Social Media

Which influential investors should diligent equity investors follow? Should you be following anybody?

Yesterday the Value Investing Challenge, a partnership between the Value Investing Congress and SumZero, announced the three finalists for its inaugural investment idea contest, from which a winner will be announced at the 8th Annual New York Value Investing Congress, to be held October 1–2, 2012 in New York City. The winner will also be asked to present at the conference, which will also feature presentations by headliners David Einhorn and Bill Ackman.

While some governments have provided guidance to the investment industry about the use of social media, many countries have yet to issued regulations. Regardless of what local bodies dictate, the CFA Code of Ethics and Standards of Professional Conduct provides an excellent framework for investment professionals to consider when representing themselves or their businesses online.

Miriam Salpeter, author of Social Networking for Career Success, explains the importance of social media as a channel to enhance your professional reputation and to become known as a thought leader in your field. She offers practical advice and instruction on how to leverage specific functionality that can help you brand and differentiate yourself.

While the adoption of social media among wealth management firms is “at early stages,” according to a recent report, it is a communication channel that “financial institutions can no longer ignore.”

Not all professional networks are created equal. But they can be shaped to improve leadership and analyzed for investment insights, says Northwestern University's Brian Uzzi.

Twitter is an excellent resource for investors wanting to understand information and improve investment returns.

Have you ever wondered why some tweets are valued more than others? (Think of the people you’ve followed, or “unfollowed,” in recent months and why.) Well, the wait is over. A new study, “Who Gives a Tweet? Evaluating Microblog Content Value,” provides some answers.

Large sample studies of buy-side investment recommendations have been virtually impossible to execute due to a lack of data. But a new research paper relies on a novel data set compiled by the private social networking website SumZero to show that buy-side stock picks influence asset prices by bringing new information to the marketplace. The authors also find evidence of “wealth transfers” flowing from the broader institutional marketplace to the investment firms represented on SumZero.