Investing is a social undertaking as much as it is a means to an end, therefore the retail investor is happy to discuss with fellow stockbrokers, peers and associates if a company story appears of interest.

The social piece is important for retail investors. They like a group setting, where they can hear from management, ask questions specific to their own interest, and listen to those of others within their community.  

Silvia Jorgensen writes well and she argues her points clearly. However, I think she’s wasting her breath.

Many IROs aren’t interested in dealing with retail investors. Retail investors are A LOT OF WORK, in part because there’s a lot of them (or there was until IR departments started ignoring them).

No, it’s much more fulfilling for IROs to deal with a handful of investment pros and executives than to rub shoulders with the unwashed on Main Street.

Which explains why there are so few real IROs with formal social media accounts. And why only about 1 in 5 IROs post their contact information on their websites.

This is a profession that doesn’t have the resources to deal with legions of little folks trading 225 shares at a time. Nor do they really want to.