Social media is a powerful tool. It can help influence people’s political ideologies, or their opinions about anything, big or small. Especially when the suggestions come from the world’s richest man, these posts have power to shape the opinions of millions.
Recently a similar case was seen in the case of Etsy’s share rise after a very simple tweet from Elon Musk. Musk tweeted how he "kinda love Etsy" and his legions of followers on Twitter rushed to the website, following in the footsteps of their idol.
It all began when Musk bought a toy for his beloved dog. It was a Marvin the Martian helm knit in wool. He shared the image to his Twitter as well, with his dog looking all kinds of adorable. While most gushed on the dog’s cuteness, others were more interested in the product itself. According to an article in the Bloomberg, shares rose as high as 8.6%. It was an intra-day record for the company.
According to CNBC, it had been going rather slowly for Etsy. In fact, the shares weren’t moving at all in the premarket before the tweet from Musk. Earlier that day, the closing price of Etsy was at 2.1%.
The simple Tweet got 298K likes, and a combined over 22K of quote tweets and retweets.
I kinda love Etsy
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 26, 2021
Etsy is a selling platform for small-time business owners. You can find anything handmade here, from notebooks to clothing to fragrant candles. It basically helps small-time artists, creators, craftspeople to connect with potential customers on the web. As it is mostly people making things at their home and selling them online, the “brands” are not like the ones displayed in malls or mass produced. Therefore, consumer stock interest aren’t phenomenal.
Even though the company really broke-through during the coronavirus pandemic, the rise after one single Tweet from Musk was almost unprecedented. People were quick to notice the influence Musk’s words had on the company’s share value.
A user shared a screenshot of the rising graph for Etsy’s shares.
The power of your tweets. Within two minutes of the tweet, the stock gained over a billion dollars in market cap. pic.twitter.com/7QvSs4VrtX
— Colby (@colbyadd) January 26, 2021
A user from India had totally different ideas. He wondered if Musk’s influence could help raise stock prices in India as well.
Request you to post a tweet on ITC.Blessings from India would outnumber the total Tesla cars you have manufactured so far.
— Abhishek Kar (@Abhishekkar_) January 27, 2021
Some even accused Musk of market manipulation, as he has over 43 million followers and he knows his words carry the power to influence his very loyal followers.
You should promote other small companies and businesses instead of cherry picking and watching them gain...
— John Murphy ChaosTheoryUlmtd (@Jmurphy042000) January 26, 2021
Musk is highly admired, especially among younger male populations who charge anyone who speaks against the tech-giant on the microblogging platform.