Can social data change markets?

In recent years, we have heard so much about the (financial) markets, their reactions, lack of confidence and so on. I often feel like asking who or what exactly is “the markets” and will they ever just leave us alone. The economist Adam Smith used the analogy of the invisible hand, a self correction mechanism the markets may have. More recently Chandler alone of the visible hand – the firm – which could be influenced and changes perhaps easier than something like an invisible market hand.

I’m no economist, but I do find this stuff interesting. Especially nowadays when you think if the amount of information a firm could have – social data for example. I read an article in a Forbes blog last year some time, which suggested the prevalence and increasing availability of social data might be the invisible hand that could change markets, or at least help us to understand the markets. Seems like an interesting thought – click here to read the post.