Part of the Gamestop story is that the impetus to drive the price of Gamestop stock higher came through a Chatroom called /WallStreetBets, which is through Reddit.com. Reddit provides forums for people to write/chat/converse about just about anything under the sun, and WallStreetBets is now one of Reddit’s hottest forums, although not its only forum regarding investing or personal finance. Go to reddit.com and check it out for yourself if you are curious. To me, WallStreetBets is one of a growing number of opportunities for investors to band together to pose and discuss ideas, and it is probably aided (or abetted) by the quarantine economy that we are now facing. I think WallStreetBets is a good thing on balance, although investors who were short Gamestop or any of the other targets of WallStreetBets would likely disagree, and the attorneys for those short investors would probably argue that the WallStreetBets forum and its collective actions to drive up the price of Gamestop constitutes market manipulation punishable by extensive fines or even prison.

WallStreetBets

WallStreetBets is like real-life video gaming, except that instead of killing aliens, the objective is to make money in the stock market. If you are into gaming yourself or if you have a child who is into gaming, as I do, you will know what I mean. The language is rough and vulgar and not for the faint of heart. WSB itself is just a chat room but it together with Discord, which is a free online voice chat service, make a combustable mixture. Discord even banned the WallStreetBets forum last week because of hate speech. A lovely group of people. Unless you are part of the demographic of twentysomething boys looking for a cause to support when they otherwise have a lack of stuff to do, I don’t recommend joining WallStreetBets.

Bogleheads

Instead, I recommend a service such as Bogleheads, which was formed based on mutual admiration for Jack Bogle, the founder of Vanguard. Bogleheads is a free service, in keeping with Mr. Bogle’s thriftiness. It also is for adults, unlike WSB. Bogleheads is more of a forum for ideas, and not a real-time trading discussion, which WSB can be. If you have a concept or if you want to research a company or a concept on your own without actually raising your hand, Bogleheads.com is a good place to find like-minded individual investors who have a devotion to Jack Bogle, which is a good way to approach investing.

StockTwits

StockTwits is a free message board forum for retail investors to make comments about individual stocks. If you are interested in any one company, you can search by that company’s name or stock ticker symbol and you can see what people have posted about it recently. StockTwits is not related to Twitter. StockTwits bills itself as “the largest social network for investors and traders.” Probably more adult than WSB but less so than Bogleheads, StockTwits can provide you with a sense of what investors are thinking about with respect to a particular stock. However, just as with any other social network, the advice that you get on StockTwits is worth what you pay for it. That said, if it increases your knowledge of an investment that you are pondering, then by all means dive in.

Free vs. Pay

There are a lot of other services out there. Likely you are familiar with some of them; if not, just Google it. Unless you are really devoted to a particular service, I recommend you stick to free services and not pay services. Some paid subscription services can be pretty pricey, which is never a good idea. If you are willing to pay for a social media or investment service, then you should also be willing to pay for the services of a financial planner who might be more worth the money for you.

IMO

These forums, chat rooms, and social media platforms related to stocks and investing can be good if you keep it in perspective and know what you are getting into. It is always good to make connections with like-minded people and/or to engage in interplay with respect to investment ideas. However, if you begin to feel uncomfortable, then stop. Use these as an opportunity to learn, but remember they are are worth what you paid for them.