More correctly 'mobile devices' and nowadays most especially 4G phones. This powerful fourth generation communications system has overtaken the laptop as Britain's favourite method of accessing the internet, according to last week's report by Ofcom, and surprisingly half of those aged 55-64 own one. Half of us check it within 15 minutes of waking up and spend two hours per day on it, mainly calling, messaging, and accessing Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and a panoply of methods to share images, sound, and information.
And this is where things get really interesting because everyone who owns one of these can become a freelance news reporter - unofficially anyway. See a crime, snap the villain and report him; overhear some juicy gossip, share it; read some cutting edge research paper, pass it on. These generate gazillions of unique data bites which can be analysed, like pollsters collate views; large corporations have for many years used analysts to dissect and advise on their media profiles to win over the public.
Ex-hedge fund strategist and now Digital Contact founder and chief executive Gareth Mann explained: "Our big data analytics engine powers our company - Trading.co.uk. It was set up to ensure that traders were receiving faster financial news, by gathering information from millions of sources every second. It delivers real-time news as it breaks about any industry, company, or topic users wish to focus their trades on". Farfetched you may think but this Kent-based company has been commissioned to incorporate and tailor its analytics by several fund managers both in the UK and North America.
Ahead of the UK May general election it analysed reaction on social media to the leaders' debates. Unlike pollsters' results Trading.co.uk showed a clear lead for the Conservative party, with the SNP boasting a surge in social interaction. At the moment, Digital Contact is monitoring real-time data of all 43 potential candidates for the US Presidential candidacy, a race that is expected to be one of the most exciting in years.
People are taking this stuff seriously. In July the European Central Bank published a research paper on the effects that Twitter items and Google searches had on stock trends. Monitoring only the terms 'bullish' and 'bearish' they found that Twitter information precedes Google searches, that "both are positively correlated to investor sentiment and lead investor surveys, and that high Twitter bullishness predicts increases in stock returns. We believe that our results support the investor sentiment hypothesis in behavioural finance." Here is the link to their complete document: https://www.ecb.europa.eu/pub/pdf/scpsps/ecbsp9.en.pdf?177000b829d4450b007f3d3a612cab18.
For Investors Chronicle readers who would like to take a look and try out the platform, the public beta testing stage will begin at the end of this month. It's completely free and all you have to do is go to the website www.trading.co.uk and leave your name and email address. Do let us know how you get on or send your suggestions hello@trading.co.uk. You may find it gives you more street-cred with the children and grandchildren.
StockTwits maps the sentiment of 300,000 US investors active on Twitter
