The New York Stock Exchange and Social Networking Sites
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10000872396390443328404578022751557164848.html (look the article up on Google to access the full article)
A recent article on the Wall Street Journal discusses how the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) is turning to social networking sites as it adjusts methods for locating buyers and sellers to close daily trading in their stocks. It mentions that the NYSE will use Facebook and Twitter in finding investors to set closing stock prices whenever e-mail fails, which has recently happened. A large disparity of “buy” vs. “sell” orders may cause a closing stock price to be higher or lower than its final trading level. Traders were notified that if e-mail alerts fail again, then the NYSE would use social networking sites to ask for orders of addressing buy-and-sell imbalances. This is interesting; we do not normally associate social networking with dealing with important large-scale work or business. Also, the results will be exciting to see.
The article connects to the topic of markets and trading with intermediaries. Social networking sites, especially Facebook and Twitter, are starting to serve as intermediaries for the NYSE, consisting of sellers and buyers who do not directly interact with each other. These sites assist people in developing networks and spreading information on a timely basis. Stock companies themselves are also intermediaries for sellers and buyers; they provide a platform for trading where prices for stocks are set. Traders exist here in order to efficiently get orders across among sellers and buyers. As the popularity of social networking sites is increasing, it seems effective to promote stock exchanges through this form of media. The article suggests that social networks are rapidly becoming more global and powerful and that they are beginning to play larger roles in society, such as the stock market. Therefore, it is not surprising that they will expand to other stock exchanges, starting from the NYSE, and then to other areas.
-bluebear