Social media has revolutionized almost every aspect of our day-to-day lives. From local foraging expertise to social justice initiatives, sites like TikTok and Meta's (META) Instagram are full of compelling new ways to interact with the world around us.
But it's also a little like the Wild West out there -- just because there are a lot of voices giving perspective doesn't mean they're all trustworthy. Especially when it comes to finance and investing.
Meet Gav Blaxberg, a former analyst for Goldman Sachs turned CEO at WOLF Financials. "WOLF" stands for "World of Learning Finance", and Gav has evolved his previous job skills managing other people's investments to making money to manage his own -- while helping others do the same.
Like so many of us, growing up Gav had a peripheral awareness of money and finance. His father took a hard hit during the stock market crash of 2008, which Gav told TheStreet really made an impression on him. He says that "as a kid all I cared about was the next dollar and protecting it."
Then, in the 11th grade, one of his teachers ran a grade-wide stock market contest. Each student got $100K in play money, and over six months, participants used the money to buy, sell, and trade stocks.
"I fell in love right off the bat," he says. He remembers sitting in the back of his physics class trading at stock market open, or going to his teacher's office during his lunch break to talk about stocks.
The Joy of Twitter Spaces
Blaxberg got his start in the social media finance world through a community formed during the pandemic. In mid-2020, people wanted to get into the stock market during the post-covid rebound. He began by casually following sports Twitter (TWTR), but he quickly noticed that a lot of his sports friends were also talking about stocks.
Soon, he belonged to a community of Twitter users talking about investing. He created a new account just for stock talk, not yet knowing that Twitter "talk" was about to get a whole lot more exciting.
In the spring of 2021, Twitter introduced Twitter Spaces, which works a lot like a radio show. The host opens a show and followers can tune in. The host can pass the mic off to listeners, allowing for a communal interactive space.
After six months of building his presence on Spaces, Blaxberg has a whopping 99,000 followers. He's live an average of 40 hours each week, and any day will see between 5-10 thousand guests trading together and leaning on one another through the twists and turns of the market.
Social Media and Financial Planning
According to Blaxberg, social media can be a very helpful tool for folks interested in investing. For one, it's a great way to keep up with quarterly earnings calls. Social media can help you find people who can read through a large chunk of info and pull out the important highlights -- something that can be really time-consuming for your day-to-day investor.
But moreover, Blaxberg is the most enthusiastic about the potential for an investment community. He and his colleagues make content for people, not institutions.
He speaks directly to retail investors and people who just want to be financially educated. His community doesn't just talk about stocks; they also explore crypto, real estate, and other aspects of finance. There's a real sense of ownership in the community -- a sentiment that Gav feels passionate about. To him and his followers, investing isn't about making a quick buck. It's about owning a piece of something bigger, he told TheStreet.
Blaxberg doesn't just make content for Twitter -- although that's the best place to find him streaming his show. You can also hear him on his podcast, The Market Madness Podcast. He's also released clips on TikTok, YouTube, and Instagram Reels. But according to Blaxbergav, the daily grind is still on Twitter, and Spaces will give you the full communal experience of his network.
