2. INTRODUCTION
This research represents state-of-play analysis of the most influential conversations about
investments on the social web.
The social network analysis was sponsored by MindfulMoney.co.uk as part of our ongoing initiative to help facilitate a more
mindful and social conversation about investments by embracing new and unconventional voices, channels and views.
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3. TABLE OF CONTENTS
Background to the research .....................................................................................................................4
Methodology & Research Objectives.......................................................................................................5
Key findings...............................................................................................................................................6
Learning points for key audiences:
IFAs, corporate, UK Govt and regulators, Media & Mindfulmoney.co.uk.................................................7
Future Phases of Research.......................................................................................................................8
Network Map & Profiles: The Top 20 ......................................................................................................9-50
How to read the map ................................................................................................................................10
About MindfulMoney..................................................................................................................................51-52
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4. The view from the UK
In the UK the reach and influence of socially networked
conversation was found to be equally pervasive with 43 per
cent of people having bought financial services as a result of a
recommendation via social networking friends.
Furthermore, the UK-based study found that, amongst a range
of other products and services recommended by friends on
social networks, financial services were the most trusted
referral, leading to the most frequent purchases with 43 per
cent of referrals leading to financial services purchases
compared with clothing (26%) and car hire (25 %).
While the reports highlighted the centrality of the social web to
investment-related influence and decision-making they
focussed mainly on friend and family networks typically with no
more than 150 members.
But commentators and researchers such as Malcolm Gladwell
and Jakob Nielsen have argued that socially networked
conversations are driven by the law of the few and all voices
are not equal.
MindfulMoney set out to discover if their claims were valid.
Could we identify super-connected influential's who influenced
friend and family-
Could Gladwell
investment-related conversations on the social web?
Background to the research
During 2010 the findings of two influential reports
demonstrated unequivocally the importance of the web
and the US.
The view from the US
In the US financial websites, blogs and friends on
social networks were found to be the top influences on
individual investors, especially amongst so-called
more heavily influenced by family, friends and work
colleagues than are older investors. (Harris interactive
2010)
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5. Methodology & Research Objectives
The impetus for this research was provided by Josh Brown aka
The Reformed Broker (recently dubbed by the NYT as the
snark
advisors take on current market events, heavily laced with
sarcasm and mordant irony.
His periodic table of top blogs and bloggers was the starting point
finance space.
clue to how he thinks but this set us thinking about how we might
preference, no matter how fascinating and insightful such
preferences happen to be.
The purpose of this network map is to provide a visualization tool
in order to better understand the relationships between financial
bloggers and the mainstream media, and to allow readers to get a
players are and who links to whom.
The resulting cartographic landscape was created using co-link analysis
software, which from a starting point of 25 bloggers generated a map
which includes 84 separate sites.
In producing this network map we were not necessarily interested in
establishing a hierarchy amongst blogs (although this was one output of
the research) but more in understanding their relationships with each
other, and specifically, how they relate to the mainstream media.
Research objectives
Do super-connecters really exist?
If so, what accounts for their extraordinary reach and influence?
Who are they and where (geographically, professionally,
psychologically) are they coming from?
Are the super-connectors themselves connected to one another?
Are they functioning as individuals or do they constitute an executive
level social web all of their own?
The UK is a leading financial centre, is it a leader in the financial
conversation?
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6. established media players (the Economist and FT)
mainstream media nor the city.
The collective intelligence displayed by the network has proven its
anticipatory sense-making capacity and has demonstrated predictive
capability in relations to the market in both the short and the long term
The network covers the issues in depth in a way that the mainstream
and picking apart complex cause-effect relationships.
The network has been credited with helping investors respond more
mindfully to market developments than coverage by the mainstream
media and trades.
Key Findings
The research confirms the existence of a network of investment super-
connectors with extraordinary media influence and reach
These super-
established voices in the media but individual bloggers who fiercely
champion their independence.
However, these individuals operate as a connected network, influencing
one another as they debate and discuss key topics, issues and themes.
The network has both influence (links to the mainstream media,
government, thought leaders) and reach (38million) however the
mainstream media is not at the heart of the network where the most
influential super-connectors are located.
The top 20 network is international with a strong US>UK bias
The network is heavily weighted toward the US (10% UK/90%US)
In the US, the network functions as the unofficial voice of Wall Street & the
US federal bank with no mainstream media players at the centre of the
network
"Financial blogs have covered the events leading up to the credit
crisis much better than mainstream media. Thanks to them, I
have made good money from the crisis!"
