Investing in the social network

Robert Royle, fund manager of Smith & Williamson North American Trust, looks at how social network sites are linking investors in to exciting new opportunities.

Many of us have been caught up in the social media phenomenon, whether it is as users of LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter or just worrying about the inordinate amount of time children spend on it. The plan is to embed the products into our everyday lives so that we cannot live without them. Many a grown man has been brought to his knees at an inability to tweet his latest missive to his loyal followers or a 13-year-old who cannot log in to update their status of what they had for lunch. The target for these companies is the advertising market. The belief is, by collating enough details of ...