Social News Sites

1. Tip’d — “A community for financial news, ideas, and tips.” Categories include business, currencies, economy, personal finance, stocks, and more. Tip’d has the largest userbase of any financial social news site, by far, so if you only have time for one, it should probably be this one. (Disclosure: Bankling management has an ownership interest in Tip’d.)
2. FeedTheBull — “Financial and stock market news with a voice.” Stories tagged with stock symbols include the stock’s current trading price. The volume of comments makes for lively discussion on many stories. FTB’s bullish vote button is definitely our favorite.
3. Value Investing News — “Investor powered stock market news.” Categories include bonds, shareholder activism, stock analysis, and of course value investing. VIN also features a robust stock screener from Zacks.com. Members of VIN share in the site’s Adsense revenue.
4. StockTwits — “Real investors. Real ideas. Real time.” StockTwits uses the power of Twitter to offer real-time commentary on stocks. Sign-up is easy. All you need is a Twitter account and an interest in at least one stock. A Firefox extension makes StockTwits more accessible from Twitter. Also features candlestick performance charts on every stock page.
5. PF Buzz — “The best money and finance articles.” Categories include business, career, frugality, financial planning, investing, taxes, and more. The drawback to PF Buzz is that it seems only one new story hits the frontpage on average; also, their forums are dead. But we love their “Top Users” feature on the sidebar.

Social Networking & Stock Picking Sites

6. Motley Fool CAPS — “Investors helping investors beat the market.” (Actually, at Bankling, we’re usually not fans of trying to beat the market. Hey, we’re big Bogleheads over here!) That said, CAPS analyzes individual stocks by polling its users as to whether the stock will outperform the S&P 500 or not. Member commentary on each stock is also available on each stock page.
7. SocialPicks — “Invest smarter together.” At SocialPicks, users can share investment ideas and track peers’ investment performance. Members establish a credible stock investor identity and are able to view or join select investor groups, such as Mad Money, Green Investments, or Value Investors, to name a few.
8. Stockpickr — “The stock idea network.” Users can compare their stock portfolios to Wall Street pros like Warren Buffett, Carl Icahn, and George Soros. Individual stock pages display standard stock data as well as a list of investor portfolios that currently hold the stock and recommendations of similar stocks.
9. Wikinvest — “Investing simplified.” A Wiki for investing. Wikinvest has thousands of user-generated content on investing concepts and publicly traded companies. Wikinvest offers WikiCharts, which are stock performance charts that contain user-generated annotations.
10. Covestor — “Make money with Covestor’s proven investors.” At Covester, users can follow the real trades of other members. Individual investors can follow the moves of professional traders and even invest their money in a Covestor account that will replicate the trading portfolio moves of favorite pros. A rankings page shows the best performing member portfolios.