Business Media most influential with Analysts & Investors

 Research undertaken by the Australasian Investor Relations Association (AIRA) shows that

business media is one of the top sources of information for institutional investors and stockbroking analysts. 

Business media, both print and online, are regular sources of information on the companies
followed: Australian Financial Review (96%) and metropolitan dailies, Yahoo Finance (55%),
and Bloomberg (53%).

Other top sources are one-to-one and group company briefings, listed entity websites, the

ASX website, IRESS, analyst research and company emails for the institutional investors and stockbroking analysts surveyed.

The survey also found:

• Attending listed entity presentations in person is the preference for the majority of the institutional investor and analyst group surveyed.
• When webcasts are accessed it is largely through the listed entity’s website.
• Reading transcripts of interviews is very popular, with 80% of respondents saying
  they use these as an information source. 

Australian companies are not yet using social media widely for investor relations purposes, but as

more of them begin to disseminate information through social media we expect to see greater investor attention directed to these channels. 

74% of institutional investors and stockbroking analysts surveyed indicated that they do not use social media for investment purposes, with the majority of all respondents (50%) saying this was because it is not trustworthy information. 

20% of respondents said that information accessed through social media channels had influenced
their investment decisions.

15% of respondents said they can access information through social media channels that they can’t get elsewhere.

89% of respondents expect there will be no change in social media’s influence on their investment
decisions in the coming 12 months. 

Social Media for investment purposes

• 17% of respondents had accessed Hot Copper
• 10% of respondents had accessed Seeking Alpha
• 10% of respondents said they had accessed LinkedIn
• 10% of respondents said they had accessed YouTube

A small number (under 10%) of respondents said they had used Wikinvest, Motley Fool,
Facebook or Twitter for investment purposes.

Retail Investors
The 2010 “Retail investors' use of online communications and social media” survey, carried
out with the assistance of the Australian Shareholders’ Association and the New Zealand
Shareholders’ Association showed strong growth in the number of retail investors using
online sources for investment information.

11% of retail investor respondents said that information found in a social media channel had influenced an investment decision.