Social media has fundamentally changed how some people access financial information and connect with other investors. While these platforms can offer exposure to a broad range of investment ideas and conversations, you should carefully evaluate the information you find there.
According to the FINRA Investor Education Foundation’s (FINRA Foundation) 2025 National Financial Capability Study Investor Report, a majority (60 percent) of investors under 35 cite social media as an information source. And 61 percent of that age group follows financial influencers, or “finfluencers,” who create and share financial content on social media and sometimes receive compensation for doing so.
Others follow the buzz around meme stocks, investments that gain popularity primarily based on social media sentiment. Among investors under 35 surveyed by the FINRA Foundation, 29 percent report purchasing meme stocks or other viral investments. And while younger investors rely on social media to a greater degree, investors of all ages report using it as an information source.
If you use social media for investment information, here are some tips to consider.
1. Understand the Information Sources. Social media content can include interactive discussions between numerous users, finfluencer videos and promotions, posts from well-known industry professionals and more.
If you’re taking tips from a celebrity or social media personality, consider that person’s qualifications. Are they a registered financial professional? Do they have a verifiable financial degree or employment experience in the financial services field? Check out those who tout registration or financial qualifications by using FINRA BrokerCheck or the SEC’s Investment Adviser Public Disclosure database, and contact your state regulator. You can also use FINRA’s Professional Designations Database to help research credentials promoters might claim to hold.
Also keep in mind that individuals who aren’t registered financial professionals often aren’t required to disclose conflicts of interest. Ask yourself what they might have to gain by promoting a particular product or service, including potential compensation for the post itself or your engagement with it. Remember that even those with legitimate credentials might not provide investment advice that fits your personal circumstances.
And don’t rely solely on social media for your investment advice. Whether you invest on your own or work with an investment professional, use a variety of information sources such as company financial statements and regulatory filings, financial publications, and research from brokerage firms and independent analysts. Tools such as FINRA’s Market Data and Investments Explorer and Fund Analyzer are also helpful resources.
2. Recognize Your Motivations. Social media thrives on emotional engagement. Try to separate your feelings from your finances. If you find yourself getting swept up in excitement or fear of missing out (FOMO) due to investment-related social media content, it’s best to pause and evaluate.
Before making an investment decision, ask yourself whether it aligns with your financial goals. Make sure you understand and are comfortable with the level of risk involved. Your investment risk tolerance is very personal and should take into account your investment objectives, time horizon, financial circumstances and needs, and personality, among other things.
3. Know What You’re Investing In. Some social media forums encourage buying investment products or using investing strategies that can be risky or complex.
Meme stocks, for example, are shares of companies that become extremely popular and heavily traded based on social media hype and online community enthusiasm rather than traditional measures of value, such as a company’s performance. This online buzz can drive share prices up rapidly, but meme stocks can be extremely volatile and unpredictable. Their prices can fall as quickly as they rise.
And while all investing comes with risk, some securities—such as options and leveraged products—involve unique added risks and considerations. Be aware, too, that trading in a margin account also presents additional risks, including the risk that you can lose more funds than you deposit in the account.
Always do your research to understand the key aspects and risks of investment products and strategies before choosing them for yourself.
4. Focus on a Balanced Strategy. Some social media platforms and brokerage firms offer tools that analyze or aggregate information from social media sources. While they can be useful for identifying market trends or gauging investor sentiment on particular stocks or sectors, such tools might also miss tone or context and be affected by data quality issues. And depending on how it’s presented, social sentiment information—particularly real-time discussion platforms and buy/sell indicators driven by social sentiment—can sometimes lead to emotionally driven or impulsive investment decisions that you might later regret.
Stick to a disciplined, goal-based investment process tailored to your needs. And be wary of social promotions urging hyper-aggressive strategies like taking early withdrawals from retirement accounts or borrowing against your home to make investments.
Weigh the potential pros and cons of any potential investment carefully, and don’t compromise your financial security by investing money you can’t afford to lose. Consider talking with an investment or tax professional about your personal circumstances.
5. Stay Alert for Fraud. FINRA Foundation research shows that social media users are more likely than non-users to exhibit overconfidence in their level of investment knowledge. This gap can lead to costly mistakes—and make investors more vulnerable to fraud. Indeed, in a 2026 research brief, the FINRA Foundation found that social media users and finfluencer followers reported losing money to investment fraud at a much higher rate (68 percent and 69 percent, respectively) than those not using social media or following finfluencers (26 percent and 29 percent, respectively).
Some bad actors exploit the emotional or community-seeking aspects of social media to commit fraud, sometimes posing as registered representatives or inviting investors to join “investment groups” online. If you participate in financial discussions online, be vigilant: Don’t reveal any of your personal financial information, and know the red flags of fraud, including guaranteed returns, pressure to act quickly and demands for secrecy.
If you have information about potentially fraudulent, illegal or unethical activity, contact your local law enforcement, and submit a regulatory tip to FINRA. If you think you’ve been the victim of any cyber-enabled scam, file a report with the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center.
Learn more about protecting your money.