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"The Human Ticker": StockTwits and the Power of Social Leverage

Posted Aug 26, 2009 04:13pm EDT by Aaron Task in Investing, Networking and Communication, Information Technology
Related: NDAQ, NYX, CME, ^dji, ^IXIC
It's fashionable these days to criticize social networking sites for their inability to connect with teens (NYT on Twitter), potential to ruin friendships (WSJ on Facebook) and lack of profitability (all).

But beneath the surface - in this case on top of Twitter's platform - some entrepreneurs are seeking to turn the power of social networking into actual businesses.

Take, for example, StockTwits.com, which bills itself as "Bloomberg for the little guy and gal."

After just seven months, StockTwits.com has 90,000 users and over 1000 unique contributors sharing ideas about stocks and the economy in a community built on Twitter's open software architecture.

Unlike the "computer generated" tickers at the bottom of CNBC or Bloomberg TV, StockTwits is "the human ticker," says co-founder Howard Lindzon.

As with other financial networking sites, StockTwits is based on the idea contributors who prove themselves savvy traders will gain followers. In turn the "networking effect makes [top members] more inclined to contribute more, which makes the community smarter," says Lindzon, a VC investor and partner at Knight's Bridge Capital.

Lindzon joined me from the Nasdaq, which has partnered with StockTwits.com for its "Data Junkies" campaign.

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