In the U.S., Facebook accounts for nearly half of time spent on the Internet. But a few areas still are not getting traction — especially in regulated industries.
Look at financial services. While Facebook certainly would be a great marketing vehicle — as well as a way to keep in touch with clients — it has made many financial executives nervous (this is according to a piece by Reuters). The fact is the regulations on social media are fairly arcane, many enacted before the Internet became mainstream.
Even current rulings are fairly constraining. For example, the Securities and Exchange Commission recently set forth new requirements for Facebook and LinkedIn (NYSE:LNKD). The big concern? Third-party comments. That is, what if someone comes to a financial adviser’s Facebook page and presses the “Like” button? Is this a testimonial? Perhaps.
It can get fairly complicated. But it’s an opportunity for software companies that provide compliance solutions. Companies like Actiance already are building new products to serve the market, helping with things like content monitoring, security and analytics to make sure financial advisers stay out of trouble. So in time, financial advisers can have a few more “friends.”
Tom Taulli runs the InvestorPlace blog IPO Playbook, a site dedicated to the hottest news and rumors about initial public offerings. He also is the author of “All About Short Selling” and “All About Commodities.” Follow him on Twitter at @ttaulli. As of this writing, he did not own a position in any of the aforementioned securities.
A long-time follower of the IPO scene, back in 1999 Tom started one of the first sites in the space called WebIPO. It was a place where investors got research as well as access to deals for the dot-com boom. Tom also wrote the top-selling book, Investing in IPOs. In it, he covers all the aspects of analyzing an IPO, such as reading the prospectus, detecting the risk factors and understanding some of the arcane regulations. But don’t worry — if that process is too intimidating for you, thankfully Tom will do the legwork for you right here in the IPO Playbook blog.
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