The FCA have set out their policy on social media which concentrates on the use of Twitter.
It is worth a read, if only to establish why the supervision of the internet is as feasible as Canute’s supervision of the tides. As Canute pointed out to his courtiers, it is possible to observe the shore getting inundated but very difficult to do much about it.
One such example is the recommended insertion of #ad to highlight a promotion. Nobody hits a keyboard without the intention of promoting something and #ad presumably denotes an overt sales pitch which might relieve you of your cash.
I can see the use of #ad really catching on!
The FCA conclude that they’d like comments on their approach and that they will be consulting with “experts” in this field. It shouldn’t be hard for them to find them for the internet is crawling with lists of such people, created by scoring systems like Klout.
The FCA might have been better advised to start by asking the questions rather than trying to retrofit the existing COB into a new world about which they are clearly unfamiliar.
Indeed , in an excellent article, Panacea IFA point out that
Having been told by a number of influential financial services ’Tweeters’ (identified from our recent ‘Top Tweeter’ awards winners) that they had not been consulted, Panacea Adviser has submitted an FCA FOI request as we would like to know more around who or what exactly “extensive industry engagement” represents. We have requested some clarification asking:
Who exactly have the FCA had “extensive industry engagement” with?
What is their level of Social Media knowledge, influence and expertise?
What is the FCA’s understanding of how a financial adviser would use Social Media based upon to produce this proposed guidance?
Having been told by a number of influential financial services ’Tweeters’ (identified from our recent ‘Top Tweeter’ awards winners) that they had not been consulted, Panacea Adviser has submitted an FCA FOI request as we would like to know more around who or what exactly “extensive industry engagement” represents. We have requested some clarification asking:
Who exactly have the FCA had “extensive industry engagement” with?
What is their level of Social Media knowledge, influence and expertise?
What is the FCA’s understanding of how a financial adviser would use Social Media based upon to produce this proposed guidance?
The biggest problem is that this is all “one to many” and unless you create a wall garden- as for instance mallowstreet have, many people will be exposed to what the FCA might consider unauthorised promotions.
The obvious thing for the FCA to do is to talk to people who use social media by using social media but they have chosen to get us to engage with them using the old consultation method,
I had no idea this paper was out and being as active in social media as most people, this shows just how far the FCA are from the coalface.
It’s hard to butt into a concersation to which you are not invited , so I won’t be responding to the FCA. They have a duty to those who fund them, to speak their language and frankly the days of them sitting on their mountain top handing out decrees on stone tablets are over.
Social media should see to that!
