Taking into account 85% of our mobile traffic across a sampling of our clients sites comes from iOS (iPad/iPhone/iPod) devices, we wanted to find out which device people in the IR space prefer.  We consider “in the IR space” to be IRO’s, retail investors, institutional investors and bloggers/analysts/media people.  We consider “not in the IR space” to be people who do not work in IR in any capacity and people who do not invest.

These are the results of the survey:

If you’re interested, here are the questions we asked:

1) What best describes you:

• I work in an Investor Relations office (IR manager, director, executive etc)
• I’m a retail investor
• I’m an institutional investor
• I’m an analyst, blogger or media person

What is your primary mobile device?

• Apple (iOS)
• Android
• Blackberry
• Windows Phone 7
• I don’t know/other

Do You Use and iPad?

Yes/No

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“Readers will still have access to the same great content they have come to expect from our blog“, said Darrell Heaps co-founder and CEO of Q4 Web Systems, “with a continued overarching objective of striving to have the blog serve as a key resource to IR professionals – which is currently accomplished by staying apprised of and sharing news relevant to IROs such a changes in the regulatory environment and online IR best practices“.

We will continue to share findings from our active research into IR website and social media best practices and to inform readers of upcoming Q4 events such as our thought-leading webinars.  One of the goals behind the redesign was to help our readers connect with us and each other easily by leveraging the Disqus’ comment system, enabling sharing with LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter, and through our new Connect with Q4 page.

While the content will continue to be geared towards material relevant to IR professionals, more popular content will float to the surface through our Featured and Headline sections on the homepage.  Some new items have been added to enhance the user experience as well. For example, we have incorporated a few things that don’t require users to have to dig for information by including a listing of popular categories and a new Product Tour page.

Our ‘Product Tour’ page had been updated so visitors can learn more about our products and features through one easy click and give us feedback on new product ideas we’re cooking up.

We also provide a tally of the tweet counts and likes in the upper-left hand of each post so visitors can see what others think and aggregate the latest tweets so readers can stop on top of what we are sharing on our Q4 Web Systems Twitter account.

Our goal with this redesign is to help our readers connect with us easier and get feedback about our products and service offerings, what do think about the new blog?

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We look forward to connecting with you in early 2010!

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Regulators revealed yesterday that an IT analyst with TD Securities Inc. bought shares in Synenco Energy, based on information he obtained while reading the personal emails of investment bankers working on a takeover bid. And of course, the fact that the emails were being monitored was invisible to all participants.

Apparently there have been a string of recent cases in which people outside the corporate inner circle have been accused of trading on information that was illegally obtained by reading confidential emails.

Although none of the top dogs knew this was going on, regulators say that firms are responsible for ensuring that critical email is not intercepted.

Had any of the companies mentioned in the article been using Q4 PRESS, nobody could have intercepted their emails for privileged information, because no confidential content is ever included within an email or its subject line.

Q4 PRESS allows internal and external teams to collaborate securely on confidential information – even on a BlackBerry . The Author or point person on the document controls who can be invited to participate  and even controls who can be involved in specific segments of the document. Within each version, the entire process is completely transparent  allowing all participants to view the comments and edits of one another.

No confidential information is ever transmitted via email. Subject lines are generic and even the message related to the document can be made secure.

With Q4 PRESS, everything is tracked in real time and is visible to all participants. The entire process can be overseen by a designated auditor/supervisor. A complete report of the entire collaborative process can instantly be generated viewed in a number of useful ways.

Compliance risk management officers take note – unlike the invisible IT administrator in the Synenco story, with Q4 PRESS there’s nowhere to hide!

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Corporations need a purposeful approach to social media to govern what their people are doing on company time. This begins with understanding how social media intersects with corporate objectives. Having policies in place on the types of conversations most in-line with company objectives as well as who should and shouldn’t be blogging on company time is a good starting point. (The intent here is not to muzzle employees as much as it is to provide focus. One of the key benefits of social media is to bring together like-minded individuals/those with common interests. So if I’m seeking others who have perspectives on issues of interest to me, I can substantially increase relevancy by contributing content on these same topics.)

That said, as in life personality goes a long way and so the more I get a sense of a person – the more engaged I am. 

Social media has been around for a number of years but to most it’s still very new. Before diving in, why not determine why you’re swimming in the first place?

After more than a year of active involvement in social media, we have decided to invest even more time in Twitter. (You can see that our CEO is a big fan of Twitter and other social media through some of his earlier blog posts e.g. ‘Twitter is Changing the Face of Communications’ – which provides an overview on Twitter and how some companies are using it.)

As we increase our involvement in Twitter, I’m sure there will be internal discussions around objectives, strategy, best practices, leanings, results – I’ll keep you posted as these evolve. As a starter, here is a good article on developing strategies for Twitter: ‘What the Web Strategist Should Know About Twitter’ from Jeremiah Owyang, a senior analyst at Forrester Research. Although aimed at technology companies, much of what he says has broader application. He provides a very helpful overview on Twitter as well and he received over 100 comments on it! (One comment that I disagree with is Jeremy’s perspective that corporate web sites are losing relevance – in the capital markets with the recent SEC guidance on Reg. FD, IR web sites are becoming even more important.)

