Social media has taken the internet by storm. Unless you live under a rock, almost everyone is a member of a social media page. People around the world have joined and use social media for instantaneous communication. Going viral, a message can promote a particular situation all the way to a complete revolution. While social media started out as an individual mode, businesses have recognized the marketing value and have signed up. So how reliable is social media when you are thinking about investing in no load funds?
The first thing you have to remember about a business social media page is that the purpose is completely different from an individual’s page. While a person might join to find and communicate with people they know, they will invite their fellow members to be ‘friends’. A business has a market focus to get their message out. They invite people to ‘like’ them. Those that accept end up with the marketing news on their social media page and eventually, everyone that are their ‘friends’ also have that marketing message. It’s an easy and free method to extend a viral invitation for a sale, information or an event.
The general public uses social media to offer immediacy in opinions. If a company does poorly, that message will be shared in nano-seconds and the message will get out. Social media pages are now a platform for all kinds of businesses, including investment organizations. Opinions, feedback and opportunities abound on the social media pages. Companies are using their social media pages for press releases, investment information and guidelines. Some of these have generated situations where a little known investment has sky rocketed almost over night. It has also had the down side of bad news spreading to bring a company or investment to its knees.
A key topic to remember is that not all information on social media pages is either accurate or correct. Do a search on your social media site to get as much of the story as possible. Do additional internet searches to confirm the data. The social media pages are just one of the many resources you should be using for any investment opportunity, but specifically no load fund investments. Since no load funds are usually considered higher risk, follow up any information you find on the social media pages with research on some of the top investment organizations. These companies focus on the data only, and are not swayed by the kind of influences one finds on social media pages.
So the answer is yes, use social media pages as one of the sources of information, but use it sparingly. Social media is, exactly as it sounds: social. Input on social media pages can contain hidden agendas, mis-information and topics that should be questioned. You can get alternative views and feedback, but, when you are talking about your investment dollars you should consider many other, more reliable sources as well. Social media pages are a springboard only.
