Wall Street Plugs Into Twitter. Officially.

What a difference a week makes…

At the end of March I talked about how, on an unofficial basis, Wall Street’s big trading desks were using Twitter and StockTwits to help them make sense of market moves in real-time.

I have had firsthand knowledge of this for awhile – but when the “experts” weigh in on the subject, it’s always an unequivocal denial, “Wall Street doesn’t care what Twitter says,” and  “they have their own research and networks of chatter,” we’ve been assured.

Guess not.

This week, Bloomberg launched its TWTR terminal feature – granting quasi-curated access to a VIP list of top Twitter feeds to its 300,000 users. This is significant, a validation of the social finance layer like none other that’s come before. These new 300,000 followers aren’t just any 300,000 followers – they’re the people controlling virtually every dollar of investable wealth on the planet, when you think about it.

I knew this would happen eventually, there was way too much curiosity and unofficial use for the wall to have remained standing forever.

Kevin Roose, at New York Magazine, talks a bit about the specific Twitter accounts that the terminal users are being shown.

Bloomberg LP announced that its terminal, the subscription data service (price: more than $20,000 a year) that is used by more than 300,000 Wall Streeters to look up all kinds of financial information, will include a Twitter feature.

The TWTR terminal feature doesn’t allow users to tweet, but it does let them read the tweets of certain news services, financial writers, economists, and bloggers selected by Bloomberg’s terminal team. Being on Bloomberg’s VIP list isn’t just a meaningless status symbol. (Although it is that, too.) It’s tantamount to being able to broadcast your thoughts into every firm on Wall Street, and each person on the list gets more than 300,000 silent followers, who may or may not be trading millions of dollars based on their 140-character musings.

I’m thrilled to be one of these so-called “VIPs”; not sure who chose me but I hope my comments add more value than foolishness.

I predict that within six months some of the Wall Street firms cave to the demands of their high-level employees and let them be two-way on Twitter as opposed to just listeners.

But for now, this is a pretty cool moment in time.

Read more about the Bloomberg TWTR feature here:

Meet Twitter’s Newest Clique: Bloomberg’s Terminal Tweeters (New York Magazine)

Read Also:

The Lurkers of Wall Street (TRB)