From an ROI perspective, I’ve found a number of great resources through social media, especially Twitter. As I explored these further I saw common ground for information sharing or even potential business opportunities – some of which I’m currently exploring. I’ve introduced people through Twitter and connected others to valuable resources /information. And I’ve been the recipient of this as well.

Twitter has helped us increase traffic to our blog and has also helped us build our profile but I don’t have the time to park on it and comment every time I try a new scent. And I’m not interested in the popularity contest of how many people I’m following or the numbers following me – like jewellery, it’s the quality, not the quantity. So the growth here will be incremental over time. (If you’re looking to build a following, here’s an interesting article I’ve recently read from Mashable’s Atherton Bartleby “Why I don’t follow you on Twitter?” – some ‘do’s and don’ts’ for you to consider.

I earnestly try to make time to contribute valuable content because I get something back. Over time I’m sure that the relevancy of my content will continue to improve as I gain further perspective on key issues (some of these insights will be gained through Twitter and other social media).

And I will be watching closely to measure the return is on my investment. Some of it will be quantifiable (like opportunities, partnerships) and some less tangible (such as increasing my knowledge, learning about interesting events and other awareness opportunities). Obviously a certain amount of time needs to be invested to see a return – just as a company would not evaluate an advertising channel based on the return from one ad.

I’d be very interested in hearing from companies who have put policies/guidelines in place, have determined specific measurements and have seen Twitter or other social media impact their objectives. Do you have a story that you’d like to share?

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Chairman Cox Video: The SEC has approved interactive data financial reporting to give investors faster, better, and less expensive information disclosure.

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The response has been both positive and negative. Criticism has primarily focused on the accessibility of information disclosed in this way – although anyone can receive automatic updates through RSS feeds, which take all of 2 minutes to set up. And North America enjoys the highest penetration of internet usage in the world.

What’s important to note is that GE executives say the blog permits them to disclose more information and on a more frequent basis, which translates into greater transparency regarding issues that would otherwise remain internal. “This is a tough environment, a lot of misinformation in the marketplace,” GE spokesman Gary Sheffer said. “This is just a fast and simple way to punch through it and to make sure that you tell your story in a simple and engaging way.”

This immediacy is one of the many positive outcomes of the new Reg. FD governing corporate web sites and blogs. In terms of engagement, I love the fact that GE incorporates video to support many of their blog stories. (Jason’s post on the Q4 blog yesterday sited another great example of this tactic, as employed by Overstock.com.)

In taking a quick look at the GE blog, one can see that they are receiving numerous comments, which isn’t surprising considering that the company has lost 62 percent of its value in the last year. Many of these comments are asking for more and different information. Some are suggesting specific measures be taken to protect shareholder value.

At first glance, this may seem a frightening scenario for the IRO who feels it’s better to ‘manage’ what’s being said about their company. The reality is that the Internet has provided a voice to everyone (as per Gary Sheffer’s comment on “misinformation”) and social media has amplified that voice. In today’s market there is no way to muzzle disgruntled investors and it’s much better to communicate with them.

Ruth Cotter, Director of Investor Relations, Advanced Micro Devices said it best in a recent presentation on social media, “Our communications are much more proactive. Instead of ‘pushing’ information at investors, we are now engaged in conversations with them. We’re learning a lot from this dialogue.” And this in turn helps shape future communications.

With corporate leaders such as GE embracing the new SEC guidance, it is anticipated that other companies will follow suit.

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Following the U.S. election, changes will be focused on the financial sector (no surprise) and also include large corporations who rely on the wholesale or public debt market to finance their operations. 
 

The degree to which an entity relies on the debt markets to finance operations (eg. General Electric or the large automotive companies) is a key consideration in determining the disclosure required of these organizations. If the company’s counter parties are pillars of financial institutions and if the reliance is significant enough that the company would not be able to fund itself, if for some reason it was unable to roll over its debt, the impact would be considered systemic in terms of the ripple effect on the economy. Companies fitting this profile will be impacted by new disclosure legislation.

We can anticipate fairly draconian requirements in the coming months – a whole new wave of requisite disclosure that we’ve never seen before. It will certainly mean additional filings as well as new/more information needing dissemination to the market.

Included in this, we can anticipate the need for much greater detail surrounding the content, risk and backing of investment products.

And companies will need to be much more upfront about their own risk exposure and appetite along with details on how they’re managing this risk.

What policy makers have learned from the past is the need to get enough of the right information into the market to gain a perspective on trends and that means an insistence on information being disclosed in a compatible manner.

The goal of the enhanced disclosure is to not only protect investors and the economy at large, but also to promote a more responsible approach to managing companies, which was clearly lacking in the financial sector over the past several years.

The challenge of course for most companies is balancing the escalating demands for timely disclosure against the risks of disclosing inaccurate or incomplete information. Along with the increased disclosure requirements will come the need for retooling existing disclosure controls & procedures and determining whether manual processes, technical solutions or perhaps a combination of both will best help to protect organizations from increased compliance risk.

No matter if McCain or Obama wins today, change is a foot!

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