Investment Dealers’ Digest: Blogging And The SEC, by Joshua Hamerman
“The last time the SEC issued guidance in this area, the idea of ’social networks’ hadn’t yet been developed, and creating a social network where shareholders could meet and exchange views was barely imaginable,” said Christopher Cox, SEC chairman, in a July 30 statement from the regulator. “Ongoing developments in technology have increased both the markets’ and investors’ demand for more timely company disclosure on the Web, and in turn, raised new securities law issues for public companies to consider.”
Kevin Pomplun, founder and chief executive of SkyGrid, a streaming financial news and data platform provider, says the ruling has prompted more demand from SkyGrid customers–equity research analysts, sales and trading professionals, hedge funds and portfolio fund managers–for blog tracking. Requests for blog tracking from SkyGrid, which has more than 100 customers, centers on forums from companies themselves as well as outside sources, says Pomplun.