Can you profit from the social media buzz?

SOCIAL MEDIA

Robert Royle, fund manager of the Smith & Williamson North American Trust, examines whether social media stocks offer opportunities for investors.

Social media is a way of life. Facebook accounts for the most amount of time wasted, (or spent!) on the internet. According to Citigroup, time spent on Facebook takes up 16% of a typical American’s day, as opposed to only 2% three years ago. Nielsen offers an even more staggering statistic: Americans spent 53.5 billion minutes on Facebook in May alone. With statistics such as these it is not surprising that the investment world is abuzz with the opportunity that social media stocks offer investors. This year we have had much heralded initial public offerings from LinkedIn, Pandora and Fr...