Björn A Jörgensen. Private investor
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7. Corporations
conversations on the social web can provide insights into how to frame
communications in such a way that they resonate with the current
IFAs
opportunity to make new connections.
reverse the decreasing influence of financial advisors on the social web.
between friends on social networks can enable IFAs to become strategically
important to investor relations professionals.
Learning points for key audiences
INVESTORS
Investors can usefully glean news and data from mainstream
-depth,
consistent expert coverage as well as covering stories before they
break in mainstream media.
Some investors credit the social web with an anticipatory function
which has offered them novel investment opportunities
Mainstream media
technical knowledge and offer an
alternative source of non-mainstream viewpoints.
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8. Future phases of research
future releases we will be data-mining the map to shed light on single
issues, creating alternative maps with different starting points and
probing deeper into some of the questions and issues brought to light by
Questions we will be exploring in future research releases and news
stories on the MindfulMoney.co.uk website include:
Why such a disparity between the UK and the US investment
blogosphere?
Is the blogosphere a better guide to investing than the mainstream
media commentators?
Can the investment blogosphere help to alert us to early signals of
another financial crisis?
How should established institutions, ordinary investors and IFAs relate to
the unofficial voice of finance?
What is the appropriate role of regulators to the burgeoning
blogosphere and what role could the network play in TCF
initiatives?
What are the risks of increasing levels of correlation (or
groupthink) and contagion across social networks as ordinary
Trust is migrating from established intermediaries, advisors and
maverick voices to be trusted?
Where are the controls, the rules, the norms in an era when
everything is up for grabs?
If you would like to receive social finance research updates
let us know.
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9. Network Map & Profiles: The Top 20 Financial Blogs
1. Naked capitalism
2. Infectious Greed
3. The Big Picture
4.
5. Zero Hedge
6.
7. Calculated Risk
8.
9. FT Alphaville
10. Ludvig von Misses Institute
11. The Market Trader
12. WSJ Blogs
13. The Epicurean Dealmaker
14. Credit Writedowns
15. Dealbreaker
16. China Financial Markets
17. Max Keiser
18. Angry Bear
19. The Economist
20. Jr. Deputy Accountant
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10. HOW TO READ THE MAP
WHAT ARE THE NODES ON THE NETWORK?
The map shows the top 20 blogs in the context of a wider network which
comprises 50 sites in total.
WHAT DO THE COLOURS MEAN?
Blue nodes are dot.coms, green nodes are dot.orgs and red nodes are
dot.govs and the links between them show relationships between
commercial, not for profit and governmental organisations.
HOW IS THE SIZE OF THE NODES IN THE NETWORK MEASURED?
The size of the nodes is drawn by the in-degree count.
BY WHAT MEASURE ARE THE CLUSTER MAPS GENERATED?
Maps are generated on the basis of in-degree centrality.
-DEGREE CENTRALITY?
In-degree centrality: An actor who receives many ties are characterized
as prominent. The basic idea is that many actors seek to direct ties to
them and so this may be regarded as a measure of importance.
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11. Profile
-
Naked
Capitalism is one of the most highly regarded and
highly read financial blogs you can find.
You should check out: her nonsense
be taken
1. NAKED CAPITALISM
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13. 13
2. INFECTIOUS GREED
investor, speaker, writer, media guy, and entrepreneur. In
his spare time he is a dangerous Twitterer,
columnist/contributor for Bloomberg Media (formerly for
CNBC), and the editor of Infectious Greed, one of the most
You should check out: Thought provoking articles like
Profile
15. 15
3. THE BIG PICTURE
When Nouriel Roubini
with a knack for seeing through the statistical fog of
You should check out: The entire site, but the Macro
notes are great:
Profile
17. 17
A reflective take on market coverage, with quite a lot of
charts and vintage posters. An antidote to the break neck
real time financial news.
Check out: His daily charts.
Profile
25. 25
Nobel Prize winning economist blogs at the New York
especially charts and tables, which are crucial to the way I
Krugman)
Check out: His rows with other economists and
newspapers gunna haul out the next guy who calls
8. KRUGMANS BLOG
Profile
27. 27
An influential and widely read blog which has been touted
average, good news on FT Alphaville is associated with 1-
week ahead outperformance. Conversely, on average, bad
news for a company on FT Alphaville is associated with 1-
week ahead under-performance. The same effect is not
evident in our database as a whole, indicating that there is
Check out: Market Live, a daily real time discussion of the
market.
