Shiau '05 creates stocks blog for investors

Brian Shiau '05 has created an online blog commenting on the status of various stocks which has received upwards of 20,000 hits, Shiau estimated, since he began posting in January.

"I wanted to create a medium where I could communicate things that I felt strongly about," Shiau said. "I decided I wanted to write a blog that people would find interesting."

As a result, Shiau — an economics major earning a certificate in finance — started the blog during reading period, initially operating through blogger.com. Shiau has since created his own website, www.shiaustreet.com.

"I found what my readers really liked was my commentary on the issues," Shiau said. "What they wanted was any insight that I could provide on the companies."

In order to avoid a survey-type assessment that provides only minimal information about each stock, Shiau concentrates on a few corporations about which he is particularly knowledgeable.

"One of my goals is to share deep insight into companies," he said. "That's why I'm only covering three or four companies at a time."

Shiau warns, however, that visitors to his blog should not base their financial decisions solely upon the opinions he has posted. The bottom of his website contains a disclaimer to this effect.

"It's nice that I'm making an impact, but it may be too big of an impact for some people," he said, referring to cases in which readers make major stock decisions based on his posts.

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Shiau's website earns him a small profit, as he has incorporated advertisements through Google. He is paid every time a visitor clicks on an advertisement link.

However, Shiau explained, only blogs with millions of hits per day garner enough money to constitute a primary source of income. Most bloggers, including Shiau, post for the enjoyment of it.

"I think most bloggers really blog for the sake of blogging," Shiau said. "The prime purpose is you're blogging to share your ideas."

Blogging also promotes "an interesting social culture," Shiau said. "You leave comments on [another person's] blog, and they come to visit your blog."

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Stephen Smith '05, a friend of Shiau's, enjoys reading the blog for stock updates.

"I'm interested in those kinds of issues and I think Brian's blog is an interesting way to get information about stocks," he said. "The worst thing is that, obviously, it's not comprehensive — you only look at an issue or two."

Publishing online has raised an ethical issue for Shiau, whose classes expose him to guest speakers who may have insider information. Shiau responds by avoiding exposing any details he suspects are not intended to be public knowledge.

"I withhold information I think would hurt certain people," he said.

At present, Shiau is busy writing his thesis, which involves starting an exchange for event contracts.

"My company would be about financial events, rather than sports betting or politics betting or something like that," Shiau said. After he graduates this spring, Shiau will focus on running the company.

He thinks that his experience maintaining the blog may help. "It's given me some ideas of how to run a business," Shiau said.