AOL Blogging Stocks - Umm Why?

I guess I've become a bit of a dinosaur after 5 years in marketing in the online brokerage space, but I don't understand the hoopla surrounding AOL's supposed big move into blogging stocks.  As written over at Business Week in AOL Launches New Network of Financial Blogs, AOL hired bloggers to write about product announcements, earnings releases, and commentary on stocks in their blog roll.  This was a big idea of new AOL employee, Jason Calacanis and Weblogs.  And over at Micro Persuasion, Steve Rubel thinks that this will cause more corporations to use blogs as a communications tool. 

Hmm, PardonMe if I don't get too excited about this because, umm it has been done already over at The Street.com/RealMoney.com, on TV with Jim Cramer's Mad Money (same guy from the Street.com), Motley Fool, and like 1000s of analysts worldwide.  Plus, if you want people commenting about stocks, you could always visit Yahoo Finance's Message Boards or Google Finance.  Repackaging news content around specific stocks sounds like it hasn't been done, but doesn't that how most financial sites including online brokerages organize the news now? The answer true-believers is YES!

There is a lot of discussion on whether they can hold the stocks or not that they blog about.  I personally stayed awake long enough while taking my Series 7 to learn that you don't EVER want to be perceived as influencing stock.  How you go about that is up to your legal and compliance team's advice.  To put it in perspective, I was politely told 5 years ago that I could have my own website and blog, but I would need to submit it for legal review prior to posting.  That way, it would be difficult to show I influenced trading; plus, I had legal and compliance approval for communicating with the customer.  In the end, I didn't want to assume the risk, so I didn't start my blog until after I left (by the way, I left as a Managing Director and one little test away from a Series 24).  The influence perception is about risk management and whether you are trusting the information you are getting. I hate to say it, but I think this is just a poor PR ploy to generate attention regarding their governance (ho-hum).

This information is already widely available on any number of sites, including my personal choice for investing, Fidelity.com.  So, having bloggers enter an already crowded field, repackaged in a pseduo Web 2.0 wrapping is really not needed and not breakthrough.  If you were really interested in true financial bloggers, then spend a little time with Motley Fool or Real Money.com.  In fact, RealMoney has original Wall Street bloggers, Jim Cramer and James "Rev Shark" De Porre. 

As one financial services advertiser once said in a TV commercial (and I believe got slapped around by the NASD for it), let's put some lipstick on this pig.  And, that's what is happening here with bloggingstocks.com.

PardonMyFrench,

Eric

Comments

[JASON]

I think you're right... we should all just sit around and not try and do anything new since thestreet.com and message boards are out there already.

Of course, if we did that there would be no Engadget because we CNET already existed... and no CNET because PC Magazine existed.... and no PC Magazine because... etc.

[PardonMyFrench]

Fair enough Jason, but in my opinion it is not a big deal. In this space which I've bought a ton of media in, this is not ground breaking; people already get their news in this manner. It is just repackaging of something that is already out there.

Eric

[JASON]

Your thoughts are exactly what people told me when we launched TVSquad, TUAW, Engadget, Silicon Alley Reporter, etc, etc, etc.

There will be plenty of orig. content on bloggingstocks... it will be a huge hit.... give it 30-60 days and we'll knock your socks off.

[sarah gilbert]

done before? hardly. risky? not. sure you don't want to be perceived as influencing stock - if you're an insider. we're not insiders. (and yes i've taken the same licensing classes you did - awake the entire time.)

most of our writers have a serious finance background - I worked for Merrill, we've got other white shoe bankers on board as well as a passel of wharton mbas. and this isn't about repackaging. we'll be giving our readers unparalleled access to real-time information and analysis, the same quality that the big wall street firms' best clients get at considerable cost.

but don't take my word for it. my bet is, if you keep reading, you'll be eating your words in a few weeks' time.

[PardonMyFrench]

Jason and Sarah,

Thanks for the comments and I hope I am surprised on the commentary. I won't continue the argument that this is being done today and I'll wait for you to prove me wrong. I still buy in the financial space, so I'll add it to my RSS reader and keep a watch. Good luck. You have a ton of competition out there; so differentiating yourself from CBS MarketWatch, Yahoo, analysts, and the rest, will be an uphill battle. Judging from your comments, it looks like you have the will.

Eric

[PardonMyFrench]

By the way, Jason has me listed on his blog (http://www.calacanis.com/) under the title: this guy thinks we suck

not sure if that is an honor, but a nice catchy title!!! I'll keep a watch and let you know what I think in a month.

[Ann Handley]

Innovative? Not really. Smart business move? Yeah, probably.

My take is that AOL isn't really doing anything new. Rather, it seems to me that AOL is attempting to bring the concept of blogging to the masses...which isn't really a big deal to some of us. It's probably a bigger deal to those who are less comfortable with (read: "have no clue about") blogs -- the AOL stamp legitimizes them. Hasn't that been AOL's whole deal, anyway?

So the question isn't whether it will be "big" -- but with whom?

[JASON]

Ann: you nailed it.

AOL didn't create IM, email, or the Internet... but they did bring it to the masses.

BloggingStocks is the first real bridge between the mass audience and the insiders in the blogosphere. We're going to the first people to introduce folks to Scoble, Mark Pincus, etc.

I am flattered that people are taking notice, even if they think the product needs work. I think the product needs work--i think all our products need work. I'm all about the NSI.

[Ann Handley]

Right. It's not unlike what we are doing at MarketingProfs with the Daily Fix blog (blog,marketingprofs.com) -- but in a totally different market, of course.

Blogs aren't exactly news to marketers -- but only a tiny percentage of our list of 180,000+ use them or read them. Some aren't truly sure what they are or get how they differ from any other online thing. The Daily Fix is yet another bridge between marketers and the insiders of the blogosphere.

And NSI? Not Seriously Innovative? Not Socially Incontinent? Nasty Sorta Intuition? It just doesn't make sense...

: )

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