February 23, 2023
By
Maxwell Nicholson

Social Media and Investing - Do They Mix?

Social Media and Investing - Do They Mix?

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Until recently, investing was a very solo affair - with most people talking about their finances only with their financial advisor and close family - but that’s changing quickly. A study by Finimize found that nearly 64% of investors under 30 discuss their investments with friends and are 3x more likely to go to friends or social media for input about their investments than financial advisors.

The infamous history of social media and investing

When you think about social media and investing, the first thing that probably comes to mind is WallStreetBets and GameStop, and no wonder, the now infamous ‘short-squeeze’ was covered by nearly every major news channel and even has its own 3-part Netflix mini-series documenting the saga.

While entertaining, the events don’t exactly paint your everyday investor in the best light, with many of those interviewed in the Netflix documentary referring to themselves as “degenerates” or “dumb apes” - labels that come directly from WallStreetBets.

3 Redditors interviewed in Eat the Rich: The GameStop Saga

When this is the prevailing attitude of the biggest investing community on the internet, it’s easy to think that social investing isn’t for you - but new platforms are emerging that seek to use the power of social media to help everyday investors become smarter together, rather than promoting ‘yolo’ trading and risky option plays.

The future of "social investing"

In the US, the platform leading the charge is Public, a social investing app that doubles as both a brokerage and a social community. The app has been a smash hit, growing to over 1M users and being listed as one of the top 50 most innovative Fintech companies in 2022 by Forbes.

The problem is, in Canada, we don’t have anything like it - until now. About two years ago, three Vancouver entrepreneurs started building Blossom - a social platform where investors can share their portfolios, trades, and insights with friends and other Canadians. Now the community is over 4,000 strong including many well-known Canadian investors like Brandon Beavis and Robin Haney.

Unlike Reddit, where everyone is anonymous, on Blossom, a user's profile not only shows their names and faces but also displays a pie chart of their portfolio (% only, no dollar amounts), verified by their brokerage account. When you follow someone, you can see when they make a new investment along with their rationale. Blossom currently links to Wealthsimple, Questrade, and IBKR, and is working hard to support more brokerages.

Screenshot of Blossom app showcasing Brandon Beavis’ profile

Maxwell, the CEO, mentions that Blossom is focused on building a transparent community that helps Canadians become smarter investors, and are continuing to build features to ensure the most credible voices are amplified.

While currently Blossom links to other brokerages, they are working to become a full-service brokerage where users can buy/sell stocks directly in the app and recently raised nearly $1M from prestigious investors to achieve just that.

If you want to join the community, Blossom is free to download on the App Store and Google Play.

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The above content provided by Blossom Social Inc. and is for general informational purposes only. It is not intended to constitute investment advice or any other kind of professional advice and should not be relied upon as such. Before taking action based on any such information, we encourage you to consult with the appropriate professionals. We do not endorse any third parties referenced within the article. Market and economic views are subject to change without notice and may be untimely when presented here. Do not infer or assume that any securities, sectors or markets described in this article were or will be profitable. Past performance is no guarantee of future results. There is a possibility of loss. Historical or hypothetical performance results are presented for illustrative purposes only.