Investment Bloggers as Emerging Financial Analysts: What do these social media platforms mean for your company?

Traditionally, information about publicly traded firms has been disseminated through analyst forecasts, news media, and corporate announcements, but now this information is being reported to an attentive portion of the investing population by bloggers. Information is more readily available now than ever, and consumers have taken personal control of many services that were previously relegated to expert service providers. Financial blogs1 are a growing area of social media and provide an online venue where bloggers write about current news and information, and provide stock analysis and recommendations. These social media platforms allow investors to effortlessly gain access to a variety of investment information. They are now established as a “new media” which represents a key component of a firm’s information environment. Who are the participants in these investment information forums and where are these blogs located? What is the impact of social media investment blogging on investors, firms and capital markets? We highlight several studies that address these questions and we also share the results of our own sample of financial blog posts regarding what factors make a blogger popular. We provide a comprehensive overview of financial blogs which would be useful to both investors and firm management.