Over a fifth of younger investors get stock tips and market forecasts from Instagram according to Hargreaves Lansdown.
It has found that 21% of investors aged 18-34 turn to Instagram to get ideas where best to send their money.
Hargreaves Lansdown head of investment analysis and research Emma Wall said that 16% of investors from the same category went to Facebook (Meta) for investment ideas, 14% to Reddit and 8% to TikTok.
When looking at investors over the age of 55, none used Instagram, Reddit and TikTok for investment ideas, although 1% do use Facebook.
Out of those aged 35-54, 35% go to a website of a financial company and 34% of those over 55 do the same for investment ideas.
However, 32% of investors aged 18-34 turn to a website of a financial company for investment guidance.
There was a far bigger split between genders in comparison to age groups as 38% of men go to a website of a financial company for investment knowledge and only 28% of women do.
Slightly more women than men used Instagram for investment ideas, with a 10% – 6% split.
Wall added: “Other sources of ideas are different amongst different cohorts, with women more likely to ask friends and family for idea and guidance, while men and older investors prefer to trust their own judgement.
“After that, newspapers and specialised financial publications are a source of ideas across men and women of all ages – though less so with younger investors who prefer to turn to social media for ideas.
“Consider your risk appetite, investment horizon and what you may already be invested in before acting on any investment ideas.”
Wall suggested that investors should have a good mix of sectors, regions and styles in their investment portfolio.
This is to help build ballast to weather choppy markets.
These matters have been receiving a lot more attention of late with the Online Safety Bill making its way through parliament.
It has passed the third reading stage in both the houses and is now waiting for final amendments before royal ascent.
Also, the government on 2 August launched a consultation to ban cold calls for all financial products in a fresh crackdown on scam calls.
Its scope is more ambitious than the original cold call ban that just targeted pensions and first came into effect on 9 January 2019.
This eight-week consultation will see the government look into such areas as any product or service of a banking or payment nature, including electronic money and cryptoassets.
The government also re-affirmed its intention to regulate retail trading in unbacked cryptoassets as a financial service on 20 July.
Its position is contained in a published Treasury Select Committee report.
The government’s line is a response to the committee’s report called Regulating Crypto where it called for consumer trading in unbacked crypto to be regulated as gambling.
At the same time the Financial Conduct Authority is taking a tough line on ‘finfluencers’ and the promotion of financial products or services online.
The regulator said the clampdown is geared towards stopping consumer harm by combating “illegal and non-compliant financial promotions”.
It outlined its proposals for social media guidance on 17 July.
The new guidance, being consulted on until 11 September, will reflect the current ways social media is used to advertise financial services and products, the FCA said.
The regulator added that it has ramped up its scrutiny of online financial promotions by ‘finfluencers’ who often market illegal products to their followers.
Finfluencers are usually people who have gained online fame and have large followers.
They can influence the financial decision-making process of their followers and fans through promotions or recommendations on social media.
Opinium carried out a survey of 2,000 people for Hargreaves Lansdown in May 2023 to obtain these results.
