What significance is it that Warren Buffet has established his own Twitter handle and announced that he intends to start tweeting? Nothing really if he just plans to tweet to discuss the weather in Omaha or how fast he can get his Maserati to in five seconds (I have no idea if he drives a Maserati).
However, it does mean something if, as CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, he plans to tweet on behalf of the company. Based on a quick review of Berkshire’s recent filings with the SEC, the company has not made it official that Warren Buffett’s Twitter account will be used as an official source for the dissemination of material information under Reg FD. Hence, one should not expect to see important, market moving information pertaining to BRK coming from @WarrenBuffett.
There is something important to note from his use of Twitter, especially in light of the SEC’s April 2 statement that social media can now be used in investor communications. Many companies are trying to decide whether or not to tweet or to use Facebook or other social media channels in their IR communications. But this discussion puts the cart before the horse. What should be happening – and what Berkshire Hathaway is hopefully doing at this time – is that companies should be determining what there social media IR policy is going to be. Once it establishes such a policy, then it should announce the policy publicly so everyone is on notice about how the company intends to communicate via social media. In doing so, and unlike Netflix (see my blog from April 23, 2013), the company will then have set the stage for communicating effectively in compliance with Reg FD.