The article talks about how FinTech has not been able to create a social website in the vein of Facebook. The author gives some examples of some failed websites, some reasons why social FinTech hasn’t worked, and some thoughts on the future of social FinTech.
I am not surprised that FinTech (as of 2015) hasn’t been able to create a successful social media website. People tend to be very cautious when it comes to their money. As such, I doubt that many people would be willing to trust strangers with financial and monetary advice. When it comes to finance, many people probably put greater trust in experts and established brands, such as Bloomberg and Charles Schwab. In addition, I agree with the author that another reason why FinTech may have trouble catching up with established companies besides expertise is that they have more accurate data. I believe that if a FinTech company were to succeed in going social, it would have to convince experts be a part of the FinTech, and allow customers more open and less expensive access to the same data that companies such as Bloomberg use.