9. FT ALPHAVILLE
Profile
29. 29
The Ludwig von Mises Institute is the research and
educational centre of classical liberalism and the Austrian
School of economics. Its mission is to promote the tradition
of thought represented by Ludwig von mises. The Wall
Street Journal covered the institute in a piece
10. LUDWIG VON MISES INSTITUE
Profile
31. 31
The Market Ticker is written by Karl Denninger, who
received the Reed Irvine Accuracy In Media Award for
Grassroots Journalism for his coverage of the 2008 market
meltdown. This is why one reader follows his blog:
and read an article.
11. THE MARKET TICKER
Profile
33. 33
A wide ranging selection of blogs from Wall Street Journal
editors and reporters who provide real-time news and
analysis around the clock, with contributions from outside
experts.
12. WSJ BLOGS
Profile
37. 37
14. CREDIT WRITEDOWNS
A news and opinion site dedicated to bringing a well-
informed view of finance, economics, markets, and foreign
policy into the mainstream consciousness.
Contributors include Marc Chandler, former chief currency
strategist for HSBC and Marshall Auerback, economic
consultant to PIMCO.
Profile
39. 39
15. DEALBREAKER
DealBreaker is an online business tabloid and Wall Street
gossip site that covers the personalities and culture that
shape the financial industry, offering original commentary,
news and entertainment.
Profile
43. 43
17. MAX KEISER
Max Keiser is a film-maker, broadcaster and former broker
and options trader. His site is heavily critical of the finance
industry, with articles published in the Guardian entitled
Profile
45. 45
18. ANGRY BEAR
One of
a dozen professionals, including a tax law expert, a
historian, PhDs in economics, consultants and financial
professionals provide perspectives on the financial
world. Despite their expansive coverage of economic
issues, their articles are as deep as their coverage is
extensive. Topics include world trade, industrial
production, U.S. Government programs, and major
regulatory
Profile
49. 49
20. JR. DEPUTY ACCOUNTANT
Cited by blogs from FT Alphaville to The Reformed Broker,
JDA writes predominantly about the FED. This is how she
describes herself and gives you a flavour of what to
expect.
accidental Fed savant hiding out somewhere in San
Francisco since 1999. I can't tell you why I understand
what the Fed is saying 97% of the time, nor why I nerd out
on Fed banks (except this one) but I do and you get to
Profile
51. What's a knowledge network?
Knowledge about investing - why, how, where and when to invest - is
currently the privilege of a few. Mindful Money's knowledge network is
about sharing the knowledge and information of those in the know with
those who aren't - yet
We will be calling on some of the smartest minds, both inside and
outside the industry, to help clarify, decode and demystify the
investment scene.
So, in a nutshell, we're about knowledge, we're about news, we're
about community and we're a bridge between the professionals and
every other type of investor.
What's mindful about Mindful Money?
Mindfulness is about making the links that others don't, paying
attention to history and voices from outside the industry, making the
effort to speak in ordinary language, taking the long view, paying
attention to contrarian insiders and keeping an eye out for black
swans.
We're taking a stand against fads, groupthink, short-termism, scape-
goating, media bias and FS jargon. A final thing about Mindful Money
- we're not about advice - there's enough of that to go around.
Welcome to Mindful Money. www.mindfulmoney.co.uk
About Mindful Money
Mindful Money is a social news and knowledge network for the investment
community and it's published by the Social Business Group.
What is social news?
Mindful Money's social news is editorial content that mirrors the viewpoints,
interests and conversations of the online investment community.
It's editorial that's focused more on you and your interests and the things
that matter to you. And less on the comings and goings of fund managers,
irrelevant product launches, banal industry awards and so on - unless of
course we know they are important to you.
When it comes to Mindful Money, we look for new triggers for headline-
breaking topics, the 'story behind the story' and new frames for investment
news.
Mindful Money also aims to help investors actually solve problems; whether
that's through access to information or unconventional points of view.
In that respect it's a little bit like citizen journalism, but with an investment
focus.
So, as well as adding value to the stories and issues you're discussing
wherever we can we'll provide you with resources (step-by-step guides,
videos, background stories) and links to others who are covering the same
topics.
Mindful Money is sponsored by the following Asset Managers
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52. Contact Details:
Stewart Conway Managing Director, The Social Business Group, Centro 3, 19 Mandela
Street, London NW1 0DU
Email: Stewart.conway@socialbusinessgroup.com
All Work in this document remains the copyright of the Social Business Group as of 2011,
publishers of MindfulMoney.co.uk
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