Recently, a London based investment manager stated that social media plays an important part in investment decisions. They plan to launch a fund entirely dedicated to using Twitter to aid in the making of investment decisions. Managed by Derwent Capital Markets, the fund has become known as ‘The Twitter Hedge Fund’ among some top Wall Street insiders. The launch has been consistently delayed, but news reports suggest there has been around $100 million invested in the fund already.
The interest in using social networks for investment purposes is wide reaching throughout financial markets across the globe. However, the actual investors looking to capitalise on the tangible trend data that sites like Twitter produce aren’t your typical city suit wearing gents. Instead, they’re complex algorithms run by computers that generate data and literally buy and sell financial commodities like stocks, options and currency.
These computers need content in order to work properly- and social networks provide an excellent region-specific overview of what people are doing and wanting at any given time. Trending topics on websites like Twitter and patterns revealed in Facebook news feeds can be collated to give very specific information on the various demographics using the sites. Various estimates put the percentage of all trading in financial markets done by computers at between 46 and 73- an almighty number. The stock market quickly approaches autonomy. Is this a good thing? Let us know in the comment thread.
