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Does it really pay off for investors to consider information from social media?

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  • Eierle, Brigitte
  • Klamer, Sebastian
  • Muck, Matthias

Abstract

This paper raises the question whether investors can learn something from social media sentiment that they do not already know from (existing) financial information disclosed by companies and financial analysts. Therefore, the relationship between financial information and Refinitiv’s MarketPsych social media sentiment index is explored. The paper introduces adjusted social media sentiment, which corrects social media sentiment for the impact of financial information such as earnings surprises, analyst forecast revisions, new dividends, and 8-K filings. It turns out that adjusted social media sentiment is related to subsequent short-term stock returns. This is particularly true for stocks with negative (adjusted) sentiment. Moreover, looking at long-term holding returns the paper does not find compelling evidence for reversals suggesting that (adjusted) social media sentiment reflects information about the prospects of the firm.

Suggested Citation

  • Eierle, Brigitte & Klamer, Sebastian & Muck, Matthias, 2022. "Does it really pay off for investors to consider information from social media?," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 81(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:finana:v:81:y:2022:i:c:s1057521922000473
    DOI: 10.1016/j.irfa.2022.102074
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Return predictability; Fundamental information; Wisdom of crowds; Investor sentiment; Social media;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G12 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Asset Pricing; Trading Volume; Bond Interest Rates
    • G14 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Information and Market Efficiency; Event Studies; Insider Trading
    • G40 - Financial Economics - - Behavioral Finance - - - General

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