- Users will be able to discuss stock picks and compare portfolios on new app
ii Community will allow Interactive Investor customers to discuss investing ideas free of charge
Customers of the DIY investing platform Interactive Investor will now be able to chat with each other online, as the website launches its own social media app.
The app, ii Community, will enable users to discuss investment tips, stock picks and compare portfolios free of charge.
Interactive Investor, which is owned by Abrdn, said ii Community users will be able to use performance data to benchmark their portfolio against others, monitor growth and get weekly performance reviews.
‘Users can chat with like-minded investors, bouncing off ideas and exchanging strategies,’ added head of equity strategy Lee Wild.
‘The ii Community app lets ii customers discuss market trends, investment ideas and winning trades, and share thoughts on significant global events, policy changes, and economic releases.’
Interactive Investor is hoping to connect with the growing influence of social media on DIY investors via the launch of its own platform.
Research conducted by Opinium on behalf of Interactive Investor last year found 30 per cent of working age Britons see social media as a useful investment information source.
It is more influential for younger investors, with 16 per cent of respondents under 40 identifying social media as their biggest influence in learning about investment, retirement and pensions.
Similar efforts by investment firms to build user social platforms include eToro’s Social Trading and Trading 212’s 212 Social.
Many active retail investors are also known to discuss trading on more generic social platforms, particularly Reddit, Youtube and X (formerly Twitter).
This has not gone unnoticed by regulators, with the Financial Conduct Authority increasingly concerned about the influence of unqualified financial advice influencers – or ‘finfluencers’.
Interactive Investor’s research also found that investing is seen as ‘too complicated’ by 58 per cent of Britons and ‘intimidating’ by 56 per cent. A further 46 per cent also believe the investment process is too time consuming.
The firm said the standalone app – which will sit separately from its investment platform – aims ‘to make investing less intimidating’ by creating a forum for users to ask questions anonymously under a chosen name.
Wild added: ‘Social media is a medium that is not going away, and if used responsibly it can clearly be a valuable channel for reaching and educating people about investing. It’s something Interactive Investor, as a platform, takes very seriously.
‘On ii Community, we already have a number of engaged users on the platform, who are eager to use this new social platform as a tool to have open and honest conversations about their investment journey, with the aim of helping themselves and others to learn more.’
DIY INVESTING PLATFORMS
Affiliate links: If you take out a product This is Money may earn a commission. These deals are chosen by our editorial team, as we think they are worth highlighting. This does not affect our editorial independence.