Twitter Rolls Out ‘Cashtags’ for Stock Symbols

by Alyssa Oursler | August 1, 2012 9:08 am

Following the stock market with social media is now easier than ever[1] thanks to a new Twitter feature. “Cashtags,” which require a “$” followed by the ticker symbol, are a similar concept (obviously) as hashtags. Users can click on the cashtag and see other posts that contain the same ticker.

So if someone tweets about Google (NASDAQ:GOOG[2]) with $GOOG, or Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL[3]) with $AAPL, you can click on the symbol and see what else is being said about that same stock — just as you can currently do with hashtags like #nbcfail[4].

The idea, though, isn’t original — StockTwits[5] started using it years ago.

And StockTwits doesn’t seem to be too happy about Twitter implementing their feature. “You can hijack a plane but it does not mean you know how to fly it,” CEO Howard Lindzon wrote recently.

Twitter had announced the new feature, fittingly, in a tweet. It read, “Now you can click on ticker symbols like $GE (NYSE:GE[6]) on twitter.com to see search results about stocks and companies.”

Source URL: http://investorplace.com/2012/08/twitter-rolls-out-cashtags-for-stock-symbols/
Short URL: http://investorplace.com/?p=207572

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