I posted back in October that FINRA scheduled a webinar to discuss guidelines when using social networking websites. The webinar was scheduled for December 16, 2009.
I learned today via AdvisorTweets on Twitter that the webinar has been postponed for three months. It now is scheduled for March 17, 2010. One thing that hasn’t changed is the $50 member/$100 non-member registration fee required to attend the event.
Click the image below to connect to FINRA’s website and get the new details.
Marion Asnes, editor in Chief of Financial Planning magazine, is tweeting live from this week’s Financial Behavior in Retirement Summit in Philadelphia, PA.
If you’re like me, you had no clue this summit was underway this week. This is a shame, as judging from Marion’s tweets and the agenda for the remainder of the summit, Financial Behavior in Retirement looks to be an outstanding conference. Just take a glance at a short list of who is presenting:
So here’s a quick peek at the tweets sent over the course of Monday’s sessions. Most have been tagged with #FBR2009 (I’ve edited them for legibility):
Here’s a quick integration of Twitter and Wordle on how the services can be combined to gain insight on a topic very quickly. I’ve written about Wordle before; it’s a web-based tool to create word clouds from text.
Earlier today, technology columnist David Pogue asked the following question on Twitter:
Lots of replies came in, so it’s difficult to determine which apps are the most recommended among those that replied.
The FPA Anaheim 2009 conference is underway, and while I am unable to attend this year (something about watching my son while my wife takes the pediatric board exam) I can still glean some good information while monitoring the backchannel on Twitter.
First, most (but not all) tweets from conference attendees contain the hashtag #fpa2009. The hashtag present in the tweet allows Twitter Search to easily find tagged messages and display them all at once.
Since not all attendees are tagging tweets with #fpa2009, I’m providing a list of people that have been posting conference related messages. If I had more time, I’d make an icon to allow Twitter users to follow these individuals in one click, but I have to change some dirty diapers.
For now, here’s the list (in order of my personal rating of quality/quantity tweets):
Advisers who were unable to attend the Schwab IMPACT® 2009 Conference this week can still benefit from the myriad of presentations offered during the event.
Schwab has uploaded a majority of the conferences presentation materials to this website. Slide handouts can be downloaded for free and many of the presentation audio recordings can be downloaded for $15 each.
Also, many conference attendees are providing live updates from the event through Twitter. Follow tweets from the following individuals and companies for more information, or search for updates containing the #IMPACT09 hashtag.
Following on Monday’s post regarding LifestreamBackup, I learned of another service that is designed to capture and archive messages posted through Twitter.
CagedTweets is another utility that captures and archives comments posted on Twitter. Customers have three options of service depending on the number of Twitter accounts to be archived. Archiving of one account runs $50 and covers 3 years of service (I think), ten accounts runs $100, and firm-wide archiving runs $500.
Unfortunately their website does not have a demonstration of how the service works, nor is a free trial offered to test the service. Yet I have to hand it to the folks behind CagedTweets; they are offering this service through rapid development after being inspired by an April 27 Wall Street Journal article on compliance requirements involving social media.
Still, I’m inclined to endorse LifestremBackup over CagedTweets for two main reasons. First, the former tool features connections to other social media services in addition to Twitter, and second, the service is offered for a very similar price as CagedTweets.
However, according to their website, users who sign up for CagedTweets before the end of July will receive free archiving for all social media applications added to the service.
Check out CagedTweets through this link.
(Hat tip to @jrueckert for mentioning CagedTweets to me)
Update: LifestreamBackup recently changed its name to Backupify. The points in this post are still applicable despite the name change!
Many advisers who consult with me regarding the use of social media are justifiably concerned about compliance when it comes to using such services. Advisers can use outlets like Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn to communicate with others and to broadcast information to targeted niche markets. These tools are fantastic ways to build brand recognition for an adviser or a firm and to identify the level of services offered to the public.
I’ve written here previously how FINRA and the SEC may determine that any message disseminated through social media services constitutes marketing and/or advertising and at the very least should be archived and retained in a compliance file. If you are a representative regulated under FINRA, you likely need pre-approval from compliance before posting any messages through social media services. SEC-registered advisers should consult with their Chief Compliance Officer before posting messages as well.
Now let’s assume that an adviser decides to use social media to grow the business. Terrific! But what can be done to efficiently archive and retain those messages sent through social media services?
Over the next week, I’ll be participating in two webinars that I hope you will attend.
First, Andrew Gluck at Advisor Products, Inc. has asked me to participate in Friday’s Financial Crisis Webinar Series. The topic is Advisors Using Social Networking Successfully. I will share some of the experiences I’ve had through the use of Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook mediums that have personally resulted in new connections and new business.
Click here to register for the Friday, June 5 webinar Advisors Using Social Networking Successfully.
Second, I’ll be part of a panel hosted by InvestmentNews to offer 50 Cost-Saving and Money-Making Ideas in 50 Minutes. I have a list of my top 10 technologies that I believe financial advisers can use to save money, make money, and sometimes both simultaneously. There should be at least one good tip for every adviser listening to the webinar.
Hope to “see” you on the web.
Smarsh continues to impress me as an innovative force and market leader in email archiving and compliance. They recently announced a Smarsh CRM product to help users be more efficient and productive (a post I’ve had in my drafts section ever since my son was born!).
Today I read an article on a new service that may prove to be very useful and timely to the adviser community.
Smarsh has announced a social media (a.k.a.Twitter) message archiving service at a Twitter conference this week.
So I woke up early in the hospital room Monday morning and turned on the TV. What do I see rolling by in the bottom scroll bar?
Apparently over the weekend, Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban was fined $25,000 by the NBA for comments he posted on Twitter (from USNews.com).
Can the SEC be far behind by issuing fines to registered advisers using Twitter for failing to comply with regulatory law on the publishing of advertisements? I posted a few weeks ago about my concern of advisers using LinkedIn’s Recommendations feature when it may violate rules against testimonials.
Now that some precedent has been set, albeit by a completely different body (i.e. the NBA), I suspect that the SEC might not be too far behind in stepping up its enforcement efforts by following the tweets of registered advisers.
My advice to registered advisers: Tweet with extreme caution.
Want to Know More?
Andy Gluck at Advisor Products, Inc. is hosting a webinar this Friday, April 3 featuring Brian Hamburger of Market Counsel to address the compliance issues of using social networking technology, including LinkedIn, Twitter, FaceBook and others.
If you’re interested in learning more about this subject, I highly recommend you register now! This session has the potential to reach the maximum number of participants allowed.
Register for Friday’s Compliance Issues Posed By Linkedin, Twitter, Blogging, & Social Networking at Advisor Products, Inc.
