Thoughts on Twittering, Tweeting, Twits and Trading

The upside of progress is often very obvious. The downside of progress is often not realized or recognized until it rears its ugly head. The upside of atomic energy is clear and evident. The downside of atomic energy is also clear but frightening. The upside of the fossil fuel engine was obvious when it was invented. The downside did not become clear until we realized that for many years we have been polluting the environment perhaps beyond repair. The upside of antibiotics was clear and evident – it was the discovery that has saved millions of lives. The downside, namely the development of resistant and powerful bacterial strains has only become obvious in recent years. The upside of genetic engineering and biotechnology is the promise to extend life, to improve life, and to cure heretofore incurable diseases. The downside is the possibility that this wonderful technology can be and will be used to create killer viruses or horrible or strange new beings. The upside of the Internet is clear and evident. It opens the door to instant worldwide communications. It allows the world to become “smaller”. It enhances our ability to connect with people all over the world and thereby improve the connectivity and spiritual essence of the human life wave. On a pragmatic level in the world of investing it allows for instant execution of orders in virtually any market. The downside of the Internet with regard to investing and trading has only become clear in the last few years. It promulgates and facilitates the dissemination of misinformation, disinformation, rumor, innuendo and worse. It opens the door to electronic crime and eventually electronic terrorism. On a personal level it paradoxically brings people closer but it also moves them father apart, supplanting in-person contact.

As in all cases of innovation the Internet has its front and its back. The bigger the front – the bigger the back. Marshall McCluhan’s pioneering and prescient essays on communication are now being more fully appreciated given the accuracy of his work. Think about the following quote from his work: “The medium is the message. This is merely to say that the personal and social consequences of any medium – that is, of any extension of ourselves – result from the new scale that is introduced into our affairs by each extension of ourselves, or by any new technology”. With this in mind let’s briefly look at the current communications, social networking craze called Twitter and its associated form of connecting called “tweeting”. The upside seems obvious. People all over the world can send messages to groups of people be it family, friends, business associates, contacts, etc. instantly and briefly. In short, it appears to be a fabulous way of keeping in touch. And yet it has its downside. Do I really want to know what Steve is having for breakfast? Do I really care about clogging my computer with messages from actors or actresses who want to tell me about the gorgeous Russian orphan they plan to adopt. Do I really case about what Joe plans to trade today? Does the information educate, elucidate, clarify, confuse, overload, obfuscate, irritate or satiate? In short, what good is it?  Here are some things to consider:

Twitter is a tool that should be used with discretion and purpose. If you have the time and the interest in knowing the intimate details of people lives who choose to reveal themselves by sending tweets (twitter messages) to their followers then so be it. On the other hand, if there is quality information that is useful and helpful to you then tweeting may be a great way to go. But you must be careful. The downside of tweeting is that you may open yourself to incorrect information that may be sent out to you unintentionally. On numerous occasions I have warned you that instant communication of market related data may not have a positive end result.

Rumors have long been known to affect markets, often in ephemeral but dramatic ways. If you react or over react to every piece of information that may or may not be relevant to the markets then the odds are you will suffer losses, confusion and all the associated problems that are part and parcel of failing to use an objective, organized and structured trading plan.

As an example, I recently initiated my HOT TRADES HOTLINE which is sent either by email and/or by Twitter message. It gives me the opportunity to get trades to clients quickly. Indeed I could use the Twitter medium to tell you about all sorts of things that may be meaningless to you. The HOT TRADES HOTLINE is something that clients pay for and, as such, I would never clog your computer with useless information. Recently a well known candlestick “guru” sent a message to his Twitter followers telling them that his throat was sore and that he was going to gargle with salt water. You may call me a curmudgeon; old fashioned or worse but frankly I have no use for that kind of information. Nor do I have the time to waste on reading it or receiving it. Yet, in this day and age of technology and distance people seek to get closer.

Those who are Twitter experts encourage those in business, the media and entertainment to send twitter messages to followers often and to make these messages personal. In so doing it is claimed that “ambient intimacy” will be created and that it will be good for business. Perhaps it will also satisfy the seemingly inherent human need to be a voyeur. No matter how you look at it Twitter has its upside as well as its downside. Be careful how you use it. There are relatively few positives and many potential negatives. Personally I don’t care about using Twitter to improve business. My business is excellent. I’m happy with my trading. However, if I can bring some positive change to traders then I’m in favor of tweeting on Twitter.

That being said, I have recently had many Twitter requests from people all over the world who are familiar with my work. They want to follow me on Twitter. They want me to send out Tweets. I’m not exactly sure what I will tweet to people but I have created two personae on Twitter. The twitter name for my HOT TRADES paid service is jakebernstein. I only send out tweets with specific trading recommendations. The tweets from jakebernstein will never tell you when I bought some new all cotton underwear or about the indigestion I had from eating too much chocolate. I also created the DrTrade persona on Twitter. If you care about getting free twits from me from time to time you can sign up there to follow me. I assure you that I won’t abuse this technology by being a twit who tweets on Twitter.

If and when I have some cogent, meaningful market related thoughts to share with you then you will get a tweet from me. Rest assured that I wouldn’t clog your computer with the kind of intensely personal and meaningless information that I have seen so many times on Twitter. If I tweet you it will be for the purpose of disseminating information you can use or information that will help you think. The upside will be that you will get to know me better and/or information that may help you make money. In so doing I will help use this excellent communications tool for a positive purpose that creates energy and not entropy.