StockTwits: Break Away from the Usual Market Noise

Annoyed by what you hear on CNBC? I know I am. Seriously, I think their financial pundits have had as much if not more to do with the panic in the market than short sellers. And the other business news coverage is just as bad.

As Jim Cramer says, "They know NOTHING!"

But what if you could eavesdrop on and converse with other traders, amateur analysts, and market enthusiasts? What if you could have a dialogue about stocks you're interested in or actively trading? What if you could bring your own knowledge and interest to the conversation about investing, be it alternative energy and clean tech or whatever.

Well, now you can. Try StockTwits. It just launched with a simple design that will be familiar to users of Twitter or other social networking platforms. Here's a screen shot of my feed stream:




Developed by Soren Macbeth and Howard Lindzon, StockTwits was built on the Twitter API as a way to aggregate Twitter conversations about stocks, trading, and financial markets. A number of us have been using it for months now (and you can too) simply by adding a dollar sign before a stock ticker (such as $FSLR).

A simple idea and a pretty cool concept. The folks at betaworks, which focuses on seed stage Internet media, must think so, too, as they added StockTwits to their portfolio with an investment last month.

I'm interested in using StockTwits to engage with like-minded (and contrarian) clean tech and green energy investors, contribute to the knowledge base about some top performers, as well as learn more about companies I've missed or overlooked.

Come join the conversation.

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Wallstrip Turns Two

Wallstrip celebrates its 2nd Anniversary today. One of our favorite, actually, the only "web tv" offering we watch regularly, Wallstrip looks at stocks, companies, and trends, especially those that are trading at or near an all-time high. Wallstrip is, as its website describes, "where pop culture meets stock culture."

Founded by Howard Lindzon, Adam Eland, and Jeff Marks, Wallstrip was hosted by the fabulous Lindsay Campbell (now the host of MobLogic.tv) and currently by the equally fabulous Julia Alexandria, who took over in January of this year.

Howard conceived of the idea in the Summer of 2006. He "wanted to create a show like Jon Stewart about stocks. Positive and simple." Eight months after launching Wallstrip, Howard sold it to CBS for $5 million.

Over the past two years Wallstrip has featured alternative energy and green stocks (see search list here), such as WFR, CLHB, and ORA.

Here are two episodes (one from each of Wallstrip's delicious hosts) on wind and solar energy:


Watch CBS Videos Online



Congratulations to the Wallstrippers, and here's to another fabulous season of Wallstrip!

Howard's latest play is StockTwits, which he is developing with Soren Macbeth. StockTwits is an open, community-centred investment idea and information service. Think of it as a "Bloomberg for the little guy."

Soren built it off the Twitter API as a way to track real-time conversations between people interested in stocks, trading, and sharing. Check it out: StockTwits

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What Are You Doing? Wallstrip Does Twitter

Okay, this is outside my usual subject matter, but I've been a fan of Twitter ever since Fred Wilson sold me on the microblogging service over a year ago. (You can follow me at greenskeptic)

I know a lot of people who don't get Twitter, including some who are near and dear to me. Most think it's an unnecessary distraction; some actually think it's evil.

I used to think the former, but then I became addicted. After many months of using it, I realized the best answer to Twitter's simple question, "What Are You Doing?" is NOT, "Having a sandwich" or "Drinking my 3rd cup of coffee."

It's also a good idea not to answer, "Having a bad day at the office." You never know who is watching...unless they follow you. Like any communication tool it needs to be used judiciously and thoughtfully. (I've learned that lesson the hard way.)

What Twitter does best is allow you

1.) to stay in touch with people you don't get to see or speak to often -- or meet new people with whom you would otherwise not be connected;

2.) to post quick takes on subjects you are interested in but don't have time to write a blog post about, and

3.) to wrestle with business problems, the answers to which may already be out there in the Twitterverse.

I've even used it to ask my followers -- now over 350 people -- to help name my book or my green energy investing start-up. (More on THAT later...)

Recently, a number of us are using Twitter to muse about the rise and fall (mostly fall) of our stock portfolios and to gauge what others are thinking about companies we are interested in.

StockTwits scans your tweets (as long as they contain a stock ticker preceded by $, such as $FSLR) and automatically indexes and displays them with a chart of the ticker.

Now, two of my favorite addictions, er distractions, Twitter and WallStrip have come together, trying to answer the question, "What ARE you doing?"



Shout-outs to Howard Lindzon and Soren Macbeth, who got me into StockTwits early -- another great distraction, er tool.