Recently Reuters reported that the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority formed a task force to determine how it can use social networking to “improve the flow of information between firms and their customers” without compromising investor protection.

Wall Street bankers and analysts increasingly want to use social networking to connect and interact with customers, Richard Ketchum, the chief executive of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) said.

FINRA worries that sites like Facebook and Twitter might not allow companies to keep the kind of archives of their employees business communications required by regulators. 

"We continue to witness the advent of technologies that will challenge your ability to ensure compliance with regulatory requirements," Ketchum told the bankers and dealers. "Social networking is one such innovation."

Most firms prohibit their employees from using sites like Facebook for business, partly because of the difficulties they pose for firms’ ability to meet supervision and record-keeping requirements, Ketchum said.  "Nevertheless, interest in these sites is inevitable and will not go unabated," he said.

We’ve also seen the rise of services like StockTwits, which uses Twitter to form a  community of idea and information sharing service for investments. 

Does your reverse mortgage company have policies for how you communicate through social networks?

Facebook challenges financial regulators: FINRA