If you enjoy investing in stocks and other types of assets, you might be looking for a community of other investors. While some investors prefer working on their own, others enjoy the camaraderie of working together to research and recommend deals. For this very reason, there are a variety of social networks, forums, and sites that cater to investors.
On these sites, you’ll discover recommendations for specific stocks, sectors, and other investments. While reading opinions online is hardly a replacement for your full due diligence, the information on these sites can serve as a good starting point as you consider your investing strategy.
There Are Many Ways To Invest
There are many different types of assets you can invest in. Even if you narrow it down to only stock investing, there are still myriad strategies to consider.
When you first start out investing, you may consider a simpler strategy, like investing in index funds. As you gain more experience and confidence, you may then explore other ways to invest.
There isn’t a single, best way to invest—instead, you can partake in different investment strategies as a way to diversify your investments.
Social Networks For Investors
If you are looking for a social network for investors, here are a few options to consider:
Stocktwits
Stocktwits is a very active network and allows you to get tons of information that you can further sort by people, watchlists, suggested, charts, and trending, allowing you to more easily digest the large volume of available information.
Stocktwits is one of the oldest social networks for investors, launching in 2008. This means the platform has withstood the test of time and has a large following.
The platform integrates with Twitter so you can receive posts from people posting on Twitter and to Stocktwits.
Side Note: On Twitter, you can search for stock symbols by putting the "$" in front of the ticket symbol. For example, $TGT will pull up people taking about Target stock.
Target, $TGT, Chief Financial Officer Michael Fiddelke said shoplifting has jumped about 50% year over and year, leading to more than $400 million in losses in this fiscal year alone.
— unusual_whales (@unusual_whales) December 11, 2022
Finary
Finary is a group chat site that allows you to collaborate and chat with other investors. Finary has tools so you can easily share charts and other investing information.
In addition to some of the standard channels that are available with Finary, you can also have private and group messages with other users. That can be a good source of information for potential investments, though you'll want to make sure to perform your own due diligence.
Read our full Finary review here.
Bogleheads Forum
Unlike some of the other social networks, the Bogleheads Forum is more of an old-school Internet forum. Most of the members in the Bogleheads forum state that they are inspired by the legendary investor Jack Bogle.
The forum is subdivided into several different categories, allowing you to get the information you're looking for. There is also a large Bogleheads wiki, with information categorized for U.S., Canadian and international investors.
Investing Social Networks VS. Traditional Tools
If you’re wondering how investing social networks compare to traditional, investment advice tools like Morningstar or the Motley Fool Advisor, social networks don’t have a group of expert advisors who provide recommendations. Social networks are free to use but may offer a premium, paid option to unlock more features.
As you can see in the table below, The Motley Fool and Morningstar come with a yearly subscription cost.
Instead, social networks facilitate investment information sharing with the idea that users will be able to glean some solid advice and recommendations along the way.
Header |  |  |
|---|---|---|
Rating | ||
Membership Fee | $99/yr | $199/yr |
Stock Picks? | Yes | Yes |
Research Tools | Yes | Yes |
Promotions | $100 Off | 14-Day Free Trial |
Cell |
Depending on how much you trust the wisdom of crowds vs. "expert" advisors, you may or may not use social networks. If anything, you can see what’s out there, but always take it with a grain of salt. It's important to do your own research before investing your money in any type of stock or other asset.
Putting Your Investments On Autopilot
While many investors enjoy the social aspect of investing along with making money, others prefer to just put their investments on autopilot.
One of the benefits of investing is the ability to grow wealth over time, and you don't necessarily need to involve other people in that if you don't want to.
Investing in a broad basket of stocks like the S&P 500 via an index fund is a perfectly viable way to invest, and one that many investors have used to great success.
Are Social Networks For You?
Investing and trading can sometimes feel uncertain and even lonely. If you want to interact with other investors, social networks offer lots of opportunities.
You can discuss openly with others on the network or share individual or group messages to keep your conversations private. Social investment networks provide a way to potentially learn about what’s trending, discover tips and share information with fellow investors.
Just remember to always do your own research and due diligence before committing your money to a new stock or investment.
Robert Farrington is America’s Millennial Money Expert® and America’s Student Loan Debt Expert™, and the founder of The College Investor, a personal finance site dedicated to helping millennials escape student loan debt to start investing and building wealth for the future. You can learn more about him on the About Page, or on his personal site RobertFarrington.com.
He regularly writes about investing, student loan debt, and general personal finance topics geared towards anyone wanting to earn more, get out of debt, and start building wealth for the future.
He has been quoted in major publications including the New York Times, Washington Post, Fox, ABC, NBC, and more. He is also a regular contributor to Forbes.
Editor: Claire Tak