Can You Use Social Media to Help Deal in Stocks and Shares?

Can You Use Social Media to Help Deal in Stocks and Shares?

The world has changed dramatically over the course of the last decade, as the pace of technological innovation continues to gather momentum. This has begun to impact on every industry and job market, even those that have been in existence for generations.

Take the financial marketplace, for example, which has continued to evolve considerably over the course of the last three decades and embraced a number of new technologies. This even includes social media, with channels such as Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn increasingly influential in dictating trends.

How various social channels can help to drive, test and inform your trades

With an estimated five million investors now leveraging social media in the U.S and Canada alone, this trend is one that will become increasingly commonplace in the future. The key is to leverage to the unique attributes that define each social channel, using these to gather data and make informed decisions.

With this in mind, let’s take a look at how sites such as Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn can help to underpin your individual investments and portfolio as a whole:

Capitalise on the real-time news feeds of Twitter

Timing is everything in the financial market, whether you are a currency trades or like to try your hand at share dealing. This is why online brokerage firms and automated trading programs have become so popular in the modern age, as they are capable of facilitating live orders that are based on real-time trends.

This is where the micro-blogging platform Twitter can also enter the fray, as this resource is now arguably the biggest curator of real-time and breaking news stories from around the globe. By following trending topics and subscribing to industry-relevant Twitter accounts and feeds, you can react to breaking news stories ahead of the curve and use these to shape your investment decisions.

Gauge Public Opinion and Sentiment through Facebook

An estimated 81% of customers now head online to research products before making a sale, with Facebook one of the most popular resources. The same principle can be applied to financial market trading, with research suggesting that approximately 99.95% of stock price movements can be at least partially explained by fluctuating sentiment levels on Facebook.

This earmarks Facebook as a wonderful gauge of market sentiment, across a range of entities including products, brands and company shares. By monitoring carefully chosen companies, reviewing their reputation and analysing the interaction that they have with their customers, you can identify breaking market trends and adapt your portfolio accordingly.

Leverage LinkedIn for Industry Insight

While LinkedIn may have faced a media storm after certain accounts were hacked recently, this professional networking outlet offers considerable information and insight to investors. This is certainly borne out by statistics, with 73% of investors using LinkedIn to research their trades and inform their decisions.

This is a dramatically higher rate than any other social media channel, while the professional nature of LinkedIn and its range of commercial networks offer genuine insight into specific industry trends. LinkedIn offers investors an opportunity to connect with experts and interact on a personal level, guaranteeing the quality of the information on which you base your decisions.