Stock Markets wake up to Bloginvesting

Emerging Trends

It is now evident that the stock market has awaken to the realization that bloggers especially those inclined to comment on the financial markets have a great impact on the activities at any given bourse both in the emerging markets and the developed world.

More and more companies are entering the world of blogging, but why do they do it - what are the benefits?The internet is evolving, and so is the blogging phenomenon. Today we don’t only see the well-known personal weblogs, the blogging community has evolved to be a more topic-based system. When we look around, we will soon discover that most personal blogs have started focusing on a few topics - design, art, welfare, history, religion, movies etc and in our case financial markets and more specifically the capital markets of Africa and beyond.

Bloggers and Blogosphere

These are people who continue to churn out millions of pages of information every day as they endeavor to critically look at the various issues in the current world from politics to business, from social issues to environment from entreprenership to corporate deals and and from innovations to educational materials. Al strive to publish their blogs albeit with different levels of candorBlogosphere is a collective term encompassing all blogs and their interconnections. It is the perception that blogs exist together as a connected community or as a collection of communities or a social network.

Blogs and Investing

Market gossips on the internet is beginning to play a larger role in stock markets around the world as they are continually and increasingly being powerful sources of both information and disinformation. Finding out what they are talking about is becoming an important task for analysts, stock brokers, and other market players.

Some companies even abroad have gone so far to set up their blogs through which they provide markets with information outside the traditional media arrangements. In the US companies are increasingly using blogs to communicate with shareholders. Blogging allows shareholders to bypass their public relations departments, journalists and industry analysts and speak directly to the public.

US markets and Blogs

US hedge funds have introduced automated systems that will trawl through more than 40 Million internet sources from blogs to regulatory filings for information. These include monitor 110, yahoo finance, google finance, Thirty Fortune 500 companies now publish corporate blogs. Other companies encompass Amazon, Cisco Systems, Oracle, Boeing, General Motors have also embraced the trend.

Kenyan Blogs of Note

It is noteworthy that the blogosphere in Kenya has grown by leaps and bounds and today i would like to recognize the unparalleled contribution of these individuals. Their special niche in shaping corporate Kenya as well as public opinion on any emergent issues is invaluable. These special bloggers five of which would like to commend include:

-Bankelele with his avid analysis delivered with the candor it deserves.

-Kenya Capital Investment Group with their perspective of kenyans in diaspora.

-Riba capital with the incisive analysis despite current anactivity.

-Cold Tusker with his all rounded views leaning on the political.

-Odengle Nyang and Vituvingisana in the same category with the pundits perception on topical issues.