Social media is everywhere around us. As of October 2021, Kepios's study shows that there are over 4.55 billion social media users in the world. In case you are wondering, that’s over 50% of the total Earth population.

This number is expected to grow even more, and in 2022, it is expected that a new record of active social media users will be set. But what does all of this mean? Well, it means that social media has a lot of influence, just because of the number of people that use it.

This didn’t go unnoticed. Many companies use social media platforms to promote their products since they know it's a perfect way to connect with a lot of people. Just look at Coca-Cola, for example. One of the biggest companies in the world, just in 2019 spent over $4 billion on advertising purposes. It is thought that about 20% of that went to social media marketing.

So it’s obvious that social media is beneficial for big companies. And it’s also beneficial for us as users. We get to meet new people, explore new things, become informed on various things, and so on. Many say that social media is a double-edged sword, but we’ll focus on the good side of it for now.

But can social media help us when it comes to crypto investing? If you’re reading this article, then you were probably attracted because you are a crypto investor and want to know whether you can rely on social media for proper, knowledgeable, and confirmed information about crypto that won’t mislead you in a bad investment choice.

And we hear you. Therefore, we’ll cover everything there is related to crypto and social media. We will debunk all the myths, see why social media is good for crypto investors, and why on the other hand, it might not be so good. 

So, without further ado, let’s jump straight to the point and see why social media plays such an essential role in the world of cryptocurrency trading and investing.

Social media in crypto investing

Let’s start with the basics. In order to explain the role of social media (Instagram, Youtube, Twitter, etc.) in the crypto world, we’ll give you an example.

Even if you aren’t a beginner when it comes to crypto trading, what we’ll say will probably be familiar to you. Let’s say that you want to start investing in crypto because a friend of yours told you that it’s something you might consider because he/she invested and multiplied his/her money.

Who says no to some extra money, right? Since you aren’t that type of a guy, you want to listen to your friend and invest, but you aren’t exactly sure how. 

You heard about Bitcoin as one of the most famous cryptocurrencies before, but you don’t know how to invest. You don’t know where you can buy it, how you can do it or what you should do after you buy it. All those questions…

In case your friend won’t help you out (which won’t be so good from him), then you would probably do the next best thing - consult Google as your best friend and start learning everything the hard way, yourself.

The path of learning everything yourself is rocky and isn’t easy as it may seem. You will be flooded with different Youtube gurus that present like they are the creators of Bitcoin and know everything. 

You will be introduced to many different Twitter influencers that are blindly followed by thousands of people just like you - beginners that want someone to guide them through the rocky learning path, and give them solid financial advice.

If you are desperate enough, you’ll probably end up on TikTok, which is famous for crypto scammers that lure possible investors into bad investment choices. 

But, all of that won’t be for nothing. Somewhere along the path, you will surely find good crypto information sources and influencers that don’t just promote their own meme coin and promise that you will make millions in just a few days. 

There are good crypto influencers out there that are knowledgeable on the matter and want to help others, you just need to find them. But once you do, they can help you immensely on your crypto investing journey.

Advantages of social media in crypto investing

When we started our crypto journey, we were like you. Didn’t know a whole lot about the matter and consulted Google for additional information. Google took us to Youtube, Reddit, Twitter, Instagram, and so on.

And we’ll admit it - we had a rough start. But that’s why we are here to help you out and point out certain things that can keep you away from scammers, hackers, and bad investment decisions. While we are on the topic of scammers, if you want to learn how to safely invest in crypto, this is a good article to read. 

Social media can in fact help you when it comes to obtaining information about crypto investing. First of all, social media is great if you want to find out new crypto trends and be first in the line for some juicy news that can influence the price of a certain coin.

Take NFTs for example. Instagram was covered with different NFT related news and just from there alone you could smell that there is a new trend going on. Now, at the end of 2021, NFT projects are one of the most popular on the crypto market. 

If you want to learn more about NFTs, we suggest that you check out this video of Johnny Harris.

Many different companies that have their own cryptocurrencies are present on social media and have accounts on the most famous platforms, such as Twitter and Instagram. If you want to invest in a specific project and want to be knowledgeable on what the company is currently doing and what they have in the pipeline for the coin in the future, following their official accounts is a great way to stay current and be first at the spot when they release new information.

If you’re looking for trading advice, you can find that as well on social media. Although you need to be careful since many “fake” crypto experts just share information from other sources and often ask money for their knowledge.

But, when we put that to the side, we can confirm that there are reputable influencers that share information about trading and crypto-related news free of charge for their followers. Coinme made a great list of these influencers and while we can’t vouch for all of them, there certainly are some individuals that we follow ourselves. 

Once you filter good influencers who in fact want to help investors that have less experience with their knowledge, from the bad guys who just want to scam you and possibly take your money, it’s safe to say that you can use social media as a decent tool for good crypto-related information.

Disadvantages of social media in crypto investing

As with everything, there are downsides (or disadvantages) to social media and crypto investing. Although for many other things, the ratio between advantages and disadvantages is usually 50:50, somehow people always think that there are way more disadvantages when it comes to social media and crypto investing, than there are advantages. 

Yeah, that sentence was a bit hard to read but hear us out - for some reason, the media portrays social media as a bad influence for crypto investing and not a good source of information for investors. This might be the case because there are a lot (and we mean a lot) of scammers on social media, but still, if you filter them out, we think such a platform can help you immensely in your crypto investing.

Indeed, cryptocurrency scams are all over social media, but to avoid them you need to look very closely - details are what matters. Let’s see what are some of the main disadvantages of social media in crypto investing.

First of all, on social media, everything is easily replicable. This means that someone can create an image, account, or basically anything else present in the digital world and do it so it is extremely similar to the original. 

For example, people behind fake Elon Musk social media accounts have stolen over $2 million worth of cryptocurrencies since October 2021. How do people fall for this scam, you may ask? And it’s a good question, but not everyone looks at details and not everyone is knowledgeable when it comes to discovering scams, as you possibly are. That should give you an answer.

Social media is also perfect if you want to spread fake news. People will pick up on anything and at lightning speed, fake news will be everywhere. Sometimes such news are made so that it’s really hard to detect that they are fake and that they're coming from an unreliable source. In order to protect from this, you shouldn’t follow accounts that aren’t reputable and have a track record of sharing fake news in the past.

You should also be aware that people often value money before everything else. Because of this, even somewhat reputable influencers can flip, and start promoting practically worthless coins - the reason behind this is that they received money for the promotion.

This is called “shilling” and many influencers are doing it, especially on Twitter. 

Lastly, you should always follow the saying - if it’s too good to be true, it probably isn’t. There is a huge number of commercials and ads all over social media that offer unrealistic investment plans and illogical trading possibilities.

One of the most popular ones is that you send a certain cryptocurrency to a scammers’ wallet, for example, one Ethereum, and in return, you’ll get two Ethereums on your wallet. Too good to be true, right? Well yes, because it’s a scam. You won’t get two Ethereums to your wallet and of course, the scammer will just keep the one ETH you will send.

Social media - a double-edged sword

Social media is tightly connected to everything we do, and the same goes for crypto. Without social media, the cryptocurrency market wouldn’t be what it is now, and it’s a fact. Therefore, it’s important to use social media to your advantage when it comes to investment decisions.

As with everything, there are pros and cons to social media presence in the cryptocurrency world, but as long as you stick to the proven sources of information and use social media to some extent (not rely fully on it for your investment decision), you won’t have anything to worry about.