Twitter’s dominance online is unquestionable. Today, everyone from movie stars (like Ashton Kutcher, who became the first “tweeter” to break the million-follower mark) to moms is posting 140-character blurbs about their interests and their lives with the social networking tool. And that flurry of Twitter activity has a palpable impact on the investing community.

Right now, there are dozens of prominent investing personalities with Twitter accounts – even the Penny Sleuth has one…

What that means for everyone else is that there are thousands of investing ideas floating around the Twit-o-sphere in real-time. If you’re a fan of technical analysis, Twitter is a constant source of information on what’s moving stocks and who’s trading them at any given time. The fundamentals guys are covered too – often with links to articles on why Citi’s board changed or a breakdown of Ford’s financial statements.

What’s even better about Twitter is that it’s a great gauge for market sentiment. After all, it’s hard not to get a grasp on what people are thinking when you’ve got thousands of people talking about the economy.

But all of that data is useless if you don’t know where to find it…

Indeed, Twitter can be an intimidating website to visit, and the learning curve may seem steep at first. Here’s a quick rundown of everything you need to know…

Navigating Twitter

To use Twitter, you first need to create a free account over at twitter.com. There are two important pieces of information on every user’s twitter page – “following” and “followers”. “Following” refers to the number of other users you’re following (you can think of it as your favorite Twitter feeds), while “followers” tells you how many users are following your feed.

When you follow other users their latest “tweets” appear on your home screen. That way, you can keep track of the stocks – or whatever else – they’re talking about.

Your First Follow

With millions of users on the site, it can be hard to decide who’s worth following on Twitter. Now that we’ve been using the site for a little while, here is our list of five investing Twitter feeds worth following:

1.    alphatrends (twitter.com/alphatrends) – AlphaTrends is the Twitter feed of Brian Shannon, a trader who runs the blog of the same name. Shannon’s feed consists primarily of his trades, a worthwhile resource for investors interested in following technical analysis.

2.    wikinvest (twitter.com/wikinvest) – Wikinvest is one of the most popular “Web 2.0” investing sites right now; their Twiter feed is filled with investing articles and market commentary.

3.    marketcurrents (twitter.com/marketcurrents) – MarketCurrents is the stock market news feed from Seeking Alpha. The updates are pretty much constant throughout the trading day.

4.    stocktwits (twitter.com/stocktwits) – StockTwits is a service that helps investors keep track of tickers mentioned on Twitter (more on that in a minute).

5.    FTfinancenews (twitter.com/ftfinancenews) – This Twitter feed is the market news section of the Financial Times. While not updated as frequently as Seeking Alpha’s (#3), it’s still worthwhile to check out.

Don’t forget – we’re on Twitter too! You can follow us by visiting twitter.com/PennySleuth to get our latest articles as well as small-cap updates throughout the day.

Other Ways to Get Investing Ideas on Twitter

If you’re looking for a more directed way to see what’s going on with a particular stock on Twitter, you should check out StockTwits.com. When Twitter users put a dollar sign in front of a ticker they’re tweeting about (i.e. $IBM or $SIRI), StockTwits aggregates the data and makes it easy to search for particular companies by ticker, user, or reputation.

Another option is to do a Twitter Search to see who’s talking about the stocks or industries you’re looking for. Just click the “Search” link at the bottom of any Twitter page to get started.

As more and more investors start using Twitter regularly, we’re sure to see the site’s value as an investing resource increase dramatically. Already Twitter has become a great place to see what other investors are looking at – take a look by visiting Twitter today.

Cheers,
Jonas Elmerraji

April 22, 2009

Jonas Elmerraji

Jonas Elmerraji is an editor of Penny Stock Fortunes and a frequent contributor the Penny Sleuth. Jonas also occasionally writes for financial publications like Forbes, TheStreet.com, and Investopedia. He has been quoted as an investment expert in Investor’s Business Daily, Consumers Digest, and Bankrate.com among others. Before joining Agora Financial, Jonas’s held positions at an investment firm and at a “Big 4″ public accounting firm. He holds a degree in Financial Economics.

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