Financial Insights has issued a briefing note on the social networking phenomenon and the opportunities and threats posed to financial institutions. The study seeks to provide a framework that defines social networking for the financial services industry, as well as provide guidance to fintech software houses and infrastructure vendors and investors.

It was this latter aspect of the perspective that caught my attention. Financial Insights believes that the specialist software houses may struggle with social networking, while the infrastructure vendors with a strong financial industry vertical presence will be best positioned to take advantage. 

Either way, says the analyst house, a vendor should, and may well already, think of its financial institution end users as a community. As such, it should look for ways to engage social networking with its community members. Vendors that stay on the sidelines risk being marginalised.

The notion of community has been uppermost in our minds at Finextra ever since we first conceived of the business back in the late 1990s. Initially we focussed on developing a central space on the public network that would connect all the different institutional participants in the financial technology ecosystem. The emergence of new social networking tools enables us to go deeper and connect individual participants at the personal and professional nexus.

Over one thousand of our 26,000 members worldwide have now joined this growing network, activating profiles, sharing their experiences with other industry participants, and joining special interest groups online. And more are joining every day.

My question for all those fintech wallflowers out there is this: What are you waiting for? This is your chance to experience the social networking phenomenon first hand. Jump right in and join us here at Finextra Communities. 

As Financial Insights concludes: "At some point in the future, we will know how social networking evolved in financial services. Will it have a long lasting impact that can influence a generation of tomorrow’s adults? Or will it have a short, in the moment, burst of energy like a roman candle? Being prepared for the former but not surprised by the latter is a prudent course of action in 2008."