Forget Buffet, Try Feeding The Bull Instead!

Who says finance guys don't socialize? Feed The Bull is abuzz with just about every finance type, from rookie investor to hedge fund managers…and guess what they are all up to? Talking shop of course! Founded in October 2006 at Denver, Feed The Bull is a social site with news and tips on every aspect of investing, business, and the economy.

This is how it works – The site, mainly targeted for investors, allows anyone to register (for free) and gives them a voice by allowing them to submit, vote, and comment on articles that influence the stock market. An in-depth into the site shows how each article undergoes a process of selection by votes and is queued up until it gets the required votes to reach the front page. Search is through the tag cloud method, using key words on any topic. RSS feeds, organized by topic, are also available, so you know up-to-the minute who's saying what about which market. Ads too are allowed onsite.

Topbloglists observes that the site is a

"Great way to aggregate financial information and to let the finance community have a chance to voice their opinion on the articles and stocks."

That's not all. You can prove your pet stock theories by entering an online competition and see how your picks fare against the rest of the Bull community.

The word from killerstartups.com is encouraging:

"FeedTheBull.com helps to demystify the investment world by providing news about stocks through user-generated content which is displayed according to the votes received by users."

There is no direct competition, though sites like Helium operate on the same format. The site has taken great pains to improve and keep the articles relevant to its core area. Some rumblings were heard earlier about the articles being too general!

Straight From The Bull's Mouth

Who is the typical Feed The Bull user?

The typical Bull user is someone that is doing their own research and managing their own investments. Currently, FeedTheBull has members ranging from Hedge Fund Managers to beginner investors.

Different types of investors have different philosophies & attitudes to the markets. How does this affect a democratic type of environment such as FTB?

The different investor philosophies and attitudes of investors is what really gives value to FeedTheBull. While someone may be a value investor, they may find an article written up by someone with a technical mindset and can pull some truth from it that sits well with them. The idea is that we have a free exchange of ideas and anyone can take what they want from it. If you disagree with someone's viewpoint, you have the opportunity to express your views and have an open debate on the validity of the article. This not only fosters discussion, but a new thought process that may lead to a new way of thinking for someone. My hope is that people are open to new ideas and willing to at least entertain different philosophies.

Is there information other than the stock markets such as energy, gold, etc.?

FeedTheBull has information on most types of investments, from the stock market to commodities to real estate. We have created a platform for news related to the stock market, finance and the economy. There are many different forces that affect the stock market, or a particular company.

Financial markets tend to be highly regulated. How does the possibility of misinformation affect FTB users?

Misinformation is always a possibility on the internet. One of the advantages of a democratic website is that when people do see through the fluff and misinformation, they will not vote for the article and it will never make it to the front page. As well, FeedTheBull wants to remind everyone to do their research before they make any investment decisions.

Have visitors embraced RSS technology on your site?

Absolutely. While RSS feeds don't allow the user the full FeedTheBull experience, we have just as many users of the RSS feeds as we have page views otherwise. We have RSS feeds set up for each individual category, for stories that are published, and for stories that are pending publishing.

What is the challenge tab on the FTB home page?

FeedTheBull offers an online stock competition. Periodically we sponsor a Stock Challenge open to all members and will offer prizes to the top performing portfolios. As well, any member can create their own challenge and invite others to compete against them with a $100,000 portfolio. It gives investors a chance to participate in the market and try out new techniques that they have picked up from the site.

What type of person is an ideal employee for Feed The Bull?

Creative, Cutting Edge, someone that can handle fast passed work, rapid changes, and loves challenges and the rewards that come with a challenge.

What skill sets & knowledge will be to work at FTB?

HTML, CSS, JavaScript, XML, Ajax, Smarty, PHP, MySQL. It depends on what we're doing, but we need all of these for some portion of the site. Additional skills are Linux, web hosting experience, SEO. In addition, FeedTheBull is looking for marketing campaign managers, and ad sales managers.

Bullish on Feed the bull

Oh yes, but like we said earlier on user generated content/user dependant sites, it all boils down to the quality of visitors to the site, their level of awareness and discretion in rating the various articles. But in the meanwhile, let's sharpen those pencils and jump right into the ring, after all the bull's on our side this time!