax tweet emerging from the Associated Press claiming that there had been an explosion at the White House sent markets into a tailspin. At the same time, the world of online trading has been turned upside down by the emergence of social trading platforms such as eToro and Zulutrade, and even high-end traders using Bloomberg terminals can now make use of social media feeds and analytics tools to help inform their trades.
The world of investing has always been a little more slow-paced than that of the trading world, catering to those who take a long-term view of the markets and only occasionally tweak their portfolios. Therefore, it is natural that private investors have been slower to adopt social media than day traders and retail traders, but it seems as though that moment has now arrived. Having been perhaps overly reliant on the advice of financial journalists and advisers up to this point, a new democratisation of investing advice appears to be taking place via social media, with the opinions of top investors now being much more accessible, and new mechanisms for building up credibility and trust emerging to give investors a platform for spreading their investment ideas with a wider public.
Up until now, there hasn’t been anything like a definitive guide to this new phenomenon, but this seems all set to change with the publication of the fist part of Black Swan Partners’ guide to social investing, which can be viewed in full via the Slideshare seen below.
Social Investing, that can be also known as sustainable, socially conscious, “green” or ethical investing, is any investment strategy which seeks to consider both financial return and social good. According to Black Swan’s Partners Guide though, Social Investing is anything that allows clients to see other clients, communicate with each other, or view and copy investments. Social Investing is not to be confused with social trading, which is something completely different. Over this guide you will get an introduction to Social Investing.
Black Swan Partners have more than 40 years of collective experience in the retail derivatives, FX and exchange sector. Experts in Social Investing, the focus of Black Swan Partners is new ventures and emerging trends in retail derivatives including CFDs and FX. Supported by experience in research, technology and business and regulatory services, the aim of this company is to help companies profit from emerging trends.
I am a writer based in London, specialising in finance, trading, investment, and forex. Aside from the articles and content I write for IntelligentHQ, I also write for euroinvestor.com, and I have also written educational trading and investment guides for various websites including tradingquarter.com. Before specialising in finance, I worked as a writer for various digital marketing firms, specialising in online SEO-friendly content. I grew up in Aberdeen, Scotland, and I have an MA in English Literature from the University of Glasgow and I am a lead musician in a band. You can find me on twitter @pmilne100.
